Infant Baptism: God’s Promise or Ours?

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Ryan L. Faber
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Christian Reformed ◽  
Infant Baptism ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Christian Reformed Church

This article examines the baptism liturgies of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC). It argues that parental promises eclipse the promise of God in the practice of baptism in the CRC. A discernible shift from an emphasis on God’s promise in the CRC’s oldest liturgy to an increasing emphasis on parental promises in the new liturgies adopted by Synods 1976 and 1994 is observed. Ambiguity about the meaning of baptism is evident in the CRC’s newest baptism liturgies, adopted by Synods 2013 and 2016. This article concludes that the denomination should adopt a new baptism liturgy in which parental promises are made only after the administration of their child’s baptism.

scholarly journals The The Church as diaconia. One view of the Reformed understanding of diaconia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Avila ◽  
Esko Ryökäs
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
John Calvin ◽  
General Description ◽  
Christian Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Christian Reformed Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Tradition ◽  
The Way

The Church of John Calvin in Geneva is nowadays known as the beginning of the Reformed Church tradition. When we strive a general description of the central elements of the reformed view of deacons and their tasks of today (diaconia), which is the goal of this article, we have it difficult to define an adequate source for this information. In this article, we analyze the way of diaconal thinking, presented in the modern documents of one very mainstream Church in USA and Canada: The Christian Reformed Church in North America. As a result, we see how the Calvinistic way of understanding the Gospel lead to an understanding of the Church as Diaconia. However, there is some dogmatical tension, too.

“Let the little children come”: Liturgical Revision and Paedocommunion in the Christian Reformed Church

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-216
Author(s):  
Ryan L. Faber
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
Christian Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Christian Reformed Church

This article examines the Lord’s Supper liturgies of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) and inquires into a possible relationship between liturgical changes and the admission of children to the Lord’s Supper. The stern warnings and emphasis on communicants’ understanding of the sacrament in the CRC’s oldest liturgies necessarily excluded children from participating in the sacrament. The 1968 Order for Communion was a milestone in the denomination’s liturgical growth. The absence of a preparatory exhortation and lengthy exposition provide a liturgy which can imagine children participating in the Lord’s Supper. An increasing emphasis on communicants’ communion with one another, evident in the 1981 Service of Word and Sacrament and the formularies adopted by Synods 1994 and 2016 may have helped facilitate the denomination’s acceptance of paedocommunion.

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