Reformed Churches of New Zealand
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Reformed Churches of New Zealand is the New Zealand representation of the Reformed churches. The denomination is constituted of 19 member churches, the first eight of which were formed in 1953. Total membership as of 2005 stands at 3,500.
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[edit] Form of doctrine
The doctrine of the Reformed Churches of New Zealand is expressed in the four confessions of faith to which it subscribes. These are the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Belgic Confession (1566), Canons of Dort (1619) (known collectively as the Three Forms of Unity), and the Westminster Confession of Faith. Also recognised are the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed, all of which summarise the churches' doctrines.
The Reformed Churches of New Zealand are one of the few Reformed churches internationally to subscribe to both the Three Forms of Unity (common among Reformed churches with origins in the European continent, especially the Netherlands) and the Westminster Confession of Faith (common among Reformed or Presbyterian churches with origins in the British Isles).
[edit] Form of governance
The Reformed Churches of New Zealand hold to the system of Presbyterian church governance. Each church has a ruling Session comprised of elders, one of whom is the church’s minister (also known as the teaching elder). Churches which have no minister are said to be vacant. Each church also has deacons who are charged with maintaining the temporal well-being of church members and with alleviating social distress. In larger churches deacons meet in their own Deacons’ Courts, while in smaller churches they meet together with the rest of the Session. Only men are eligible to serve in the offices of minister, elder, and deacon.
Churches belong to one of three regional Presbyteries which meet three times per year to discuss matters of common interest and to provide mutual oversight. Churches also meet in General Synod once every three years to discuss matters of joint interest and to manage activities pertaining to the denomination. Rights of appeal are available to presbytery and synod.
[edit] Constituent churches
| Church | Year Formed |
Current Minister |
| Auckland Presbytery | ||
| Reformed Church of Avondale | 1964 | vacant |
| Reformed Presbyterian Church of Bucklands Beach |
1953 | Dirk Van Garderen |
| Reformed Church of Hamilton | 1953 | vacant |
| Reformed Church of Hukanui | 2002 | Reinier Noppers |
| Reformed Church of Mangere | 1964 | Sjirk Bajema |
| Reformed Church of North Shore | 1980 | John Rogers |
| Reformed Church of Pukekohe | 1989 | John Haverland |
| Wellington Presbytery | ||
| Reformed Church of Foxton [1] | 1984 | John Zuidema |
| Reformed Church of Hastings | 1960 | Bruce Hoyt |
| Reformed Church of Masterton | 1987 | Peter Kloosterman |
| Reformed Church of Palmerston North (including a group at Wanganui) [2] |
1953 | vacant vacant |
| Reformed Church of Silverstream | 1967 | Paul Archbald |
| Reformed Church of Wainuiomata | 1975 | Leo de Vos |
| Reformed Church of Wellington | 1953 | John Goris |
| Christchurch Presbytery | ||
| Reformed Church of Bishopdale | 1982 | Robert van Wichen |
| Reformed Church of Christchurch | 1953 | Jim Klazinga |
| Reformed Church of Dovedale | 2001 | Michael Flinn |
| Reformed Church of Dunedin [3] (including a group at Oamaru) |
1955 | Hans Vaatstra |
| Reformed Church of Nelson | 1953 | Ralph Adams |
[edit] Ecumenical contacts
The Reformed Churches of New Zealand is a member of the International Conference of Reformed Churches [4]. Sister-church relationships are held with churches abroad which hold to similar doctrine and practice.
- Sister churches:
- Christian Reformed Churches of Australia [5]
- Orthodox Presbyterian Church, USA [6]
- Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia [7]
- Reformed Church in South Africa (Die Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika) [8]
- Christian Reformed Churches of the Netherlands (De Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland) [9]
- Reformed Churches of the Netherlands (Liberated) (Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland [Vrijgemaakt]) [10]
- Other churches with which contact is had:
[edit] History
Reformed churches have their origins in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the late 1940s migrants from the Netherlands settling in New Zealand expected to find their spiritual homes in existing churches of Reformed persuasion. Instead they found departures from Reformed doctrine and practice that they could not overlook. Discussions were begun in Auckland in 1951 with a view to establishing an indigenous Reformed denomination. A minister from the Netherlands, Rev J W Deenick, arrived in 1952 to support the fledgling group. The Reformed Churches of New Zealand were officially established in 1953 at a synod in Wellington where churches from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were represented. By the end of that year further churches in Bucklands Beach, Hamilton, Nelson and Palmerston North were established. A further 12 member churches have since been formed.
[edit] Theonomy Debate
As with many other conservative Calvinist churches, the Reformed Churches of New Zealand were convulsed by controversy over theonomy, a theocratic ideology that is otherwise known as Christian Reconstructionism, whose chief proponents were the late Rousas John Rushdoony, Greg Bahnsen and Gary North. In the early eighties, several Reformed Church of New Zealand trainees attended the Reformed Theological College in Geelong, Victoria, where Greg Bahnsen was a lecturer, and were exposed to his ideology (Bahnsen never lectured at the Reformed theological College in Geelong. He was a lecturer in a Seminary in the US, which is where these NZ students came under his influence).
Richard Flinn was to prove a particularly notorious proponent of this philosophy, especially during New Zealand's debate over homosexual law reform in 1985/86, where he advocated the death penalty for homosexuality, which had not existed in the British Commonwealth since the nineteenth century. Flinn was minister at the North Shore Reformed Church, where he published The Isachaarian Report, and acolytes also produced Family Alert, and ran an organisation called Women of the Reformed Church. Flinn later left the North Shore Reformed Church under unexplained circumstances. The General Synod of the Reformed Church debated the issue in 1989, and reached no firm conclusions, therefore proponents of theonomy are not excluded from membership.
[edit] Worship
The churches hold worship services twice each Sunday and generally on Christmas Day, Good Friday, Ascension Day and New Year's Eve. Preaching from the Bible is the central element of worship. Preaching is by ordained ministers, or alternatively sermons written by an ordained minister may be read by a lay male Session appointee when a minister is not available. Sung praise and corporate prayer are the next most significant elements of worship. The Christian Reformed Church in North America's Psalter Hymnal is the main source of hymnody, however the compilation and evaluation of a denominational psalter/hymnal is currently in progress. The singing of the Psalms features strongly in the hymnody. Corporate confession of sin and the assurance of God's pardon are an integral part of Sunday morning worship, while in the second service one of the creeds is usually recited in unison.
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper (or Holy Communion) is celebrated at least three-monthly. The sacrament of baptism is administered to the infant children of church members.
[edit] List of synods
| No. | Year | Venue | Moderator and General Adjunct | Clerks |
| 1 | 1953 | Wellington | R E Dijkstra, Wellington J W Deenick, Auckland |
1: A van Gelder |
| 2 | 1953 | Auckland | J W Deenick, Auckland E Dijkstra, Wellington |
1: Th Althuis |
| 3 | 1954 | Wellington | E Dijkstra, Wellington J A Scarrow, Bucklands Beach |
1: A van Gelder 2: F Channing |
| 4 | 1955 | Christchurch | B Boelens, Christchurch J W Deenick, Auckland |
1: F Channing 2: P G van Dam |
| 5 | 1957 | Hamilton | J W Deenick, Auckland E Dijkstra, Wellington |
1: W In’t Veld 2: J Kleinjan St: F Channing |
| 6 | 1957 | Dunedin | J A Scarrow, Bucklands Beach R J Venema, Dunedin |
1: H van der Pols 2: P G van Dam St: F Channing |
| 7 | 1961 | Wellington | R J Venema, Bucklands Beach J W Deenick, Auckland |
1: P G van Dam 2: W van Rij St: R J Venema |
| 8 | 1962 | Wellington | S Cooper, Christchurch P H Pellicaan, Dunedin |
1: D G Vanderpyl 2: R O Zorn, Hamilton St: R O Zorn, Hamilton |
| 9 | 1964 | Wellington | R O Zorn, Hamilton P van der Schaaf, Christchurch |
1: A I de Graaf, Wellington 2: F Channing, Nelson St: R O Zorn, Hamilton |
| 10 | 1965 | Christchurch | G I Williamson, Mangere P H Pellicaan, Dunedin |
1: A I de Graaf, Wellington 2: F Channing, Nelson St: R O Zorn, Hamilton |
| 11 | 1967 | Avondale | H L Hoving, Silverstream R O Zorn, Hamilton |
1: A I de Graaf, Wellington 2: T E Tyson, Bucklands Beach St: C J Reitsma, Wellington |
| 12 | 1969 | Nelson | C J Reitsma, Wellington T E Tyson, Bucklands Beach |
1: D G Vanderpyl 2: F Channing, Nelson St: D G Vanderpyl |
| 13 | 1971 | Wellington | H L Hoving, Silverstream/ Wainuiomata A W Palmer, Mangere |
1: W Wiersma, Christchurch 2: F W Kroon, Bucklands Beach St: D G Vanderpyl |
| 14 | 1974 | Silverstream | W Wiersma, Christchurch W A Davies, Bucklands Beach |
1: D G Vanderpyl 2: H L Hoving, Invercargill St: D G Vanderpyl |
| 15 | 1977 | Hamilton | G I Williamson, Silverstream A W Palmer, Mangere |
1: M Schwarz, Hamilton 2: L Reurich, Hastings St: D G Vanderpyl |
| 16 | 1980 | Palmerston North | M Schwarz, Hamilton J Goris, Avondale |
1: J C Williams, Nelson 2: L Reurich, Kerepehi/ Tokoroa St: D G Vanderpyl |
| 17 | 1983 | Christchurch | P D Stadt, Christchurch J E de Graaf, Bishopdale |
1: B U Kuipers, Palmerston North 2: C A R Larsen, Dunedin St: D G Vanderpyl |
| 18 | 1986 | Mangere | D J van Garderen, Bishopdale P R Flinn, North Shore |
1: B Hoyt, Silverstream 2: L Draijer, Nelson St: D G Vanderpyl |
| 19 | 1989 | Silverstream | W Wiersma, Hamilton B Kroon, Christchurch |
1: J A Haverland, Bucklands Beach 2: D van der Vecht, Avondale St: D G Vanderpyl |
| 20 | 1992 | Bishopdale | W Wiersma, Hamilton J A Haverland, Bishopdale |
1: M A Flinn, Pukekohe 2: B Hoyt, Masterton St: J Ploeg |
| 21 | 1995 | Avondale | J A Haverland, Bishopdale M A Flinn, Pukekohe |
1: B Hoyt, Hastings 2: W Walraven, Silverstream St: J Ploeg |
| 22 | 1998 | Wainuiomata | J A Haverland, Bishopdale G H Milne, Wainuiomata |
1: B Hoyt, Hastings 2: M A Flinn, Pukekohe St: B Hoyt, Hastings |
| 23 | 2001 | Palmerston North | M A Flinn, Dovedale M Capill, Bucklands Beach |
1: S Bajema, Mangere 2: J van Rensburg, Bucklands Beach St: B Hoyt, Hastings |
| 24 | 2002 | Christchurch | W Wiersma, Hamilton J A Haverland, Bishopdale |
1: B Hoyt, Hastings 2: W Walraven, Silverstream St: B Hoyt, Hastings |
| 25 | 2005 | Hamilton | J A Haverland, Pukekohe M A Flinn, Dovedale |
1: B Hoyt, Hastings 2: R de Vries, Christchurch St: B Hoyt, Hastings |
[edit] Latest synodical appointments
- Standing committees
- Church Extension Committee
- Church Order Committee
- Emeritus Fund and Long Service Leave Fund Committee
- Home Missions Committee
- Education Resource Committee
- Inter-Church Relations Committee
- Overseas Mission Board
- National Diaconate Committee
- National Publications Committee
- Political Contacts Committee
- Reformed Theological College and Student Assistance Committee
- Study committees
- Committee to Update Forms and Confessions
- Psalm and Hymnody Selection Committee
- Bible Version Study Committee
- Abortion Study Committee
- Other appointments
- Stated Clerk
- Synodical Treasurer
- Deputies to the Reformed Theological College
- Synodical Archivist
- Year Book Editor
- Synodical Liaison to Calvinist Cadet Corps
[edit] Further reading
- John Haverland: "Theonomy: What Have We Learned?" in Dirk Vanderpyl (ed) Trust and Obey: A History of the Reformed Churches of New Zealand: Hamilton: Reformed Church Publishing Society: 1994.
