Unfortunately it happens that members withdraw from the church. Sometimes this is very sudden and unexpected. At other times you may have seen the withdrawal coming a mile away and are not surprised by it. The point is now: how must a consistory announce this withdrawal to the congregation?

Our Church Order gives no direction in this matter. This has led various consistories to formulate their own announcements. The format and content of these announcements can differ from place to place, from situation to situation.

What is a Withdrawal?⤒🔗

We must be clear on what a withdrawal really is. A withdrawal is a unilateral and unfounded breaking with the church of which one is a member. One simply resigns, either by telling the ward elders or by writing a letter to the consistory. A church may for a while make no announcement regarding the withdrawal, but in time an announcement will be made.

The key issue here is that an act of withdrawal from Christ’s church is sinful. Pretty shocking, right? Not everyone believes this anymore. But in Article 28 of the Belgic Confession we confess,

We believe since this holy assembly and congregation is the assembly of the redeemed and there is no salvation outside of it that no one ought to withdraw from it.

This is based on what the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:3, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Unless a church has become blatantly false we may not remove ourselves from it. I believe that this is still our confession of faith.

Note that we do not have to make the unity of the Spirit. It is Christ who makes and sustains this unity in the one faith. We must keep (maintain, preserve) this unity. In our lives we may see the fruit of God’s providence also in that we have come to belong to a Reformed church. Unity in faith is a great gift that must be joyfully preserved and not broken.

What must the Consistory Announce?←⤒🔗

Okay, someone has withdrawn himself and also taken his family along (if he has one, of course). A withdrawal affects entire generations. But we will not be around to experience this. Let us say that he has entered into membership in another church. Perhaps it is a community church, an alliance church, or a Baptist church. The withdrawals that I have seen mostly meant a bee-line to liberal, charismatic, and Arminian churches.

Anyway, the point is how a consistory should announce this. Well, it happens sometimes that the withdrawer has the audacity to prescribe to the consistory how an announcement is to be made. People do not want it to be said that one has withdrawn from the church of Christ. No way, José. They have only gone to another department. They are still members of the church of Christ, and demand to be regarded as such. In their thinking, the withdrawal is not a matter of regret but a very positive personal move which should be properly esteemed and appreciated.

To be sure, behind this type of thinking lies a specific ecclesiology, a way of looking at the church and church membership that is alien to the Reformed confessions. The line of thinking that I am referring to is commonly called the doctrine of pluriformity.

For many years we discussed this teaching with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as one of the divergences which needed resolution. As churches we still think that this is a matter that should have our mutual attention. But we have said that it is not a matter that should keep us separated.

This doctrine of pluriformity has always been the more (generally) widespread viewpoint. In short, it holds that the church becomes evident in many different forms. The one form may be better than the other, but all are part of the great church that is, as such, invisible. We only see forms of the real thing. One could say, then, that it does not really matter much of which local church one is a member. Therefore any change in membership is an act of personal freedom that is not to be judged by others. All churches are more or less true and one would be hard pressed to find a church that fully measures up.

I do not really at this point want to get into a discussion on the matter of the doctrine of the church. What I wrote about pluriformity was only meant as reference or context. The conclusion I draw is that all this has consequences for the announcement(s) that the consistory may want to make concerning a withdrawal.

Announcing what is Necessary←⤒🔗

This brings me to my main point in connection with all of this. The pulpit is not really the place for all kinds of announcements. The pulpit is not a bulletin board. It is the place where the gospel must be preached. Nothing should detract from this key function.

I know that some things need to be announced because we have agreed to do so in our Church Order. See e.g. Articles 3 of the Church Order re: Ordination and Installation, and Article 62 re: Attestations.

I am convinced that a consistory should announce only what is strictly necessary. Unless bound by a certain form, the consistory should refrain from making statements of regret or felicitations. Pastoral care should not be doled out in the announcements section before the worship commences.

In the case of a withdrawal a simple announcement that someone has withdrawn from the church should suffice. Keep it short and to the point. The announcement is a factual statement concerning membership status in the existing church. It is neither a statement of approval nor an expression of judgment. It could even be left in the Short Report of the consistory meeting, where all can read about it. The announcement should say something like this, “The consistory announces that ... has withdrawn from the congregation.” Then the actual reality has been properly addressed, no more, no less.