PRC Synod 2024 - Day 7, Thursday - June 20, 2024

 

Today synod treated a majority report and a minority report on six protests against a decision of Synod 2023 to hire Guidepost Solutions to investigate sexual abuse in the Protestant Reformed Churches of America. Both reports were read. After deliberation on the majority report, Synod decided to approve its recommendation to “sustain the protests and declare that Synod 2023 erred by authorizing a secular organization to assist Christ’s church in an ecclesiastical work (investigating sin) that belongs exclusively to the church” on three grounds: 

 

1. Synod 2023’s grounds for hiring a secular organization were flawed in two respects.

a. First, no ground used scriptural principles to demonstrate that consistories are permitted to use a secular organization to help them investigate cases of sin (Agenda pp. 488, 495, 504, 507). Such clear demonstration is necessary when taking action that is weighty, controversial, and unprecedented.

b. Second, no ground used church-political principles to demonstrate that consistories are permitted to use a secular organization to help them investigate cases of sin (Agenda pp. 487, 504). Particularly this is true of synod’s third ground. Such clear demonstration is necessary when taking action that is weighty, controversial, and unprecedented.

 

2. Synod’s decision to authorize a secular organization to assist Christ’s church in an ecclesiastical work conflicts with Reformed ecclesiology.

 

3. Synod 2023’s decision conflicts with the Bible’s teaching that the church, in carrying out her calling, must consciously depend on God for His help, may turn to others within the church for their help, but may not turn to a secular organization for help in investigating cases of sin. As was pointed out in the protests, “the church of Jesus Christ is spiritually distinct in character from that of a secular organization.”

 

Synod’s decision did NOT declare the decision of 2023 erred in seeking to combat the sin of the sexual abuse of minors by using a third party to assist the PRCA in discovering the extent of the sin within the PRCA. The decision also did NOT declare the decision of 2023 erred in judging that the PRCA needed assistance from an independent third-party to help PRCA examine itself for the purpose of identifying and seeking to overcome woeful weaknesses and failures in addressing the sin of abuse. While synod declared it erred in hiring a secular organization to do church work, the proper perspective is that the focus must be on the much more serious matters of combatting the heinous sin and crime of child sexual abuse and of acknowledging and seeking to overcome the devastating sin of the improper response to child sexual abuse by consistories. 

 

Synod also treated recommendations regarding the work of the Ad Hoc committee that Synod 2023 appointed to work with Guidepost. Synod thanked the committee for its labors and disbanded the committee. Synod appointed a new special committee to “To review the minutes and supplements of the Ad Hoc Committee; to evaluate Guidepost’s final assessment report as well as its methodology; to report to synod 2025.” Synod also mandated that the committee work with Guidepost to publish their assessment report as soon as possible (the report belongs to Guidepost and cannot be published without prior written permission). 

Perhaps the newly appointed committee or others in the denomination will draw up proposals for using an appropriate organization that belongs to the church organic to investigate the sin of sexual abuse in the PRCA, even though this was not mandated by synod.  

 

Synod adopted a recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee to “remind consistories that they represent Christ and answer to Him, for which reason they must continue in the work of rooting out the evil of sexual abuse from our churches by doing due diligence in the thorough investigation of each abuse case reported to them, by decisive implementation of church discipline for the genuine repentance of the perpetrator, by compassionate care for each victim, and by diligent protection of the members of the congregations.” 

 

Synod approved expenses for the meeting totaling $13,727.93.