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By Rev. Richard Vander Vaart
ordained ministry that I have been sent as a delegate to the Council. Let me introduce myself, Rev. Richard Vander Vaart, an evangelist with Redemption Prison Ministry, a member of the
Interchurch Relations Committee, and the Canadian among the four delegates sent by the A.R.P. The other delegates are Rev. William Barron, Rev. Benjamin Glaser, and Rev. Kyle Sims. For those who are not familiar with NAPARC, it is important to note that the name is an acrostic, and it stands for “North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council.” This year’s meeting, held founding denominations. Today, there are thirteen denominations that send representatives. Added to this, it is good for you, the reader, to know that there are a few denominations that send observ ers. These observer denominations are considering the possibility of becoming more involved. ster Confession, Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Council is the barrage of acrostics. There are short forms related to the names of denominations. Sometimes, these require careful attention, like distinguishing the KAPC (Korean American Presby terian Church) from the KPCA (Korean Presbyterian Church Abroad). On Tuesday evening, Rev. Christopher Campbell, pastor of the host church, led a devotional service for all the delegates, the spouses of delegates who attended, and various members of his the throne of Jesus as believers sing praises to God our glorious LORD. There is joy in delighting in a foretaste of heaven, where believers from so many different locations and denominations gather for worship. The recitation of the Apostles Creed by a sanctuary full of predominately male voices was such a beautiful testimony to our common faith and our sure hope, which is anchored in Jesus
One obvious question that many of my friends ask (and you might be wondering about as well) is, “What do you do at these two days of meetings”? Well, each of the denominations sends in a written report so that delegates have a chance to read and learn about the others before the meeting begins. Then, by turns, a representative brings a report highlighting the past year for his is celebrating forty years, and the Reformed Church United States is celebrating its 300th anniver
Reports brought by these men focus on things like changes to church order. Such com mon, almost prosaic events can have an im pact on the other member denominations. By drawing attention to these changes, there is an opportunity for discussion. Church order can deal with the ways in which interdenomina tional activities are structured. Other times a presbytery is planning on planting a church however, another group, their classis (roughly equivalent to the A.R.P. Presbytery), might al ready have one underway. The church member bringing a verbal re port will have a representative from another denomination ask questions. This happens in plenary sessions. That is, all the representa tives are all together in one place. This is con and accountability on a multilateral level. Out side of these plenary sessions, there are op portunities for bilateral relationships. That is, representatives from two denominations meet together to talk about matters of mutual inter est and concern, This past summer, the Synod of the A.R.P.
that led to the dissolution of Second Presbytery has implications for other partners. Questions might arise like, what happens to the ministers who didn’t join one of the other A.R.P. Presby teries? Other denominations might consider receiving such men, so it is important to make clear the status of ministers who willingly chose to remain disassociated with the A.R.P. In those bilateral conversations, the implica tions of declaring Free Masonry incompatible with the Bible have a big impact on sister de nominations as well. Finally, the fact that D.V., will form its own entity as the A.R.P. in Canada caused a bit of a stir. It led to discussions about potential fraternal relations among denomina tions with a strong presence in Canada. Of course, there is much more that happens
a bit of a sense of what happens at a NAPARC Meeting. A word of thanks should go out to the local congregation, which provided wonderful lunches and suppers and snacks for various re freshment breaks.
I’d like to conclude this article by saying thank you so much to you in the pews and ses sion meetings who read this. Thank you for the privilege you have given me to go as one of the delegates to NAPARC. Thank you for the joy it afforded me to see, once again, how beautiful is the body of Christ and how precious is the fellowship of the saints near and far.
Rev. Richard Vander Vaart is a minister of the Canadian Presbytery.
8 The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
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