Task Forces Appointed on Communion and Abuse, None on Bible Translation

In follow up to instructions from Synod 2006, the Christian Reformed Church’s Board of Trustees appointed two task forces but elected not to appoint a Bible translation committee.

Synod 2006 stated that all baptized members may take communion, but the decision can’t take effect until the related Church Order articles are changed and approved by Synod 2007. A task force is now in place to recommend how the Church Order articles should be changed. That same task force will propose ways to further the discipleship of communicant children and propose ways for young confessing members to enter adult membership with its privileges and responsibilities.

A second task force was appointed to study how the denomination ought to respond, whether in financial terms or otherwise, to the consequences of sexual abuse in the lives of current and former members. The board is to report on the work of that task force to Synod 2008.

Although Synod 2006 directed the board to establish a translation committee to review the many new Bible translations being published and make recommendations to the churches about them, the board has declined to appoint that committee.

Instead, it voted to appoint such a committee if and when synod adopts overtures requesting a review of specific translations, citing little demand for such reviews and unjustified cost for an ongoing committee.