c. 1998 Religion News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. _ Here’s the first clue to the Christian Reformed Church Synod of 1998: the size of the book.

At 250 pages, the agenda of Synod `98, which opened Saturday (June 13), is about the size of a paperback mystery novel _ half the size of last year’s.

With barely two dozen overtures, or proposals, to consider, the annual CRC meeting’s to-do list is much smaller than last year’s 40 overtures and not even close to the 77 of 1996.

That’s largely because the issue of women’s ordination is on the back burner until 2000. After years of drama-packed Synods preoccupied with that topic, the Synod opening today at Calvin College looks positively sleepy by comparison. That suits CRC officials just fine.”The most notable part of this Synod is that there will not be explosive issues,”said the Rev. Howard Vanderwell, pastor of Hudsonville’s Hillcrest CRC and a delegate for the 10th time. Barring unforeseen explosions, he sees it as a chance to”pull ourselves back together”and do some healing.”This is the kind of Synod that a number of us have wished for for some years,”agreed Peter Borgdorff, CRC executive director of ministries.”It gives us a chance to talk and reflect in a less pressurized cooker.” Indeed, this is more the way Synods used to be before the women’s issue started dominating all others, said General Secretary David Engelhard. A measure giving local regions the option of ordaining women is not up for review for another two years.

But the agenda was looking so slim early in the year that Engelhard asked some CRC trustees whether it would be worth the roughly $125,000 cost to run the week-long conference.

He and others now agree it will be. Though this year’s Synod attends mostly to organizational housekeeping, there are important and potentially controversial matters before the 188 U.S. and Canadian delegates who have gathered for the meeting.

Among them are concerns about the soundness of CRC investments, following a default on millions in investments and loans from CRC agencies and members to the California-based IRM Corp. One overture calls for an independent review of CRC investments and another for more detailed reporting.

Borgdorff believes a new investment policy, developed before the IRM situation broke, will prevent future fiascos and shore up delegates’ confidence.”None of us can do anything about what’s past,”Borgdorff said.”We hope people will realize there is competent governance of these issues.” In a related matter, one overture calls for ensured editorial freedom of The Banner, the denomination’s magazine that temporarily was prevented from investigating the IRM affair.

Delegates also will look at new rules on how churches may leave the CRC and who gets the property _ significant issues because the 279,000-member CRC lost almost 7,000 members last year and has declined every year since 1992.

Three overtures ask to revise a new policy calling for church property to stay with the portion of the congregation remaining in the CRC. Another overture challenges a proposal requiring churches to consult with a local classis (group of churches) before they can leave.

Borgdorff’s progress report on a proposed administrative restructuring of the 412-employee CRC figures to generate interest, as some are concerned it gives too much authority to his office and the Board of Trustees. So does a proposal to revise the doctrinal form all clergy and professors are required to sign.

Other matters likely to prompt debate include:

_ An overture to drop an item in the Heidelberg Catechism of Reformed teachings that labels the Roman Catholic Mass”a condemnable idolatry”;

_ A proposal that the CRC allow”union churches”with the Reformed Church in America, permitting joint CRC-RCA congregations;

_ An overture asking that abortion be condemned as an”American holocaust.”

DEA END HONEY