The Process of Appeal in Abbotsford regarding the OPC

May 8, 2001 General Synod Neerlandia 2001 extends a relationship of Ecclesiastical Fellowship to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. See Article 45 of the Acts here.

May 22, 2003 The Consistory of the Canadian Reformed Church at Abbotsford sends an Appeal of Article 45 of General Synod Neerlandia 2001 to General Synod Chatham 2004. See the text of the Appeal here.

February 20, 2004 General Synod Chatham 2004 denies all appeals against the decision of Synod 2001 (Article 45). See Article 86 of the Acts here.

October 4, 2005 Concerned brothers, who were part of the Consistory of the Canadian Reformed Church of Abbotsford at the time of formulation of the original appeal, and had supported its submission to Synod 2004, address Consistory regarding Article 86 of the Acts of Synod 2004. See the text of their letter here, the text of Appendix A (the original Appeal to Synod 2004) , the text of Appendix B (a draft "Appeal to the Canadian Reformed Church of Abbotsford" for Synod 2007), and the text of Appendix C.

February 4, 2006 Abbotsford Consistory responds to the above submission of the concerned brothers. See the text of the Consistory response here.

February 13, 2006 The same concerned brothers appeal the inadequacy of the above Consistory response to Classis Pacific East. See the text of the Appeal here.

March 30, 2006 Classis Pacific East denies the above Appeal, stating that correspondence relating to the inadequacy of the reply needs to go to Consistory first. See the text of the Classis response here.

April 12, 2006 In accordance with the above Classis decision the concerned brothers address Consistory relating to the inadequacy of the February 4, 2006 response. See the text of the letter here.

May 23, 2006 Abbotsford Consistory responds to the above letter of the concerned brothers but refuses to interact with the material. See the text of the Consistory response here.

June 7, 2006 The concerned brothers address Consistory regarding the above response and include an interaction with the Consistory's assertion in its February 4, 2006 response that the OPC is a true church. See the text of their letter here, the text of the attached Discussion Paper here, and the text of the Classis Ontario South decision here.

July 14, 2006 Abbotsford Consistory responds to the above letter of the concerned brothers but refuses to interact with the material. See the text of the Consistory response here.

August 9, 2006 The same concerned brothers appeal the inadequacy of the above Consistory responses to Classis Pacific East. See the text of the Appeal here.

Sept. 14, 2006 Classis Pacific East denies the above Appeal by stating that the requests of the concerned brothers were unreasonable and that the Consistory reply of February 4, 2006 was adequate. See the text of the Classis response here.

October 11, 2006 The concerned brothers address Consistory regarding the above response and include a request with grounds to consider the legitimacy of the secession in Lynden. See the text of the letter here.

November 13, 2006 Abbotsford Consistory responds to the above letter of the concerned brothers but refuses to interact with the material. See the text of the Consistory response here.

November 19, 2006 Abbotsford Consistory releases a letter to the congregation addressing the question of "Ecumenical Relationships"

December 11, 2006 The concerned brothers address Consistory regarding the November 19, 2006 Consistory response. See the text of the letter here.

January 19, 2007 Concerned brothers address the Abbotsford Consistory and the Congregation regarding the letter sent by Consistory to the Congregation. See the text of the letter here.

January 22, 2007 Abbotsford Consistory responds to the letter dated December 11, 2006 of the concerned brothers, but instead of seriously interacting with the material continues to minimize and obfuscate the issues. See the text of the Consistory response to one of the brothers here.

March 9, 2007 One of the concerned brothers addresses Consistory regarding a portion of the Consistory’s response dated January 22, 2007 and its assertion that it is “committed to uphold the Church’s confessions and Church Order.”  See the text of the letter here.

March 10, 2007 Two concerned members address Consistory regarding a series of failures by Abbotsford Consistory to maintain the Church Order.  See the text of their letter here.

April 5, 2007 The same concerned brother addresses Consistory again regarding the Lord’s Supper policy that has been articulated in the March 25, 2007 local bulletin, as well as the failure of General Synods 2001 and 2004 and Abbotsford Consistory to maintain Scripture, confessions and the Church Order.  See the text of the letter here.

May 30, 2007 Abbotsford Consistory indicates that it responds to the letter dated April 5, 2007, however there is no interaction with any of the points that were brought forward.  See the text of the Consistory response here.

May 31, 2007  Abbotsford Consistory indicates that it responds to the letter dated March 9, 2007, however there is no interaction with any of the points that were brought forward.  Instead Abbotsford Consistory considers the matter “finished.”  See the text of the Consistory response here.

July 17, 2007 The concerned members issued a declaration of secession to all members of the Canadian Reformed Church at Abbotsford.

September 3 , 2007 The consistory of the Canadian Reformed Church at Abbotsford sends a letter to four concerned brothers and their wives requesting reconsideration of the matters that led to the letter of secession dated July 17, 2007.  See an annotated version of the consistory’s letter here.

As stated in the letter, the consistory demanded a response by September 30, 2007, with the proviso that if no response was received, the concerned brothers, together with their families would be announced to the congregation that “by their actions they have broken with the Church.”

As a result of the consistory’s letter the four concerned brothers sent a response to the consistory of the Canadian Reformed Church at Abbotsford.  This response was brought to an elder of this church on September 29, 2007.   It was determined that the serving elder was made aware of this response prior to the morning worship service of September 30, 2007.

At a meeting of consistory held October 15, 2007 the response was officially received and declared “inadmissible” despite the fact that the consistory specifically requested a response.

Although no consistory meeting had been held to consider the content of this response, and no consistory decision had been made on it, the serving elder proceeded with the above announcement to the congregation at the commencement of the morning worship service on September 30, 2007.

See the text of the response of the four concerned brothers here.