Two more ministers have left the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands (RCN/GKv) and joined the DGK.[i] They are Rev H G Gunnink and Rev H W van Egmond. Although retired they have made themselves available to serve DGK congregations. A DGK synod decided with joy and confidence to allow these two ministers to the ministry of the Word. DGK consistories were invited to inform the congregations and to thank the Lord for this. They were also given their contact addresses should they wish to make use of them to proclaim the Word in their midst.
D J Bolt (of www.eeninwaarheid.info) reports in a newsletter:
It will be clear how pleased and joyful the churches and we are with the arrival of these ministers from the GKv! These are experienced ministers of the Word who want to serve, and now may serve, the proclamation of the gospel and the building up of Christ’s church.
Leaving the GKv can be painful, as we know from personal experience. That’s because one leaves much behind, both ecclesiastically and personally. And that applies particularly to ministers and their wives who have developed so many relationships and ties with churches and church members throughout the years that they have worked and served with heart and soul in those churches. Obeying Jesus Christ as He requires in a.o. Mat. 10 is certainly not without sadness and sorrow. Let’s have an open eye and heart for that.
At the same time, following the Lord of the Church also means liberation: salvation from the grasp of an ecclesiastical life that increasingly divorced itself from the authority of Holy Scripture and that has fallen under the spell of an insidious worldly culture. There is now a new freedom in which joy may replace sorrow and work in God’s kingdom can proceed unhindered!
The arrival of these ministers also forms a powerful appeal to the troubled people still in the GKv to no longer hesitate but to disengage themselves from the deceptive effects of heresies.
At the classis meeting, many congratulated the ministers with their move into the DGK as ministers of the Word. We, too, would like to extend to them our congratulations and we look forward to hearing them explain the Scriptures, expose to us our sin and guilt, and encourage us with the only comfort and grace in life and death, Jesus Christ.
[i] DGK: De Gereformeerde Kerken – instituted in 2003 by those who, in humble submission to the Lord, liberated themselves from the false teachings of the RCN/GKv after exhausting the appeals process to RCN synods and after calls for the reformation of the RCN proved fruitless.