“Church” or “Churches”?

In "Voices" (The Banner, December 28, 1987) there appears an exchange between the Rev. Rein Leestma, a Christian Reformed minister in Lynwood, Illinois, and Dr. Richard R. De Ridder, of Calvin Seminary. It concerns the old questions in the area of Reformed church government, whether the Christian Reformed denomination is a federation of churches (as Leestma maintains) or constitutes one church (as De Ridder maintains, and as the singular name of the denomination, Christian Reformed Church,...