All Articles For Doezema, Don

With a Classis report as long as that one, we’re going to have to be rather selective in our choice of news items for this issue, and save the rest for next time.  Rev. Heys writes that he plans his Farewell Sermon for April 19, and that he’s “booked up with meetings” to the very end of his stay. He also mentioned that the days were getting warmer—meaning temperatures higher than 80 degrees. That was on March 25, the day prior to one in which the schools in Grand Rapids had to be called off as the result of a...

It seems that the choir of Covenant Christian High, under the direction of Mr. R. Petersen is acquiring some renown. On May 26 they traveled to Kalamazoo to perform there in a program sponsored by the Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church. And on May 19 they went even further—out of state, no less. The Ladies Society of South Holland’s church sponsored a program in that church’s auditorium. The feature attraction was Covenant’s a cappella choir.

Prevoius article in this series: December 1, 2011, p. 114. During the reign of Jeroboam II, the majority of the Israelites were not thinking at all of evil days. But those days were not long in coming. Jeroboam was succeeded by his son Zachariah. Zachariah was the fourth of the line of Jehu to sit on the throne. And he was the last—in keeping with the word of God to Jehu that his sons would reign to the fourth generation (II Kings 10:30). Zachariah reigned for a brief period of six months, when he was assassinated “before the people” by...

Previous article in this series: January 15, 2012, p. 188. This thing is from me (I Kings 12:24). So said the Lord through the prophet Shemaiah concerning the division of the kingdom. And then, through the prophet Hosea, these words: “They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not” (Hosea 8:4). A contradiction, it would appear: God did it…and God did not do it. The two prophets, however, though they speak concerning the same history, view it from different perspectives—God’s and man’s. Shemaiah makes clear that God ruled the defection of Jeroboam and the ten...

Mr. Doezema is secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee. Our domestic home missionaries make reports to their respective calling churches and the Domestic Mission Committee on a regular—at least bimonthly—basis. In those reports they keep the two bodies abreast of developments as they occur. In addition to the bimonthly reports, each of the three missionaries also submits an annual report, which is included in the agenda for synod and constitutes an important part of the information provided that assembly to give it a sense of what’s actually happening in the various fields of labor. Those annual reports, however, are more...

Mr. Doezema is secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee. At our most recent regular monthly meeting, Rev. Bruinsma remarked that it’s not always so easy for him to look objectively at questions that arise about the work in “his” area because he is so personally involved in it. He appreciated, therefore, he said, the more balanced approach that could be taken with the input of other members of the committee. We find repeatedly that that kind of balance has served us well. The work of the Domestic Mission Committee has been structured accordingly. We have three main sub-committees—one for the...

On Saturday evening, December 14, 1996, the earthly pilgrimage of our beloved Rev. Harbach ended, when the Lord took him from a nursing home to his eternal home and eternal reward. Soft spoken, unassuming, never one to seek, or even to want, a place of prominence among men. But, in the kingdom, a “giant warrior of the faith.” In referring to him thus in his funeral message, Rev. Spriensma was speaking for all those who were privileged to sit under Rev. Harbach’s preaching, either in an established church or on a mission field. One needed not to listen long to...

Mr. Doezema is secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee. San Luis Valley It was surely an answer to prayer that the next call, to Rev. Tom Miersma, was accepted. Within a couple of months our home missionary and his family were occupying a rented house in the SanLuis Valley. And in the few, short months that have passed since then, the Mission Committee has had good reason to express its appreciation for the zeal with which Rev. Miersma has evidently thrown himself into the work. With input from members of the group, Rev. Miersma has begun to prepare written material...

Mr. Doezema is secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee. “In response to the question: ‘Is one missionary for all of Great Britain realistic?’ the answer is clearly, ‘No,’ but we can hardly expect the PRC to sanction more than one man!” The British Reformed Fellowship (which offered the above assessment of needs in the UK) was established in 1990 by a group of Christians “concerned for the defence and propagation of the historic Reformed Faith in the British Isles.” One of their stated objectives is “to organize meetings, conferences, preaching services and other activities in order to further the Reformed...

Mr. Doezema is secretary of the Domestic Mission Committee. “Yes! Send us a missionary!” Those words constituted the headline of a June 1996 “BRF News Alert” which gave the results of a survey conducted to determine interest in “a second missionary from the Protestant Reformed Churches of the USA, in the light of the successful labors of that denomination in Northern Ireland.” The Committee of the British Reformed Fellowship reported a decidedly positive reception of the idea among the readers of their journal. In a recent letter to the BRF there was this related advice: “As I see it their...