Report of the May 18, 2004 Meeting of Classis Hamilton Held at Faith Christian Reformed Church, Burlington
Classis Hamilton met together in Burlington at Faith CRC on May 18, 2004. It was a meaningful time of reflection, work and celebration. Pastor Shawn Brix did a wonderful job of moving us through a very full and varied agenda. The day began with a review of Faith’s ministry and a celebration of God’s work in that congregation. From there, we had a focused hour-and-a-half long discussion around the vision, mission and purpose of Classis. This was led by the Classis Review and Visioning Team and was a fruitful time of thinking about how to better strengthen the relationships between the churches and ministries of Classis and how to better serve God in ministry together. This visioning work will continue at subsequent Classis meetings.
Lis VanHarten made a presentation about the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE) program. This program is made available through a grant from the Lily foundation and is specifically designed to help pastors grow in specific areas of ministry. Currently, 16 area pastors and leaders have taken advantage of this grant and are engaged in a year-long study of the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.
We heard reports of good things happening in a variety of ministries and agencies: Mike Fallon shared some of his blessings as chaplain at McMaster university. John Postuma celebrated God’s work with World-Wide Christian schools. Harmena Sytsma and Trish DeJong spoke about World Missions with an inspiring snapshot of ministry and life in Kazakhstan. We also celebrated what God is doing through the work of CRWRC, CRC Home Missions, CRC Publications and other agencies.
Rick Verkerk, reporting for the Home Missions Committee, alerted Classis to a couple of ministry concerns. New Life CRC is dealing with the pending resignation of Pastor Nhai Khounvongsa, effective December 31, 2004. Also, the Hamilton Asian Christian Church (HACC) is struggling with the viability of its future. Both ministries are in need of our prayers.
In an exciting development, Leo Gatotos has accepted the call to plant a church in north Burlington. He was introduced to Classis and spoke briefly about his current year-long residency with Home Missions preparing him for this work.
Classis also wrestled with several overtures. The first came from the Burlington CRC, requesting that Synod slow down the Succession Plan for the transition of key leadership positions in the denomination. The concern is that some key issues are not addressed in the synodical report, especially pertaining to the Canadian side of the CRC, and require further study. Classis agreed with those concerns and the overture will be forwarded to Synod.
The second overture came from Bethel CRC in Waterdown, addressing the Synodical report on alternate routes to ministry in the CRC. Classis decided to send a communication instead of an overture, which raises some concerns about moving in this direction.
A third overture came from Fellowship CRC Ancaster, asking that the churches within Classis ensure that their pastors take a regular day of rest each week. The overture was not acceded to; however Councils and churches were encouraged to ensure that their pastors have appropriate rest built into their lives and ministries.
A good spirit prevailed throughout the day, and there is an ongoing sense that the Lord is bringing about good things in our region. We give Him thanks!
Pastor Kevin DeRaaf
Reporter