The NRC of Kalamazoo, Michigan (3)

Rev. Dieperink-Langereis served the congregation until 1903. He was then seventy-two years old, and suffered from cancer in his final years. Therefore he requested that he become emeritus. Just a month before this was to take place, his life came to an end on July 1, 1903; he left behind a beloved and saddened congregation. His death was definitely more expected than was the death of our beloved pastor Rev. Vergunst almost eighty years later, but nevertheless was a sorrowful occasion for the congregation. He had served for nearly ten years in their midst.

Soon afterwards a request was made by the Walnut Street Christian Reformed Church of Kalamazoo that a merger take place, but this request was turned down by the consistory. Shortly thereafter, all ties were cut off with the Christian Reformed Churches. Dr. Henry Beets of the Christian Reformed Church once stated that the South Burdick Street congregation had never truly felt at home in the Christian Reformed denomination, possibly due to its background in the Netherlands. Whatever the situation, the name was then officially changed to Free Nederduits Reformed Congregation of Kalamazoo.

In October 1903, a call was extended to Rev. G. J. Wolbers of the Division Avenue Congregation in Grand Rapids, which he declined. However, the following February he was again called by the congregation. On April 8 he wrote that he had not yet been able to make a decision, but was bringing the call before the Lord with many prayers. The Kalamazoo consistory in turn wrote a letter of encouragement, expressing the hope that It might be the Lord’s will that he come to Kalamazoo. By May 30 two more letters had been received by the congregation, but with no definite decision. On October 2 an acceptance letter was received. He and his family arrived at the train depot on November 24, 1904, and the congregation was again gladdened with a minister in their midst.

While Rev. Wolbers was our pastor, endeavors were made to affiliate with the Classis of which the Division Avenue Church in Grand Rapids was also a member. Other churches in that Classis were in Paterson, New Jersey; Passaic, New Jersey; Fremont, Michigan; and the Turner Avenue church in Grand Rapids. Rev. C. Pieneman, minister in Division Avenue, and Elder A. Van Dyke (who later became Rev. Van Dyke) came to Kalamazoo to meet with the consistory and discuss the possibility of this affiliation. No difficulties surfaced, and in 1909 an affiliation was made with those congregations. With the exception of the Fremont church, these congregations exist even at this present time.

For almost five years, Rev. Wolbers served the congregation, but on September 21, 1909, he bid farewell to the congregation, having accepted a call to the congregation of Enkhuizen in the Netherlands. After his departure, troubles and conflicts again enveloped the congregation, and a committee appointed by the Synod came to meet with all male members on September 28, 1910. The deputies appointed by the Synod were Rev. N. H. Beversluis, and Elders J. Sporte, A. Van Dyke, and A. Bouterse. Thirty-seven male members were present at the meeting. A new consistory was elected by free vote. Several of the prior consistory were re-elected and others added. The new consistory consisted of Elders A. Kremer, J. Van Overloop, and J. Boot, and Deacons J. C. Johnson, P. Schrier, and K. C. Kievit. Rev. Beversluis brought the needs of the newly formed consistory and the congregation in prayer before the Lord as he closed this difficult meeting.

In October of 1912, the congregation extended a call to Rev. A. Van Adrichem of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and in November received the glad tidings that he was enabled to accept the call. Before the end of the year he and his family were situated in Kalamazoo. It was during 1913 that the request resurfaced for a church organ to improve the singing. The majority of the consistory gave their approval, and therefore it was to be presented to the congregation for their consideration. It appears that their approval was not given, for it was years later before an organ was placed in the church.

As we also do when without a minister, the vacant congregations of those days also sent forth calls to the ministers for help. Having received a call from the Peoples Park congregation in Paterson, New Jersey, Rev. Van Adrichem departed from our congregation in May of 1917 to take up his labors there. Again the congregation had an empty pulpit.

The minutes of consistory meetings indicate that several times Elder Kreimer and Deacon Kievit were sent to other places to hear certain ministers preach in order to determine whether they would be suitable for a call by the congregation. However, in December, 1917, an exhorter, Mr. Romein of Krabbendyke in the Netherlands, was called. Salary was set at $1,000 per year, plus free living quarters and free water. The call was declined.

In April of 1918 a member, Mr. A. Lokker, presented himself to the consistory, desiring to be considered for the ministry. He was given an opportunity to speak before the consistory on a certain text, but when things did not proceed as he desired, he left the congregation. Part of the membership followed him, and they established a separate congregation. Such events are difficult times for a congregation, since they affect entire families and relationships. In all these things we are often inclined to point out the misdeeds of those who have overstepped their bounds; but we must also acknowledge that it is a wonder of the Lord that our church still exists today, considering that also our sins rise up against us, prevailing day by day.

At a congregational meeting in June of 1919, a call was again sent out, this time to Rev. A. Van Dyke, who had been serving the church of Sioux Center for several years. He accepted this call, and in September the congregation was blessed with a minister once again.

Rev. Cornelis Van Adrichem

(1851-1923)

The early years of Cornells Van Adrichem remain hidden for us. Calculating from the statistics shown on his death certificate in the city of Paterson, New Jersey, his birth date must have been January 12, 1851. Born in The Netherlands, it is assumed that he came to America some time after 1880. The earliest record of him currently available is in 1900 in Goshen, Indiana. There he shared the leadership in a “branch” congregation of the South Burdick Street Congregation of Kalamazoo. He served as elder and in early 1902 began to exhort, bringing a message of his own composition to the congregation.

When in 1903, after the death of Rev. Dieperink-Langereis, the Kalamazoo congregation separated itself from the Christian Reformed denomination, the “branch” at Goshen appears to have been forgotten. After considerable discussion, this congregation was officially organized as the Goshen Christian Reformed Church of Goshen, with Mr. Van Adrichem as elder and chairman of the consistory. Three worship services were held there each Sunday, with Mr. Van Adrichem reading a sermon in the morning and exhorting at the evening service. Another elder read a catechism sermon in the afternoon.

Classis approval was given to his exhorting in his own congregation, but on occasion Mr. Van Adrichem would also serve other congregations. In time, it became evident that he also exhorted in congregations outside of his own denomination, such as those affiliated with the Netherlands Reformed Congregations. A congregation at Fremont, Michigan, desired him for a regular exhorter, but when this did not materialize, in 1909 he became exhorter for a group in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, who were affiliated with the Netherlands Reformed Congregations. At his departure, his own consistory gave him a letter of commendation and presented him with a gift; the impression given is that they hated to see him leave. The Sheboygan group was officially organized as a congregation that same year. In 1910, after successfully passing the required examination at the Synod of the Netherlands Reformed Congregations, Mr. Van Adrichem was admitted to the ministry of the Word and sacraments, when he was fifty-nine years old. During the time he served Sheboygan, a church building and parsonage were erected.

Two years later, Rev. Van Adrichem accepted the call of Kalamazoo, which had been vacant since the departure of Rev. Wolbers in the fall of 1909. His installer and the details of the service upon his arrival in Kalamazoo are not known.

On April 11, 1916, Rev. Van Adrichem was extended a third call from the Paterson, New Jersey, congregation, which he accepted. He was installed there by Rev. N. H. Beversluis, and served them for six years and a few months. His death came suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday morning December 22, 1923, when he was seventy-two years old. His body was returned to Kalamazoo, to be buried in Riverside Cemetery, where it awaits the resurrection day. He, too, was a laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.

John Knox on his Death Bed, 1572

Many have been my conflicts with Satan in the course of my frail life, and many the assaults which I have sustained, but that roaring lion has never beset me so furiously and forcibly as now. Often he has set my sins in array before me; often has he tempted me to despair; and often strove to ensnare me with the enticements of the world, but, I being enabled to hew his snares in pieces with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, he was not able to prevail against me. But now he has found out a new way. That crafty serpent has endeavored to persuade me that, because I have faithfully and successfully discharged my ministerial office, I am on that account deserving of eternal life and a happy immortality. But God was pleased to make me triumphant over this temptation also, by powerfully suggesting to my memory these texts: “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” and, “By the grace of God, I am what I am” and, “Not I, but the grace of God in me.” Being thus vanquished, he left me.

Shortness of Time

My days are shorter than a span;
A little point my life appears;
How frail at best is dying man!
How vain are all his hopes and fears!

Vain his ambition, noise and show!
Vain are the cares which rack his mind.
He heaps up treasures mix’d with woe,
He dies and leaves them all behind.

O be a nobler portion mine;
Lord may I bow before Thy throne,
Earth’s fleeting treasures there resign,
And fix my hope on Thee alone.

— Wm. Gadsby

Garret J. Moerdyk serves as elder in the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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