Classis Michigan Classis Michigan 3rd Meeting
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It was a pleasant and sunny December morning as delegates arrived at the Cornerstone United Reformed Church to meet as a Classis. The inside of the church was also cheery and pleasant as delegates from ten churches in our Classis greeted one another over coffee and cookies. The task before them was to examine a graduate of Westminster Seminary for candidacy and to consider three overtures.
Chairman Rev. Brian Vos, of Trinity United Reformed Church, began the meeting by reading from Scripture and offering prayer. Once preliminaries were taken care of, the examination of Mr. Dale Van Dyke began.
Mr. Van Dyke was examined in eight different areas pertaining to his life, ministry, the Reformed faith, and his love for the Lord. After prayerful consideration in executive session, the delegates unanimously agreed that Mr. Van Dyke presented a wonderful testimony of his faith and that he has the gifts for ministry. We truly thank the Lord for calling young men to the ministry of the Holy Gospel and for giving them the gifts needed to shepherd His people.
After the examination of Mr. Van Dyke, three overtures were considered by the Classis. The first asked Classis to ask Synod to begin a daily devotional for the churches within our federation. After a brief discussion about whether or not a new devotional was needed, the overture was defeated.
The second overture asked Classis to ask Synod to appoint a minister-at-large to help emerging churches and groups interested in becoming part of our federation. While there certainly seemed to be agreement that the need was great, most delegates thought it would be more appropriate to meet this need on a classical level and voted against sending the overture to Synod.
The final overture asked Classis to ask Synod to support Reformed Youth Services. This ministry provides distinctively Reformed study material to youth leaders and sponsors events that promote Reformed Bible study and fellowship. After some discussion and some rewording of the overture, classis voted to send this overture on to Synod.
It had been a good day. A closing prayer of thanks was offered and by mid-afternoon the delegates were on their way home again, giving thanks to God for the privilege of being able to work together as brothers in Christ and office bearers in His Church.
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