Here are the highlights from the last day of the Synod (Wednesday May 26):

  • In article 151, the Synod decided to provisionally adopt the Proposed Joint Church Order.  However, they did ask the Church Order committee to continue tweaking it and present a final edition to the next synod.
  • “Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary” is the new operational name of our theological training institution.  Definitely an improvement, in my estimation.
  • In case anybody missed it earlier in the Acts, article 161 reiterates that the revised Psalms are to be used in the worship services.
  • Synod decided to include “Jesus Shall Reign Where E’er the Sun” in our hymnary, contrary to the recommendation of the Book of Praise committee.  I commented on this hymn earlier and I’m glad that it’s been included.
  • The next synod will be hosted by Carman West (in Manitoba) in 2013.
  • The letter to the URC Synod was adopted.  You can find a copy here.
  • Hard copies of the Acts will only be made available upon request and then only at the cost of the churches requesting them.
  • Article 176 deals with the matter of women’s voting.  After affirming that only men may serve in the special ecclesiastical offices, the Synod declared that “any arrangement for the election of office bearers that goes beyond what has been agreed upon by the churches in Art. 3 CO is a matter of local regulations, adopted for that purpose by consistory with the deacons.”  This is a controversial decision, of course.  I will comment more on it tomorrow.

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