The Great Importance of Christian Discipline
Painting a CRC Future: Part 7
Maintaining a healthy commitment to our theological vision requires a lot of teaching! This is why sociologist Dr. Gary Bouma, in his book “How the Saints Persevere”, recognized that the Christian Reformed Church’s growth in the ‘80s, despite their strong commitment to a controversial theological vision, was due in part to their emphasis on teaching these beliefs to their children.
In the last two weeks, we looked at the CRCNA’s commitments to 1. Separate Christian Education, and 2. Teaching and Preaching the Three Forms of Unity.
Each of these two educational commitments are emphasized by Bouma as being key structural factors to the CRCNA’s ability to retain it’s members and to therefore grow the numbers within their churches at the same time as other churches were losing numbers.
I don’t think it will be much of a surprise to anyone that I am going to suggest that a denomination-wide lessening of emphasis on these two factors — the teaching and preaching the catechism in our CRC churches in particular seems to have fallen off of a cliff! — has a strong causal relationship to the denomination’s decline in numbers.
The withdrawal from our traditional CRC distinctives and CRC vision has created a denomination with less to offer, less reason to stay. Watering down our CRC product has not made us more appealing to outsiders, it has only made us less appealing to anyone, inside or outside our churches.
And yet, while a decline in the previous two distinctives is lamentable, the decline of the third structural factor that Bouma identifies has the most disastrous implications and consequences of them all.
The third structural factor that Bouma identifies with the CRCNA’s continued numerical success as a denomination is perhaps the most surprising…
3. Christian Discipline
Bouma identifies the CRC’s (at the time) commitment to practicing Christian Discipline in churches and in the denomination as a key structural factor in the CRC’s vitality.
Bouma says,
“The CRC continues to take very seriously the matter of Christian discipline. This means that it monitors member’s behavior and theology and it sanctions deviations from the accepted norm.”
This is directly guided by our confessions. Article 29 of the Belgic Confession lists the 3 marks of the True Church as
the pure preaching of the gospel
the pure administration of the sacraments
practices church discipline in correcting faults
Bouma first notes the presence of many “informal sanctions”, such as “disapproval, threats of gossip, or ostracization”. There are certainly wrong ways of monitoring and sanctioning the behaviors of church members. But there are indeed important, appropriate formal discipline procedures that can be and were used by the CRC.
He describes a process like this:
“First, the offending party are made aware that they are considered to be derelict of duty. Secondly, if they fail to mend their ways the consistory meets with the person. Third, the person’s name is read out in Church and prayer is requested. Finally, the person is denied access to the sacraments.”
In addition to this formal process, two other practices are also held up as part of church discipline.
First, it is noted that the minister fences the table of the Lord’s Supper and that it is the duty of the elders to ensure the appropriateness of those receiving the sacrament.
Second, Bouma mentions the practice of “House Visitation” (the Huisbezoek).
“Every church family is visited by the minister and an elder of the congregation on a rotating schedule.
“In the context of these visits, questions are asked about the family’s dovotional practices, their conformity with the requirement of providing Christian education for their children, and inquiries will be made into the spiritual development of members.
“It is also in these contexts that first warnings are often issued to familes or family members if they are suspected of straying from the fold.”
Bouma then immediately adds:
“What do members of the CRC think about their denomination’s practice of Church discipline? Are members chafing under the strain of close surveillance?
No!
Of the continueing members of the CRC interviewed 65% indicated that they felt the CRC practice was neither too conservative nor too liberal. Interestingly, 27% claimed that it was too lax and only 8% that it was too strict.”
It is then concluded that “the CRC practice of Christian discipline is an important part of the continuing vitality of the CRC, in that it effectively promotes overt conformity with the behavioral and cognitive norms of the community. In addition, far from chafing under this system of Christian Discipline, the vast majority of members of the CRC are either satisfied with it or see it as too liberal.”
May that be said of us!
(We’ll come back to this topic later.)