MISSION TIDINGS

GIFTS RECEIVED FOR MISSIONS IN FEBRUARY 1977

CLASSIS EAST SOURCE AMOUNT

Clifton Calendars $ 170.00

CLASSIS MID WEST Friends of the Banner of Truth Gift 27.90

Friend of So. Holland Gift 20.00

Friend in Michigan Gift 125.00

Friend in Chicago Hts. Gift 100.00

Friend from I. Gift 200.00

Bradford

Sale of pens Gift 12.00

Christmas Program

children Gift 90.10

Church Collection Collection 29.79

Gift Gift 42.00

Money boxes -Catechism Gift 15.55

Sunday School Gift 23.59

Pennies V.D.W. Gift 14.50

CLASSIS WEST

Sheboygan Ladies Aid Gift 346.00

Friend in Manhattan Gift 1000.00

Sioux Falls Calendars (extras) 4.00

Waupun Calendars (extras) 6.00

Friend in Sheboygan Gift 100.00

Waupun Ladies Aid Gift 200.00

CLASSIS FAR WEST

Sunnyside Calendars (extras) 10.00

Lethbridge Tabitha Calendars 191.00

Chilliwack Calendars 247.00

Sunnyside Mission Guild Gift 1590.00

TOTAL: $4831.43

Dear Friends,

Herewith we again want to acknowledge you for the kind gifts in the support of the Mission. May the Lord bless you and your gifts. You will notice some small gifts for calendars, they are additional orders beside their first order. We appreciate also very much the collections of the children taken at catechism classes and Sunday schools, and also the individual gifts. It is very encouraging to also receive gifts from outside of our church circles. May the Lord give us all a heart to be thankful for all these blessings, but also grace that the Lord’s name may receive the honor and the glory. On the 22nd of February we visited the Bethlehem Mission and found things in good order. Bert and Ruth had been very busy also, especially due to the fact of a severe winter and very much snow. We had on this evening a special service in the chapel with approximately eight adults and 35 boys and girls. May the Lord bless His word also in Baldwin and that He may work in all our mission fields. Several good books are being sold through a book store in Baldwin, also tracts and sermons are given at our mission chapel. That the Lord may give the application by His Holy Spirit.

American General Mission Fund

Netherland Reformed Congregations

of the United States and Canada

John Spaans, Treasurer

Plankinton Box 17 RR 3

South Dakota 57368

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Banner of Truth Tract Mission committee hereby expresses its sincere appreciation for gifts received for the publication and free distribution of tracts. Tracts to be published will consist of suitable articles taken from the denominational publication, “The Banner of Truth”, as authorized by Classis East and Mid-West. Personal gifts are encouraged for the furtherance of this endeavor and will be gratefully received. Gifts may be mailed to The Banner of Truth Tract Mission, 540 Crescent St. N.E., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49503. Gifts received during the months of January, February, and March 1977 are as follows:

Rock Valley Congregation $ 50.00

Miscellaneous 791.60

TOTAL $841.60

OUR OWN CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

What a great privilege it is to have our own Christian schools. Already in former days the necessity of it was felt by many. It was a struggle for many, also in the Netherlands, because the Bible was being taken away in the public schools. They were not such rich people who were thus concerned, but they were convinced strongly of the necessity of educating their children according to their duty prescribed in the Holy Word of God.

A school supported by the state is also ruled by the state, and often the results can be seen. Think only of the education systems in China and Russia, and of the schools of Germany in the days of Hitler.

The start of the “schools with the Bible”, as they were called, was difficult, since they were not supported by the government. Therefore it required many sacrifices and became a matter of prayer! Some, in order to ease the financial burden, arranged to send one child on one day and another child the following day, thus alternating day by day, since they could afford the cost of only one pupil. It was not uncommon for a poor farmer to sell a small portion of his meagre property in order to support the school. And teachers were compelled to serve for a very small salary. All this for the privilege of having a “school with the Bible”.

However, a Christian school also imposes a responsibility. A look at the history of the United States shows that the first public schools were centered around the Word of God. Its purpose was that the children were trained to know the Bible. It was onehundred forty years before the Declaration of Independence that John Harvard, a very learned and godly man, founded Harvard University. The first school president emphasized the spiritual values of education in these words: “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well that the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life…”

Today the Bible is banished from the public schools and they claim to be neutral. However, they then teach that God has nothing to do with the world and all that takes place therein. It is a denying of God’s existence, creation, providence and government. Can we call such teaching neutral?

A Christian school must have the Bible as the infallible Word of God. At some so-called Christian schools the Bible is not accepted as God’s Word from the very beginning to the very end. Many of them hesitate to maintain unabridged that which is stated by our confession: “We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe, unto salvation, is sufficiently taught therein.” Trying to make the Bible acceptable for human reason leads to a christianity which bases its beliefs upon logical or rational conclusions, lacking that only firm foundation stated in Hebrews 11:1.

The knowledge of the Bible is decreasing. The study of the Bible is not to be only history, but the Biblical story must be a proclamation of the Word of God. We must stress the contents of the Bible. Each Bible story told to the children must incorporate the necessity of conversion. The Bible is the history of salvation - the deep fall in Adam, but also the way of salvation in the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to seek and to save sinners. The Lord can and will use His Word, by the working of His Spirit, to the welfare of the souls of our children. We are obliged, according to the Word of God, to warn our boys and girls against living as the world lives. The Bible testifies, “And be not conformed to this world!” Our children are growing up in a secular society, in a world flooded with unrighteousness, where it seems that the lust of man is the only rule of life. This all must be told to our children, admonishing them in love. Many examples in the Word of God can be used, such as Joseph, Moses, Daniel and his friends, etc.

The question is also to parents, teachers, and office-bearers - What is our life? Are we Christian witnesses and do we live a Christian life? Then, as we consider Christian schools of our own, we must say, “What a privilege”, but also, “What a responsibility”. May the Lord teach us to pray for His instruction in this matter, even as Manoah, the father of Samson, did, “O Lord, how shall we teach our children, and how shall we instruct them for their eternal welfare?” May we all stand in need of becoming as a child to receive that spiritual knowledge of self, of God, of Christ, and of that small beginning of new obedience to love God above all and our neighbors as ourselves.

(The above article is a condensation of an address given by Rev. J. Weststrate.)

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