These assemblies shall only deal with ecclesiastical matters and in an ecclesiastical manner. A major assembly shall deal only with matters which could not be finished in the minor assembly or which belong to its churches in common. A new matter may be put on its agenda only when the minor assembly has dealt with it.
This article deals with the agenda respectively of:
1. all the assemblies;
2. the major assemblies.
Re.1:
Before and during the first stages of the Eighty Years War
(1568-1648) occasionally the Dutch churches kept themselves
occupied with all sorts of non-ecclesiastical matters: e.g. with
questions like these: Are we allowed to defend ourselves against
the persecuting papists by force or arms? Are we allowed to free
those who have been imprisoned for the sake of their faith? Can
we, as churches, support the uprising against Spain for example
by collecting funds for hiring mercenaries or by passing on
military secrets?
However, since the National Synod of Middelburg, 1581, the
present rule has been adopted and maintained.
Neither should the churches occupy themselves with a range of
matters of an economic, social, political, or scientific nature.
They shall restrict themselves to ecclesiastical matters like
doctrinal affairs, church discipline, the maintaining of good
order in the churches, etcetera.
This shall be done ‘in an ecclesiastical manner’, which means:
not by command, or by force, but by convincing, admonishing, and
ruling according to God’s Word.
Re.2:
The agenda of the major assemblies is determined by two groups of
subjects:
a. those matters which concern the regional churches, e.g.
matters regarding training for the Ministry of the Word;
b. matters which could not be resolved in the minor assemblies,
e.g. appeals.
The matters mentioned under a. shall be put on the major
assembly’s agenda by the convening church.
Those mentioned under b. are casual.
Since Synod Kelmscott 1983 another sentence has been added, to
clarify the way in which a certain matter can be placed on the
agenda of a major assembly: only by way of preparation in the
minor assembly (Synod Rockingham 2000, only changed its
formulation).
This means in the first place that the delegates of a consistory
or of a classis cannot put anything on the agenda of either
classis or synod on their own initiative.
Even a local church cannot have a certain matter put on the
agenda of a classis without the other classical churches having
had the opportunity of studying it.
If a local church wants a certain matter to be put on the
synod’s agenda, it must first of all be dealt with ‘in the
ecclesiastical way’, by the classis. Via
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the draft agenda, which the convening church of the synod sends
to all the churches, these churches have the opportunity to study
this material.
According to Article 31, appeals are excepted from this rule.