The 41st annual meeting of the North American Presbyterian Reformed Council (NAPARC) was held Nov. 10-12 in Québec City, QC. This year’s meeting was hosted by the Église réformée du Québec (ERQ).

The council was called to order by outgoing chairman, Rev. Bernard Westerveld, of the ERQ. Thirteen member churches were represented by their delegations as follows: the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC); the Canadian Reformed Churches (CanRC); the Église réformée du Québec (ERQ); the Free Reformed Churches of North America (FRCNA); the Heritage Reformed Congregations (HRC); the Korean American Presbyterian Church (KAPC); the Korean Presbyterian Church in America (Kosin) (KPCA-Kosin); the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC); the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA); the Presbyterian Reformed Church (PRC); the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS); the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA); and the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA). These churches were represented by a total of 38 delegates

The Protestant Reformed Churches in North America (PRCNA) as well as the Bible Presbyterian Church (BPC) attended as invited observers.

The annual NAPARC meeting, by design, provides a venue for bilateral meeting between the interchurch relations committees of the member churches. Thus in addition to the member and observer church delegates, a number of brothers from these interchurch relations committees were also present.

A major item on the NAPARC docket is the reporting of member churches both through a standardized report (distributed with the docket) and by an oral presentation on the floor of the council. Each reporting church is assigned to ask questions of and pray for another member church. Other member churches may also ask questions of the reporting church. Extensive interaction took place between the NAPARC member churches concerning what the Lord is doing among us. Reporting took place on Tuesday afternoon and extended through Wednesday morning and most of Wednesday afternoon.

On the Tuesday evening of NAPARC, a meal and devotional service were hosted by the ERQ at St. Marc Reformed Church with a number of members from St. Marc’s present. Rev. Ben Westerveld led the devotional service, and Pastor Mario Veilleux preached a sermon in French from Matthew 28:20 entitled, “I Am with You Always to the Very End of the Age.” Translation into English was made available in printed form.

On Wednesday evening a meal and a lecture were hosted again at St. Marc Reformed Church. At the lecture, Pastor Patrice Michaud of the ERQ spoke on his experience within the ERQ as a church receiving the missionary support of English-speaking churches of North America. Questions from those attending followed. The evening closed with fellowship.

In the light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, the council moved to: “remind the Member Churches of their biblical responsibility to teach the whole counsel of the Word of God, including that pertaining to the God-ordained institution of marriage as being between one man and one woman.”

The 2016 council meeting is slated to be held in Pompton Plains, N.J., and will be hosted by the FRCNA.

—Rev. Ron Potter, secretary, NAPARC