Trio-Synod Held by Protestant Churches to Discuss Unity Plans
Golden Compass

The Dutch Reformed, Reformated and Lutheran Churches gathered on February 13 at Driebergen for a trio-synod to discuss SOW. The SOW process should lead to a unified Protestant Church of the Netherlands (VPKN). The meeting focused on the subject of reconciliation between the three churches in the background of the discussion on Den Heyer's book, in which the Reformated theologian claims that the dogma of Christ accepting the sins of the world during his crucifixion can't be found in the New Testament. But above all the discussion took place in the background of the third Dutch Churchday, to be held on Saturday, April 25, 1998, at Kampen. The Churchday focusses on "Looking for Reconciliation" – which is linked to the Second European Ecumenical assembly of Graz in June 1997. The three SOW-churches hope to establish a common statement on reconciliation after the Churchday.

After the trio-synod, the SOW-churches appealed to the authorities and social organizations to rediscover the value of the Sunday rest custom. The churches called Sunday rest "unabandonable" and "a blessing for society". They said that the human values, the common service and the time for family and friends may not be sacrificed on the altar of economic arguments and flexibility of economy.

This article was revised by Greenbelt Interfaith News from its original form, with permission of Golden Compass. Some of the information in the article was taken from IKON.