NR #1995-077: Two Services on Sunday Rule is Now Optional Synod voted this evening to change a 376-year-old practice of requiring churches to have two services on Sunday. The requirement, dating back to the 1619 Synod of Dort which required ministers in the Dutch Reformed state church to conduct evening services even if only their own families attended, has fallen into widespread neglect in many Christian Reformed congregations despite a church order mandate that "the congregation shall assemble for worship at least twice on the Lord's Day to hear God's Word, to receive the sacraments, to engage in praise and prayer, and to present gifts of gratitude." NR #1995-077: For Immediate Release Two Services on Sunday Rule is Now Optional by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (June 21, 1995) URNS - Synod voted this evening to change a 376-year-old practice of requiring churches to have two services on Sunday. The requirement, dating back to the 1619 Synod of Dort which required ministers in the Dutch Reformed state church to conduct evening services even if only their own families attended, has fallen into widespread neglect in many Christian Reformed congregations despite a church order mandate that "the congregation shall assemble for worship at least twice on the Lord's Day to hear God's Word, to receive the sacraments, to engage in praise and prayer, and to present gifts of gratitude." This year's synod proposed a church order change that the congregation must "assemble for worship ordinarily twice" on the Lord's Day. Unlike women in office, this decision will still need to be adopted by next year's synod since the proposal makes a change in the church order itself rather than in the church order supplement and arises from an overture that was not in the hands of the churches until the Agenda for Synod was received. "This report is submitted in an attempt to address reality," said advisory committee reporter Rev. Lambert Sikkema, noting that the second service was originally instituted following the Reformation as "a means for educating the people about the doctrine of the church." The proposal went through several wording drafts after a first draft was voted down by synod. First clerk Rev. Howard Vanderwell said the original wording represented an unacceptable downgrading of Lord's Day observance. "The last thing we need in the church order is something that undermines us, and that is what this does," said Vanderwell. "This ground is insidious because it downgrades the denomination's desire to say we want people to attend 'a' preaching service on the Lord's Day. We have never said that before." The somewhat unusual word order in the final draft followed a warning from Calvin Seminary professor of church polity Dr. Henry De Moor about wording problems in a second draft of the proposal. "This is a more momentous change than the one which was originally considered and voted down," said De Moor. "The way this reads, the congregation will ordinarily assemble for worship on Sunday, but on some Sundays they might decide to get together and go skiing." While the revised wording will still require the congregation to meet at least once on Sunday, Classis Illiana delegate Rev. Richard Blauw reminded the delegates that second services may not remain "ordinary" in the CRC for long. "Lest we think this word 'ordinarily' will not affect attendance adversely at the second service on the Lord's Day, let us remember that the same word is used in Article 51 of the Church Order with regard to Old Year's Night services," said Blauw, referring to an almost extinct practice in the CRC. Contact List: Mr. Tim Penning or Mrs. Bonny Wynia, Christian Reformed Synodical News Office Calvin College, 3201 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 * O: (616) 957-8652 * FAX: (616) 957-8551 To Reach Delegates During Synod: (616) 957-6000 Pre-Recorded CRC Synod Hotline: (616) 957-8654 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-077.txt .