Thank you for your prayers for our Classis meeting. Classis Lake Superior is a gathering of church leaders from over 20 congregations that are spread out from Baldwin, WI to Thunder Bay, Ontario to Winnipeg, Manitoba and down to Prinsburn, MN. We are the only bi-national classis in our denomination. Needless to say, the Americans took a little ribbing on the final outcome of the US-Canada gold medal game in hockey!
Monday afternoon was spent in a discussion on the Belhar Confession. Peter Borgdorff came from the Interchurch Relations Committee of our denomination to lead us in a conversation about adopting this confession to go along with the other three confessions we already subscribe to (Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort and the Belgic Confession). I was anticipating a very dry and theological discussion. It turned out to be quite interesting.
The Belhar Confession was written by the Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa. It is an attempt to deal with issues not covered in our creeds or confessions. While the influence of their history with apartheid certainly factors into why they wrote this in the first place, it is not an anti-apartheid confession. Rather, it reminds us that God is a God who cares deeply about the hurting and despised people of our world and calls His Church to share His concern for justice among people and unity among Christians. If you’d like to read the Belhar Confession and learn more about it, go to our denomination’s website.
Tuesday’s “business” meeting was relatively brief (we were done by 2:00 instead of 5:00). We heard reports from the churches of the West Region and from some of our local missionaries about what God has been doing in their ministries. We received reports from various committees (Home Missions and Student Fund). One sad note was that Pastor Chuck Uken, who had been planting a church in the Breezy Point area, has resigned from his position. The church plant will now be closing down. We also heard from two pastors that are moving on to new callings. Pastor David Swinney from Brooten took a call to Alberta. Pastor Dan Vos from Emo is going back to school, with the intention of someday teaching in the seminary.
I have now been assigned as a church visitor for our region. This means that I and another visitor must visit a Council meeting in each of our assigned congregations in the next year. We’ll ask them about the joys and struggles of their ministry and ask if there are any ways that we as a classis can help them carry out the work that God has called them to. To get a better idea what church visits are about, check out the report from the most recent visit of the church visitors to Bethel. Church Visitor’s Report Along with the regular visits, if there are any difficult issues that a congregation needs help working through, they can call on the church visitors. I’ve never served in this capacity before, so it will be a new experience for me. I was also assigned to fill Pastor Dan’s vacancy on the Student Fund Committee for 1 1/2 years and have been assigned as an alternate to go to Synod in June.
In September, we have three examinations for licensure to exhort. This would allow them to preach in the congregations of our classis when there is a need. Rob Braun, from Bethel, has done this for years and has traveled to many of the congregations in our classis. The candidates are: Mike Pluimer (Mark’s brother), Rodger Dahlman (a retired professor of Old Testament) and Jim Stein (who has provided pulpit supply in the Presbyterian church in Manitoba for 22 years). We are thankful for these three gifted and experienced men who would like to serve the church by studying and preaching God’s Word.
