Some Thoughts on the Practice of Ecumenicity
Bill DeJong
Extracted from Ordained Servant vol. 7, no. 2 (Apr. 1998), pp. 27-28
I’d like to make a few comments about some of the critical things being said about Reformed churches in general and the Canadian Reformed Churches in particular. I’ve spent time in a number of different Reformed denominations: I was raised Canadian Reformed. While living in Holland I attended the Nederlands Gereformeerde Kerken (which split off from the Liberated in late 1960s). I served as a pastoral intern at the Trinity OPC in Chicago, Illinois and the First CRC of Taber, Alberta and am now a minister in the URC. At seminary, some of my fellow students called me “Mr. Ecumenical.” Needless to say, having spent some time in a number of different communions, I have come to know—in some measure—the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Today I enjoy a lot of interaction with what you would call mainstream evangelical Christians. I serve as adjunct faculty at the Peace River Bible Institute, where the makeup of both students and faculty is generally Baptist (most of whom are “progressive” dispensationalists). I also host a fellowship group in my house for area ministers who are interested in the Reformed faith. Ministers from the Christian Missionary Alliance church, Baptist churches, Church of Christ and Evangelical Free churches attend frequently and eagerly. Here’s what I want to say: Many mainstream evangelicals are looking at Reformed churches with “beady eyes” and “drooling mouths.” What they like about Reformed churches is exactly what some people within Reformed churches don’t like, such as: time-tested, historical, orderly liturgies, catechism preaching, expository preaching (in series), God-centered worship services (as opposed to man-centered entertainment), psalm singing, the importance of the covenant, etc.
Half of the membership of the church I serve comes from non-Reformed backgrounds (a number of families from the Roman church, as well as Pentecostal, Baptist, Mennonite, Lutheran—you name it) and non-Christian backgrounds. For all of these people, coming to the Reformed faith has brought a deep sigh of relief—finally they can worship God in spirit and in truth, without being put on edge by distasteful worship services and questionable teaching.
The message I have, therefore, for those in confessional Reformed churches is this: keep doing what you are doing, but do it better than it has ever been done before. The greatest revival Christendom has ever known—the Protestant Reformation—was not innovation, but a restoration and recovery of the truths and practices of historic Christianity. Keep up the good exegesis, keep the respect for tradition, keep the worship services focused on the glory of God, keep catechism preaching, keep expository preaching, especially textual-thematic, covenant-historical preaching.
That’s precisely what the church today needs to do: put away efforts to modernize (against tradition) and try to mobilize (with tradition). And by “with tradition” I don’t mean an archaeological reconstruction of the past, like meticulously following Calvin’s liturgy or even the Westminster Directory. Simply “going back” never constitutes genuine reform. What we need to do is preserve the “heart” of what has been passed down to us by our ecclesiastical forefathers and make that “heart” the source of our church life today. This, in my little experience and little knowledge, is much more than simply pastoral (a good enough reason). It is faithful and it is fruitful.
And this is precisely what is being done, in greater or less degrees, in the Canadian Reformed Churches, Free Reformed Churches, Free Churches of Scotland, Orthodox Presbyterian Churches, United Reformed Churches and others. Much improvement is needed, but the foundation for a divinely blessed role in the wider church and world has been laid.
So be careful when you criticize. Not only are you criticizing the very churches evangelical Christians are looking to for leadership and direction because they love what they see and hear; you are also criticizing the body of Christ, which He purchased with His own blood. In a day in which the church is hated (by the world) and criticized (from within the church), the love of Christ for His body will be sure and steadfast. And that’s the source of my hope for the future.
William (“Bill”) De Jong is a 1996 graduate of Mid-America Reformed Seminary, located in Dyer, Indiana. He is now serving as pastor of the Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church, Grande Prarie, Alberta, Canada, a member of the new federation known as the United Reformed Churches of North America.