General Synod President Focuses on Worship, Baptism, Ministry
In opening remarks to General Synod delegates, General Synod president Carol Bechtel asked, "What is the glue that holds us together?"
 "It's a question we seem to be working our way through," she said. "It's a question of identity."
Bechtel said her visits around the world over the past year have broadened her understanding of the RCA's identity in terms of its role in the broader Reformed family. In light of this synod's focus on the Belhar Confession she chose to visit Northern Ireland, Hungary, Croatia, Kenya, and South Africa--all countries where people have had significant experience with reconciliation, one of the Belhar's central themes. "There seems to be a growing consensus that the Belhar is a faithful and helpful expression of Reformed faith--and a growing edge of our identity," she said.
However, in her visits in North America to RCA churches, Bechtel said she found many people struggling with the RCA's identity, with what it means to be Reformed today. "One of the major 'celebrations' I heard as I traveled around the RCA is our growing diversity," she said. "This is a good change--and yet all change brings an amount of uncertainty."
She added, "We often try to 'reform' without having a strong sense of what it means to be 'reformed.'" She said this often came out in feedback she got from people who had participated in the Reformed and Missional Dialogue. "They celebrated that we were having the dialogue, but they mourned what the dialogue often revealed, she said. "They asked, 'How can we be "always reforming" faithfully if we can't remember what it means to be reformed?'"
In her proposals to synod, Bechtel focused on things that she hopes will clarify the RCA's identity in three areas: worship, baptism, and ministry.
Her first proposal is intended to affirm that worship is a part of every dimension of Our Call, the RCA's 10-year goal. The proposal instructs the General Synod Council to incorporate more explicit language about worship into their ends policies. Her second proposal addresses "the reasons worship seems to have dropped off our radar screen."
"In recent years we have--quite rightly--put renewed emphasis on becoming more missional," Bechtel said. "We have worked hard to become more 'externally focused,' reaching out into our communities with tangible expressions of God's transforming grace. Sometimes we assume that in order to be 'missional' in our worship we have to make it feel completely familiar; we assume that worship must be reduced to only those things that a 'seeker' would understand. But I wonder if this is a misdirected attempt to be missional." Bechtel proposed that General Synod appoint a task force to explore the nature of and funding for a major worship initiative in the RCA.
Bechtel said that next to worship, baptism was the most talked about topic on her visits around the RCA. She suggested a survey to delve more deeply into issues associated with baptism. Her third proposal directs the General Synod Council to survey the practice of baptism with a focus on churches started in the RCA in the last 10 years and a representative sample of other churches in the RCA. "The focus here is simply to get a clearer and more objective sense of the nature and extent of actual practice in the RCA surrounding infant baptism," she said.
She also proposed making past studies on baptism widely available and directing the Commission on Theology to offer a paper on the place and significance of infant and adult baptism in the life of a missional congregation.
Bechtel also spoke about ministry, saying there are many reasons to celebrate, yet causes for concern as well. She noted that there were concerns expressed around the role of commissioned pastors.
Bechtel said the RCA needs to "take a careful and prayerful look at how we can evaluate and regulate the commissioned pastor process more responsibly." She proposed a task force to review the role of commissioned pastors in the RCA and report to the next General Synod.
In concluding her report to the General Synod, Bechtel said, "Finally, the answer to the question 'What is the glue that holds us together?' is as simple as one word: God. God is the glue that holds us together.
"The church is not just a collection of people who have decided to align themselves with Jesus. It is the upshot of election. God chooses us, not the other way around. And that, ultimately, is very good news." Posted 06/05/09
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