(Editor’s Note: This report represents the personal viewpoint of the writer, and not necessarily that of the Rev. G. Lubbers or that of the Mission Committee. HCH) Having been privileged to serve the Mission Committee as one of the “emissaries of ’76” to Jamaica, I would like to share with you my personal impressions of the country, “our” churches and the ministers we are supporting.
The emissaries to Jamaica have submitted an official report of their findings which will appear in the Agenda of Synod and which will be made known to our membership. But I would like to tell you of my personal first-time-visit to that tropical island.
In this article we shall try to answer some of the questions that you raise concerning the mission endeavors of our churches as they are implemented by the Mission Committee.
Tongues are wagging, ears are tingling and credibility is being tried. The “citizen’s band radio” is so very busy these days that it is becoming more and more difficult to sort out the rumor-news from the true-news. The Mission Committee thought it expedient to tune up the “official band radio” to give you more of the Jamaican mission news — hence this installment that had been promised you. Some of which you heard on the citizen’s band was true, of course, but the deductions and analyses are being stretched to the “I can’t believe it” stage.
Have you ever read one of those magazine stories in serial form with short installments appearing each month? Then you will also remember wondering how many chapters were still forthcoming. In fact, some single chapters were strung out so long that one even wondered when he would be introduced to a new chapter. Well, the story of our work in the Jamaican Mission Field is one such, with parts of chapters written in installments. This time we will start another chapter.
Dear Editor:
It has been quite some time since you have heard from our Theological School and of the progress of our students. By the time you read this the school will have closed its doors for the summer vacation “Vacation” one calls it with tongue-in-cheek: for the faculty will be busy in preparation for next September’s work-load, and the students will be extremely busy this summer making a living. But more about that later. First we would like to take you with us to be an unseen guest at a typical day in school.
There is again a flurry of activities of trios and calls. Doon has called Rev. Engelsma, from Loveland; Pella has called the Rev. D. Kuiper from a trio consisting of Revs. Heys, Kuiper, and Lubbers; Hull’s congregation will meet Oct. 27 to call one from a trio comprising the Revs. Kuiper, Lubbers, and Woudenberg; and First Church must elect on Nov. 28, from a trio including the Revs. Engelsma, Lubbers, and Schipper, one to whom they will extend a call to be missionary to Jamaica.
The Opening Exercises of our Seminary was an exciting time for the two professors, the six students and the two Theological School Committeemen. Exciting it was, for it marked the first day of a busy year, but also solemn, in that it was the introduction to a school year of ardent studies—all of which would lead to that day when those young men would be declared eligible for call to be some congregation’s minister!
Rev. R. Decker, of Doon, Iowa, has accepted the call extended him by our church in South Holland, IL; and, Doon has already named a trio from which they will choose one to fill Rev. Decker’s place: the Revs. D. Kuiper, D. Engelsma and H. Veldman.
