From the RCA website:
Classes Affirm Belhar Confession
The Belhar Confession will join the RCA’s historic confessions as a standard of unity.
A two-thirds majority of the RCA’s 46 classes have voted to ratify adoption of the confession, which General Synod 2009 voted to add as a fourth standard of unity. Each classis has engaged in conversation and discernment around this decision, which requires an addition to the Book of Church Order. All votes have been reported to the General Synod office, with 32 classes in favor of ratification and 14 opposed.
“General Synod 2010, following procedure for any change to theBCO, will be asked to make a ‘declarative act’ confirming that two-thirds or more of the classes have voted in favor of the amendment to the BCO,” says general secretary Wes Granberg-Michaelson. “When that action is taken, the Belhar Confession will be officially adopted as a fourth confessional standard of the Reformed Church in America.”
The RCA has been considering the Belhar Confession since 1985, three years after it was written in South Africa in response to divisions in the church during apartheid. Since then, the confession has been referred to RCA congregations and classes for study. Many of the RCA’s commissions have studied and reflected on the confession, as well:
- The Commission on Theology in 1986, 1997, 2008, and 2009
- The Commission on Christian Unity in every year since 1999
- The Commission on Race and Ethnicity in 2001, 2003, 2007, and 2008
- The Commission on Christian Action in 2001
- The Commission on Church Order in 2006
- The Commission on Christian Worship in 2004
- The Commission on Christian Education and Discipleship in 2007 and2009
In 2000, General Synod instructed the Commission on Christian Unity tocommend the Belhar Confession to the church over the next decade for reflection, study, and response as a means of deepening the RCA’s commitment to dealing with racism and strengthening its ecumenical commitment to the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa and other Reformed bodies.
In 2007, General Synod voted to provisionally adopt the Belhar Confession for two years of testing in worship, teaching, discernment, and confession.
In 2009, General Synod voted to make that provisional adoption permanent, pending the approval of two-thirds of its classes.
The Belhar will join the RCA’s historic standards: the Heidelberg Catechism with its Compendium, the Canons of the Synod of Dort, and the Belgic Confession of Faith.
Related resources:
- Read the Belhar Confession (also available in Spanish, Korean, andChinese)
- Resources for studying the Belhar Confession
