The most significant thing that occurred at our Council meeting last week is that the name of the CREC was changed to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. The impetus behind this change was that our brothers in the Southern churches were dealing with some misconceptions about the name Confederation, some folks wondering if we had views holding to the old Southern Confederacy.
This was making things difficult for our churches in the South who are doing urban ministries. In addition to this, many felt that the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches is a better fit for who we are as a confederation. We are not 'merely' a group of sovereign churches gathered together under one Covenant. We are one portion of the gathered church, a particular Communion of the broader Communion of the Saints.
No doubt, we will still have some confusion about our new name. For instance, what does it have to do with the Eucharist? Well, not a lot and a whole lot at the same time. In our name, when we say Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches we are not referring to the Lord’s Supper. However, we are referring to the fact that we are a gathered and unified people, the communion of the saints which we say in the Apostle’s Creed, which is part of what the Lord’s Supper represents. The name change is good because it enables us to explain our name in the context of Church history and practice as opposed to trying to explain the name in the context of a form of civil government.
So, here we are at Communion, the Lord’s Supper, as the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, gathered with all of our brothers in the CREC around the world and with all of God’s people around the world, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.
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