Sincere Thanks to Dr. Newton

The District President (DP) of the CNH District is not known as the most confessional of DP’s. He is a big proponent of TCN and quite supportive of most emanations from the Purple Palace. That said, I want to thank him for holding a convocation at our church to discuss the proposals by the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance (BRTFSSG). This was unlike the convention where it was a one sided exchange. We walked through the same slides, but we were given the opportunity to discuss and debate. And while Dr. Newton injected some personal opinion, he rarely advocated for a proposal and never assumed that the proposal put forth was the best or only solution to the problem stated.

As an example, proposal number 1 by the BRTFSSG is “Affirm in Our Governing Documents the Mission and Purpose of Our Synod.” This one proposal encompasses all the changes to the constitution. And while it was given a few minutes at the district convention, it lead to a nearly one hour discussion. In this discussion, I was able to express my concern for the removal of the statement “Encourage congregations to strive for uniformity in church practice …” (Currently Article III.7). I asked Dr. Newton if our understanding had somehow changed and if we no longer found value in striving for uniformity of practice. I was quite surprised when Dr. Newton seemed unaware of this change in wording, and was further surprised and encouraged when he said that he thought all the DP’s would be concerned about this omission and he would make sure to bring it up at the next meeting of the Council of Presidents.

I certainly came away with a different opinion of Dr. Newton. A more nuanced opinion if you will. It really made me think that if we did similar convocations of a more theological nature, many of our division would be ironed out. If both confessionals and those less so would sit down and talk these things out and not just go our own ways we would actually be “Walking Together”.