Report of Classis Hamilton meeting: Tuesday January 15, 2008
Classis Hamilton was wonderfully hosted by Hope CRC in Brantford on Tuesday, January 15. Elder Henry Vaandering and Pastor Ken Benjamins opened the day with devotions and spoke about the renewed sense of vision and calling that God is unfolding at Hope CRC. Throughout the day, we were blessed by the leadership of Shawn Brix, who served as chair, as well as John Bouwers, our vice-chair and our faithful clerk, Peter Zwart.
This was the first occasion where women were seated as delegates to a meeting of Classis Hamilton. Though there continues to be some disagreement among our churches on this issue and several Councils communicated their objection to the decision of Synod concerning women in ecclesiastical office, the commitment to unity was strongly felt. The chair welcomed the women delegates to our Classis meeting.
Classis approved the retirement of Rev. John Postuma, which will be effective on September 24, 2008. We celebrated Pastor John’s faithful ministry, including his years of serving churches in Classis Hamilton and his ministry with Worldwide Christian Schools for the past 7 years. He gave an inspiring update on the work of WCS.
The Classical Ministry Team (Al Karsten, Andrew Zantingh and Kevin DeRaaf) led an hour-long presentation and discussion around the vision and mission of Classis. The basic question was, “Why does Classis Hamilton exist?” The answer we wrapped our heads and hearts around is that Classis exists for the sake of our Greater Hamilton region. The purpose of Classis is to be used by God to encourage and equip its member ministries and churches to renew our region. As reporter, I may be biased, but it was energizing to see how well the delegates engaged themselves in the presentation and discussion. The team will continue its work in the months to come.
A wonderful report was given by the Diaconal Ministries Board. Mark Vanderkruk spoke of his work as a deacon at Ancaster CRC; Jim Tichelaar shared about the shared work of the Hamilton Diaconal Conference in our region; Hans Kater celebrated what God is doing among deacons across Canada, and Ida Kaastra Mutoigo shared with us the wonderful work of the Christian Reformed Relief Committee, bringing the love and mercy of Jesus to communities around the world. Ida challenged each of our churches to develop a clear plan about how to engage in world-wide missions and encouraged us to keep praying for peace in the country of Kenya. We praise God for how our deacons show us what it means to show mercy and kindness to those in need.
We celebrate the ongoing work by our various committees and ministry teams. We thank God for the volunteers that help make Classis function well. Ruth Visser, our Classis Treasurer gave a financial report for 2007. We praise God for the generosity of our churches and encourage ongoing faithfulness in 2008. We received encouraging reports from Redeemer College; Shalom Manor; Michael Fallon, our chaplain at McMaster; our Youth Ministry Committee and others. There is another Sea-to-Sea bike tour taking place this summer with great representation from Classis Hamilton! Al Karsten inspired us with the vision of the tour to “break the cycle of poverty.” Churches are encouraged to support the bike tour.
Classis also selected delegates for Synod 2008. Ken Benjamins and Jim Pot (alternates: Paul Vandenbrink and Andrew Zantingh) were selected as pastor delegates; Fred Reitsma and John Glasbergen (alternates: Vicky Dykstra and Bert Hofland) were chosen as elder delegates.
It feels like Classis Hamilton is in transition. As we see God unfolding His work in our area, we wrestle with how to support our ministries most effectively and make the most of our regular Classis Meetings. In the meantime, we celebrate what God is doing among us!
In Christ,
Rev. Kevin DeRaaf (Faith CRC, Burlington)