Request Denied to Add Belhar to Covenant for Officebearers

Synod 2025 chose not to accede to Classis Hackensack’s request to include the Belhar Confession in the paragraph concerning contemporary testimonies in the Christian Reformed Church’s Covenant for Officebearers, citing that Synod 2017 specifically decided “Adherence to the Belhar Confession shall not be included in the Covenant for Officebearers.”

Synod is the annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. It is meeting June 13-19 in Ancaster, Ont.

The Belhar Confession, which was written for and adopted by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa in 1986 and considered as a contemporary testimony of the CRCNA since 2017, highlights God’s call to unity, justice, and reconciliation. “The Belhar reminds us that when we profess our faith in Christ, we do so as part of the global church,” says the preamble on the CRCNA website. “And belonging to the global church comes with responsibilities, each part being accountable to the others.”

Jeff Scripps, Classis Georgeown, was in favor, saying, “I believe it’s been said already that the confessions we have already address issues of justice and reconciliation. The fact that the church has ignored those just proves the church is made up of sinners. We could keep writing excellent confessions, but the problem is in the human heart.”

Jonathan Spronk, Classis Central Plains, was in favor and questioned why synod needed to address this: “Why now? Has something changed?”

Other delegates expressed that not including the Belhar, which is in the category of “contemporary testimony,” is inconsistent because “Our World Belongs to God,” which is in the same category, is named in the Covenant for Officebearers.

Jeff Bennett, Classis Pacific Northwest, said, “To me, we are being inconsistent in the way we handle things with something we say we agree with,” noting that the Belhar confession is “something that speaks to unity, which is something our church really needs right now.”

Nate Van Denden, Classis Ontario Southwest, was part of a group that proposed a different response to Hackensack’s request. He said, “The Belhar offers an extended meditation” on Ephesians 2, which “is very meaningful for people who are in need of reconciliation.” He said, “Considering what our denomination has gone through, (reconciliation) is an important thing to think about.” He said it was inconsistent for synod to call its decisions “settled and binding” but then not treat its statement on the Belhar Confession that way.

Richard Grift, Classis Toronto, who reported for the group that recommended to not accede to Hackensack’s request, said the request hadn’t supplied substantial reasons to make the change. He said, “the door is still open” if someone wanted to come back to the topic with “more robust grounds” another year. 

Synod 2025, the annual general assembly of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, is meeting June 13-19 on the campus of Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ont. Find daily coverage from The Banner at TheBanner.org/synod. Visit crcna.org/synod for the agenda, advisory reports, recordings of plenary sessions, and to subscribe to the daily Synod News email.