CRC Adopts Covenant for Officebearers

After years of deliberation and debate, the Christian Reformed Church has decided to set aside its historic Form of Subscription in favor of a new Covenant for Officebearers.

Delegates to Synod 2012 continued a nearly decade-long discussion and debate about revising the CRC’s Form of Subscription that all officebearers and Calvin College and Seminary professors have been required to sign, signifying their agreement with the official creeds and confessions of the church.

They ended by unanimously approving a revised form known as a Covenant for Officebearers.

The new covenant will be used by the churches “as a means to encourage ongoing, vital engagement of officebearers with the ecumenical creeds and Reformed confessions.”

After the vote, Rev. Leslie Kuiper, president of Synod 2012, commended Rev. James Dekker, chairperson of the Form of Subscription Committee, for the hard work he and the committee have put into shaping this new covenant.

“It has been a long journey for your committee. I want to thank you for your deep commitment … to working through the process involving this,” Kuiper said.

The matter first came to synod in 2003 and has been the subject of surveys and committees and many revisions ever since. 

Along with being asked to affirm the traditional creeds and confessions of the church, the new Covenant also asks officebearers to recognize the witness of Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony.

For continuous coverage of Synod 2012, including a live webcast, visit www.crcna.org/Synod.