This supplement deals with two separate matters: synodical review of application for candidacy by persons not recommended by the Calvin Theological Seminary (CTS) Board of Trustees and/or the Candidacy Committee and appeals from decisions, acts, or course of conduct of agencies, boards, or committees of the Christian Reformed Church. The separate sets of procedural rules applicable to these two matters are set forth below.
Part A. Synodical review of application for candidacy by
persons not recommended by the CTS Board of Trustees and/or the
Candidacy Committee.
In the event that an applicant should feel aggrieved by or
dissatisfied with a decision of the CTS Board of Trustees and/or
Candidacy Committee regarding the processing of the applicant’s
application for candidacy status, the following procedure will
give the applicant recourse to synod. This procedure is not an
appropriate avenue by which to ask synod for amendment of the
Church Order or change in relevant synodical decisions. Rather,
it provides the right for an applicant to have the application
for candidacy considered by synod in the light of the
then-existing requirements for candidacy, whether those
requirements are set out in the Church Order or in other
decisions of synod. This procedure is a special kind of appeal:
the Judicial Code shall not be invoked, and the rules relating to
other appeals shall not apply.
1. If the CTS Board of Trustees and/or Candidacy Committee or its
designee declines to process an application for candidacy at any
stage or if candidacy is not going to be recommended, the
Candidacy Committee shall promptly inform the applicant in
writing of such act or decision and the reasons therefore.
2. Notwithstanding such notice, the applicant has the option to
have the application processed, including submission to synod. To
exercise this option, the applicant must give written notice of
such exercise to the Candidacy Committee and the executive
director of the Christian Reformed Church within fourteen (14)
days after the receipt of the notice from the Candidacy
Committee.
3. If the applicant gives the notice described in the foregoing
paragraph, the application shall be processed, and the Candidacy
Committee shall submit such application to synod with such
recommendations and supporting reasons as the Candidacy Committee
shall consider appropriate.
4. At least ten (10) days before synod is scheduled to convene,
the applicant shall submit to the executive director, with a copy
to the Candidacy Committee, a written statement of facts,
argument, and documents in support of the application.
5. Synod shall review the application and documents in support
thereof, the decision of the board or the Candidacy Committee,
and the reasons for such decision. The applicant and the
Candidacy Committee shall have the right to make a presentation
to the assigned advisory committee, and, if that committee
recommends and synod so decides, the applicant and the Candidacy
Committee shall be allowed time to address synod on the
matter.
6. Both the applicant andthe Candidacy Committee have the right
to be represented or counseled by a member of the church at any
stage of the review process.
Part B. Appeals from decisions, acts, or course
of conduct of agencies, boards, or committees of the Christian
Reformed Church.
The right to appeal from decisions, acts, or course of conduct of
agencies, boards, or committees of the Christian Reformed Church
is established. The Judicial Code may be invoked in connection
with such appeal, and if it is, the appeal process will be
governed by the Judicial Code. If the Judicial Code is not
invoked, the provisions and procedures set forth in the following
paragraphs shall apply:
1. Board, agency, or
committee shall mean and include any agent or employee
of such board, agency, or committee while such agent or employee
is acting within the scope and authority of his or her employment
with such agency, board, or committee.
2. Appeals under this part of Supplement 30-b may be led
only by the following:
a. A member of the Christian Reformed Church.
b. An assembly (council or classis).
c. An employee of an agency, board, or committee whose decision,
act, or course of conduct is to be challenged by the appeal.
3. The individual or assembly filing the appeal shall be called
the appellant. The agency, board, or committee whose
action is appealed shall be called the respondent.
4. No appeal under this part of Supplement 30-b may be filed
until the appellant shall first have exhausted all reasonable and
direct efforts according to procedures prescribed by such agency,
board, or committee to resolve the appellant’s complaint or
grievance.
5. The only grounds for an appeal under this part are that the
decision, act, or course of conduct of a respondent is contrary
to the Church Order, the mandate of the respondent, or a previous
decision of the assembly to which the respondent is
responsible.
6. In an appeal under this part, an appellant who is other than
an assembly or an employee must allege — and the onus remains on
him or her to show — that the decision, act, or course of conduct
appealed from substantially affects him or her directly, either
materially or personally, as an individual apart from other
members of the church.
7. In an appeal under this part by an employee, the appellant
must allege — and the onus remains on her or him to show — that
the decision, act, or course of conduct appealed from
substantially affects her or him directly, either materially or
personally, in her or his capacity as an employee.
8. An appeal from a decision, act, or course of conduct of an
agency, board, or committee shall be led with the assembly
to which the agency, board, or committee is responsible.
9. For an appeal to be timely, it must be led within ninety
(90) days after completion of efforts to resolve the matter under
provisions in paragraph “4” above.
Because the completion of internal efforts to resolve the matter
may not always indicate a precise date for the commencement of
the ninety (90)-day appeal period, the following standards apply
for computing the beginning of the appeal period:
a. If the agency, board, or committee gives the appellant a
written communication stating that the internal procedures for
resolving the grievance or complaint have now been completed, the
ninety (90)-day period begins with the date the appellant
receives such letter.
b. In the absence of a written communication described in
paragraph “a” above, the appellant may give written notice to the
agency, board, or committee involved that he or she believes that
the internal procedures for resolving the grievance or complaint
have been exhausted, and, if there is no written response to such
notice within thirty (30) days from the date of the receipt of
such notice, the ninety (90)- day appeal period begins with the
expiration of a thirty (30)-day period beginning with the receipt
of such notice. For the purpose of this paragraph, the notice
shall be deemed to have been received on the date it was
personally delivered to the office of the agency, board, or
committee or five days after the mailing by regular mail.
c. If the notice referred to in paragraph “b” above is given and
the agency, board, or committee responds to the appellant within
thirty (30) days that there is a further internal procedure, the
appellant must pursue the additional procedure specified, and
rules “a” and “b” will again apply to determine the commencement
of the appeal period when the further step has been
completed.
10. If the appeal is to a classis, when classis considers the
appeal, both appellant and respondent shall be allowed reasonable
time to make an oral presentation with respect to the appeal. The
classis shall consider and decide every appeal submitted to it.
Classis shall decide on the appeal within one (1) year from the
date the appeal is received by the stated clerk of classis. If
classis has not decided an appeal within such one (1)-year
period, either appellant or respondent has the right to appeal to
synod without waiting for the decision of classis.
Both the appellant and the respondent have the right to appeal
the decision of classis to synod.
11. If the appeal is initially to synod, the rules and procedures
in Church Order Supplements 30-a, sections B and C apply.
12. Both the appellant and the respondent have the right to be
represented or counseled by a member of the church at any stage
of the appeal process.