Rev. Cornelis van Rensburg of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa (NGK) urged Synod 2012 to adopt the Belhar as a full confession. “In the Reformed tradition, a confession is adopted when the truth of the gospel is at stake,” he said, adding that the Belhar Confession was created at such a time in South Africa. “Confessions serve to make you unwavering in your commitment to your identity, who you are and where you belong. . . . People around the world need to hear from the more affluent church that they are heard.”
Rev. Cornelis van Rensburg, Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa: “We are moving away from the paralyzing legacy of apartheid.”
Photo: Karen Huttenga
Van Rensburg said that many of the issues he was watching the CRC deal with were familiar to him: “In a post-Christian world we have to combine efforts in public theology and testimony to the word,” he said. “We need each other.”
His denomination is entering a “new process of discernment . . . a season of listening, teachability, compassion, trust,” he said, as they move “away from the paralyzing legacy of apartheid.”
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About the Author
Roxanne VanFarowe is a freelance writer who claims both Canadian and American citizenship and grew up in the Christian Reformed Church. She is a member of Blacknall Presbyterian Church in Durham, North Carolina.
