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Address to Synod by Reverend P Nel
on behalf of the Free Reformed Churches of South Africa
Thursday 10th July 2003 - Synod Rockingham, Western Australia, 2003
Dear chairman, delegates and all brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ!
Almost exactly three years ago your delegate, Reverend Clarence Bouwman was present at our synod and he had a message from you. We were not very familiar with your churches at that stage. We knew about you from reports, like the report of reverent Viljoen after his visit here and from individuals like reverent Kees Kleyn, who was minister at Legana. But it was when brother Bouwman spoke, that the reality of your existence and support really dawned on us. We experienced the reality of Christian brotherly love and it meant a lot to us. The truth of the Catholic Church became very real again and therewith the words of second John 1:1-4: "To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us for ever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father." You appeared almost from nowhere and you were sent, no doubt. You have been strengthening your smallest little sister ever since. Our Lord has ordained it, like He does with everything else, in perfect timing.
That bond is even stronger today and you a reality that we treasure. How can I forget my visit to your churches in 2001. I saw a God fearing people in the midst of a secular, a materialistic and prosperous land. I understood again that the Lord works where His word, as confessed by His church of all ages, is being respected and obeyed.
But beloved, let us always remember that our greatest danger lies within us all. It is the sinful tendency of man, even religious man, to reinvent the wheel, to chop and change the unchanging truths of Scripture as stipulated in our confessions! To stand firm on these unchanging norms in these days is tough. The pressure to compromise is immense and the natural inward and sinful tendency to adhere to these temptations is as real as life itself. Who likes to be alone? On the other hand a helpful hand from a sister, like the one you extended to us, is ever so important in all the ecclesiastical relations of the Lords Church.
Brothers, our churches have sent me to encourage you and assure you of our prayers and support. Let us not be disheartened by the immensity of our task. Let nothing make us refrain from our calling, whether we experience the threats of the devil, the resistance from man, whether we stumble because of our own weaknesses, the enormity of the agenda or it's delicate contents, but let us rejoice in God and in His covenant promises. We cannot change the world, man or history, but God can. He governs it all and us all. What He asks from his church is only trust and obedience. In Christ we have, through faith, all the heavenly blessings promised in the Gospel and sealed by the sacraments. Let us say, as David said: For by Thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall (Ps 18:29). See His great blessings on you in the way that you have grown from your moderate beginnings and take courage in the echoing voices of those who are truthfully abiding in the reformed confessions with you all over the world.
Brothers we are all toiling hard and our time is few and very precious. There are so many things that we want to do, even things that we wish we could do over again. Be reminded though that there is no better calling than the calling of our Great Shepherd. Don't become weary of doing the good work (Gal 6:9). When we have done all that we should let us say: "We are unprofitable servants, we have only done what we are supposed to do" (Luk 17:10). Let us remember the words of our Lord when He said: "For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
May we always argue, as far as possible, in principle and not in a personal, emotional or strategic way. Let us do our churches the favour of being clear on the unchangeable confession of the true church. In these post modernistic times the Herd must hear the loving but holy voice of the Shepherd leading them through the crooked valleys of this sinful world.
In South Africa your little sister has also been quite busy. I mention a few things:
Something about the demographics first. We have eight instituted churches in South-Africa. Seven who is up North in the vicinity of Pretoria and Johannesburg, approximately 1200 km from the church in Cape Town. They are Johannesburg, Pretoria, Pretoria-Maranatha, Bethal and Springs ("white churches"), Mamelodi and Soshangove-North ("black churches"). In Cape Town reverent Breytenbach and reverent Nicholson are working as missionaries amongst the colored people in Belhar and Wesbank. The churches are grouped in classis A (Pretoria, Springs and Cape Town) and B (Pretoria-Maranatha, Bethal and Johannesburg). Mamelodi and Soshangove have not yet been taken up in the bond of churches.
The Work Under the Disenchanted is continuing positively and we have learnt a lot. One is that the term "verontrustes" (disenchanted) is a bit vague and therefore caused some "verontrusting" in itself. Because of this we are suggesting a new name for deputies to our next synod. The name is: "National Reformation" and we feel that it is much more to the point. The principle of article 28 of the Belgic Confession will be even more central in this new vision. Another is that the first wave of disenchantment has settled itself and nearly all disenchanted now do belong to a structured group somewhere. This means that the work crystallized into a more formal phase where discussions will take place with identified groups. All churches will have to come to understand that we are all called to commit ourselves to a definite and structured national reformation, which includes the long term goal of one truly reformed bond of churches with a local and national address. Another fact that seems evident is that a fixed preaching point in an identified area is of strategic importance. Only when people are called to a practical commitment of discipleship, does the reality of being church brake through. In the meantime the harvest was there, be it modest. Families and individuals were taken up in our churches. Through the work of Mendel Retief people have joined our churches and eight students are regularly attending classes at our Seminary. In Secunda the English ward is standing firm and we have regular visitors attending. In Cape Town reverent Viljoen has tried new inroads and not without results. He has been invited to lead a Bible study group in Stellenbosch, the academic and cultural heartland of the Cape Province. We want to thank your churches, brothers, for your excellent support in this regard.
With the Theological Training things have also reached a new stage. Our theological school is modest but it is now an established institution. Although it is still very small, we may look back on many blessings. The very first student from our school, Jopie van der Linden has been working fruitfully in the FRC of Johannesburg. Apart from this one minister already in office we also have two final year students. At this stage Axel Hagg and Erik van der Linden are preparing for the final stages of their final year. The FRC of Cape Town has also enlisted two students from Belhar and Westbank, our colored missionary churches in the Cape Province. These two brothers, Carl van Wyk and Piet Abrahams, are now in their second year of training. Our churches did feel that proper training for all ministers of the Word is essential. Therefore they combined the academic training, basic languages included, with in the field training. We have also been cooperating with the Theological Seminary of Mokhanyo, where our black students are being trained. Brother Veenendaal was at synod last year and witnessed their examination and acceptation, with that of Jopie van der Linden. We will also receive our own premises in due time. It will be DV on that of the new grounds of our Maranatha church in Pretoria. The visit of professor Geerstema was also supportive of our theological school.
On the missionary scene things are also happening. Two of our black churches, Mamelodi and Soshangove North, have instituted and will soon request to be taken up in the bond of the FRCSA. Thanks to the hard work of our missionaries at the Mokhanyo Theological Seminary these churches have now called their own ministers, Tebogo Mogale and Piet Magagula, both products of Mokhanyo, to the two respective churches. Sad to say that one of our missionaries, reverent Dirk Mauritz Boersma, was called to Denver and has already left. Soshangove North, where reverent de Visser is the missionary, got heir own primary school, named Lesedi after a long struggle with the education system in South-Africa.
Having mentioned this, may I add that the conditions in post-apartheid South-Africa, is far from ideal. Crime and corruption is in the order of the day. Nearly everyone has a close relative or friend who has been hijacked, robbed or attacked in house or on farm. The educational system in SA is not a bed of roses either. Government is aggressively attempting to eradicate the propagation of any one single religion in state schools replacing it with an inter faith approach. This is one reason why we are also visiting your schools in this period. The necessity of starting our own covenant schools is of prior importance. For this very reason we have decided, in our own church in Bethal, to start with our own "John Calvin School". Please pray for us. It will take a lot of hard work and devotion and we need all the support that we can get.
You may remember that the youngest church to be taken up in our bond is the church in Springs. Reverent Retief senior went on emeritus and Mendel Retief was called to serve in that church.
We have also had our share of intricacies in the matter of local church relations. Sad to say that the synod of the Gereformeerde Kerke van Suid-Afrika was an enormous dissapointment. There were warnings from us, the Reformed Churches of New Zealand (RCNZ), reverent John Rogers and the Uniting Reformed Churches (URC), reverent Sikkema. Even though our warning signals, and that of these delegates were ignored that day, we were encouraged by the fact that these delegates had the strength to stand firmly. But our brothers in South-Africa carried through their decisions on allowing women in the office and accepting the new liberal "Cloete Psalmody". This new Psalmody approaches the messianic contents from the perspective of the new hermeneutic, which totally disconnects the Old and New Testament. It failed to take up the whole content of the Psalms in the lyrics and has reduced it to approximately two thirds. It is sad to say that they are slowly being sucked into the humanistic trends of so many churches that have gone on that route before them, including their two so called "sister churches", the Dutch Reformed Church and the Hervormde Kerk. No wonder that there are already clear voices of disenchantment in their own ranks. Two churches have already gone in "doleansie" after the last synod. Please pray for them and for us, your sister church in South-Africa, in our contacts with them. Given this new scenario we have lost our urgency in discussions with regard to unity. The issue is being discussed with our sister church in the Netherlands, the GKN (v), with whom the GKSA desires sisters church relations. Like you we also need a lot of wisdom to be the salt and the light that we must be, especially when it concerns a sister church relation on your own doorstep.
On your doorstep things have changed positively. A new Church stands in Bunbury and will hopefully have its own minister one of these days. We have noted in your last Bulletin that a even younger Darling Downs church instituted. This means that you have grown from a moderate number in the fifties to the twelve strong and vital churches that you are at the moment. We praise the Lord for His blessings upon you and acknowledge that respect for Him, his Word and his true church will always be blessed.
Brothers, you have important items on your agenda, especially that of church relations. May the Lord lead you in all wisdom walking in love but never compromising the truth. In closing down I'd like to remind us all of the words of Luther: "Peace if possible, but truth at any rate". The words of second John also comes to mind: "And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have heard from the beginning: that we love one another." And how is this love defined? John goes on and says: "This is love, that we walk according to His commandments."
Thank you brother chairman, and all present.
Pieter Nel.
Free Reformed churches of South-Africa.
last updated 22 Jul 2003
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