November 9 Today in OPC History

At its annual meeting conducted in Atlanta on November 9, 1990, the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) adopted the following resolution:

“In harmony with the stated ‘purpose and function’ of the NAPARC to ‘exercise mutual concern in the perpetuation, retention, and propagation of the Reformed faith’ (Constitution III:3), the NAPARC calls upon the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) to reverse the action of the 1990 Synod leading to opening the offices of minister and ruling elder to women, as contrary to the Scriptures and the Reformed standards which insist that ‘everything [will] be carried out in the church … according to the rule prescribed by Saint Paul in his Epistle to Timothy’ (Belgic Confession of Faith, Article XXX). In 1 Timothy 2 and 3, in giving authoritative instruction regarding proper conduct ‘in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth’ (3:15), the apostle explicitly disallows to a woman the exercise of teaching or ruling authority over men in the church (2:12), and grounds this command in the divine creation order.

“We send this resolution to our brethren in the Christian Reformed Church with profound respect and deep appreciation for the Christian Reformed Church, in a humble spirit and with a heavy heart.”

OPC delegates to this meeting included John Galbraith, William Shishko, Robert Strimple, and Thomas Tyson. The OPC joined other NAPARC churches in adopting this resolution unanimously (with the CRC abstaining). The council would proceed to suspend the membership of the Christian Reformed Church in 1999. Three years later, the CRC, a founding member of NAPARC in 1975, had its council membership terminated.

Photo: At the organizational meeting of NAPARC in 1975, the first officers elected were (left to right) Dr. J. Barton Payne (RPCES, secretary), the Rev. John P. Galbraith (chairman), and Arnold A. Bel (CRC, treasurer).