Significant news from General Synod 2018: On Saturday, June 9, General Synod approved Eddy Alemán as general secretary of the RCA by voice vote. The role of general secretary includes casting vision for the denomination and overseeing implementation of its mission.
General Synod delegates passed a recommendation to form a 2020 Vision Group proposed Friday morning, June 8, by Don Poest, interim general secretary.
Since then, members of the 2020 Vision Group have been selected in response to the General Synod 2018 recommendation that a vision group be formed to research and identify strategies and consequences for three possible scenarios for the future of the RCA:
- staying together
- radical reconstituting and reorganization
- a grace-filled separation.
Per the recommendation, one specific option the group will consider is for the RCA to be a single denomination with three or more affinity assemblies within it.
The recommendation originated as a proposal by then-interim general secretary Don Poest, who suggested the vision group in response to his assessment of deep division in the denomination.
Members of the group were named by Poest and general secretary Eddy Alemán, in consultation with the General Synod Council (GSC), and were chosen to reflect the wide diversity of the RCA, including all regional synods and racial/ethnic councils.
On Monday, June 11, General Synod directed the general secretary to write a letter to the United States president strongly supporting immigration reform and DACA and urged congregations to advocate for legislation that supports immigration reform and DACA at the local level.
The Commission on Christian Action originally brought the recommendation to synod, but retracted it instead of presenting it for a vote. Then, during their report, a motion from the floor brought the recommendation back before delegates. Some delegates expressed discomfort with the general secretary writing a letter to the president about a political issue.
“I personally do not want this body writing a letter for me,” elder delegate Glenn Emmert said. “There’s so much involved in this. … I don’t feel comfortable having our general secretary write this.”
Others, like GSC member and corresponding delegate Anna Jackson, voiced support for the recommendation.
“Too long, I believe the church has been silent to many of the injustices that are happening in our country,” said Jackson. “We need to find our voice. It is within our authority. The report does have something to say when it comes to justice issues. I think it’s high time that we do make a statement.”
General Synod voted on Monday, June 11, to commend an instructional, question-and-answer document on marriage and sexuality to all RCA churches and classes. Known as the Great Lakes Catechism on Marriage and Sexuality, the document consists of 19 questions and answers and is written in a conversational format similar to the Heidelberg Catechism (see document on the RCA website).
Responding to overtures from two classes and a regional synod about commending or adopting the document, the Advisory Committee on Overtures and New Business made a recommendation to “commend the Great Lakes Catechism on Marriage and Sexuality for reflection, study, and response by the Commission on Theology and RCA churches and classes as a means of deepening our understanding of the biblical teaching on human sexuality and finding a pathway forward toward unity in mission and ministry.”
Several amendments were debated that would have restricted distribution until the Commission on Theology could study and respond to the document, but in the end none were approved and synod voted 134-90 to approve the original recommendation.
For more insights into this year’s General Synod, check out www.rca.org.
May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,
Mike Altena