“Did You Know?” - Historical Tidbits about North Blendon CRC
Did you know that Pastor Vriesman is the 15th pastor to serve North Blendon? Of the 15 pastors who have served North Blendon CRC -- 6 came to us from other congregations as ordained pastors and 9 came as candidates. Pastor Sonnema served the shortest time with 3 years and 2 months. Pastor Pikaart was with us the longest at 8 years and 7 months. Pastor Haan was the only pastor to retire from North Blendon.
It seems “good stewardship” was always at the forefront when furnishing and updating the church facilities. The first benches were a gift from a church in Grand Rapids. It’s recorded in 1915 that a thank-you note was sent to the Zutphen Church for the gift of an organ. In late 1934 the decision was made to put electricity in the church and parsonage. The September 6, 1937 consistory meeting minutes report that a new organ has been installed at a cost of $870.00. On October 7, 1946 final approval is given for an oil burning furnace for the church. In 1947 it was approved to buy a “good sized” fan for the pulpit. Also in 1947 a request by the “Ladies Aid Society” to buy a “good, used” electric stove for the church basement was approved. In June of 1952 it was decided to have INSIDE restrooms installed. In 1953 two electric fans were purchased for the auditorium. In 1954 the North Street CRC of Zeeland gave North Blendon a safe. On September 19, 1955 congregational meeting decision was made to purchase a new organ. In 1958 our first tape recorded was purchased and a hot water heater was installed in the church basement. In November of 1963 a motion was made and approved that there would be NO SMOKING in the church building. In June of 1968 a committee was appointed to check into enlarging the present building. In 1968 a committee was also approved to look into buying 3-5 acres of land to the south from Fred LeFabre at $300 per acre. On November 3, 1969 the consistory decided to propose to the congregation to work toward a new facility and to start raising money for same. On May 17, 1971 the congregation approved a committee to come up with a proposed plan and design for a new church building and on September 10, 1971 those plans and financial proposals were passed. The last worship service in the old church building was held on June 11, 1972 which was Communion Sunday. On October 29, 1980 a mortgage burning ceremony was held after the mission emphasis week congregational supper. Rev. Haan, Rev. Meyer, and building committee chairman, John Bosch, took part in the ceremony.
Starting in 1964 the janitor was paid an extra $25.00 to “take care of communion”. This involved cutting the bread, keeping a supply of wine, filling the glasses, preparing the table for both services, and of course, washing all those little glasses. The communion set and wine was stored in a kitchen cupboard in the church basement. In one instance when the janitor and his wife went to set up for communion on Saturday evening they found the communion set in its proper place, but all the wine was missing. The afore-mentioned janitor soon found himself on M-45 at The Embassy explaining to the bartender that he needed to buy some wine and the reason for his purchase. The bartender quickly got together the necessary bottles and sent the janitor on his way -- no charge. After that incident the wine was stored at an undisclosed location.
Very little is recorded in the records concerning the celebration of “The Lord’s Supper”, but it was very important in the early years of our congregation. If there was any discord among members the consistory was adamant that it be cleared up before going to the “table of our Lord”. In 1910 an ad was put in “The Watcher” (a Christian periodical) to buy a service set for the Lord’s Supper. No mention is ever made if this ad was successful or where the first set came from. The first celebration of the Lord’s Supper was on April 2, 1911. In 1917 Rev. Rottier was asked to thank Mrs. Westveld for baking the communion bread. In 1919 the North Blendon consistory asked Classis if it would be Biblical to serve grape juice instead of wine because wine was hard to get. No response is reported. In May of 1966 Mr. Carl Haveman, Sr. gave North Blendon the service set we use today in memory of his wife. As our congregation grew we added more trays. In the early 1990’s we switched from wine to grape juice because of alcohol abuse issues and more young (underage) members taking communion.
A very short “Did You Know?” In 1927 the Consistory received some complaints that the young men were not behaving well in church. It was decided to make this issue public in hopes that the young men would get the message, if not, the Consistory would take “other measures”. No “other measures” are recorded so it must have worked. In 1927 ??? Hmmm….
Did you know that the Deacons began meeting separately to count money and do diaconal business in February of 1940? Did you know that it was decided to discontinue with the consistory standing during congregational prayer in July of 1940? Did you know that the first treasurer’s report appears in the consistory meeting minutes of February 5, 1945? Did you know that the Christian School Society was started in January of 1946? Did you know that a decision was made to start taking special offerings for a Christian school bus in September 1947?
At the May 17, 1937 Congregational meeting it was decided to canvas the congregation for money to buy a new organ. The June 7, 1937 Consistory meeting minutes report that $870.00 was “subscribed” for the new organ. The September 6 minutes report that the new organ is in the church. The wheels of progress seemed to roll at a pretty good pace. The November 8, 1937 Consistory minutes reports starting a library. Members of the congregation are requested to donate “appropriate” books.
In February 1929 the Consistory talked about a milk question and the Sabbath. It seems some of the farmers were bringing their milk to the creamery on Sunday and that could be a sin. They sent a letter to Classis regarding this issue. In May of 1932 the “milk issue” came up again. This time one of the Elders said he did not see anything wrong with bringing milk to the creamery on Sunday, but others came to the Consistory to let them know that they disagreed. Since this involved an Elder it was a very big issue so the Consistory asked him to think it over and maybe change his mind. At the August meeting he promised that he had changed his mind and everyone was very pleased because now they could all go to the Lord’s Supper together. My, how things have changed.
“Liberal” ways and ideas came up from time to time in the early years at North Blendon. For instance in 1920 Calvin College sent a letter to the congregation concerning young people “traveling too much on Sunday”. They were hoping the parents would help discourage this. In 1922 the people at North Blendon were very upset at Calvin College and the “high financial sacrifices” that had to be made for Calvin. They thought people with time and gifts could volunteer instead of paying those “high salaries”. They felt the College was distancing itself from the church so the Consistory sent a letter to Classis asking if the College “really knew what they were doing?”
In 1927 the Consistory sent a letter to Classis for the upcoming Synod meeting. North Blendon members had heard that many congregations who had meetings in the “language of the land” did not have services on Sunday afternoon and that gave many people the opportunity for many “worldly things” on the Sabbath. They hoped Synod would warn the people of this real danger. In 1928 Synod sent out a new form for Sunday services which our Consistory had problems with. After three Consistory meetings they sent a letter to Classis stating they felt that “wrong things would come out of it” which would “not be good for our congregation and well being of our spiritual life”.
The first English Pulpit Bible was purchased in 1919 to be used in the summer evening services because the young people did not understand the Dutch as well. In late 1929 the congregation voted regarding half English and half Dutch services. The vote was 17 votes for and 16 votes against. In January 1936 the minutes of the Consistory Meetings were first written in English.
In September 1936, Candidate George Gritter was ordained and installed in a Dutch-English service. In April of 1940 a decision was made to have English language services every-other evening service in May, June, July and August. On February 12, 1941 it was decided to have English services on all holidays and special services. In June of 1942 a decision was made to have every-other morning worship service in English. On July 2, 1945 it was decided to commence English services …immediately! However the Consistory continued singing before and after Consistory Meetings in Dutch until February 8, 1954.
Change is never easy in a congregation. Changing from the Dutch (Holland Language) to the English Language was no exception in North Blendon. Our records show that one service incorporated both languages. When Candidate George Gritter was ordained and installed on September 3, 1936, the service was as follows: opening prayer and scripture in English; sermon in Dutch; reading of the form and ordination service in Dutch; charge to the congregation in English; charge to the Pastor in English.
Financing the early North Blendon congregation always seemed to be a problem. They took offerings at each worship service, but also asked for signed pledges from the members for the pastor’s salary and special projects. When they wanted to put a telephone in the parsonage they went around and got pledges. When the roof on the church needed to be replaced they got pledges. At one point they put canisters in the back of church to put the pledges in. If people fell behind in honoring their pledges, they were told about it. At one point people who were behind were sent bills. One individual moved to another church. When he asked to have his papers transferred, North Blendon refused to send them because he owed them money. When a family transferred to North Blendon, their papers were accompanied by a bill stating they owed their previous church $50 and were expected to pay. Yet North Blendon was very benevolent. In 1917 they contacted Classis to get a “missionary” for the military and they would help with the cost. It also seems they gave money quite often to a psychiatric hospital in Cutlerville. Through it all God was faithful.
Classis Zeeland gave North Blendon CRC $500.00 from a needy church fund to help finance the first church building. The first benches (pews?) were a gift from a church in Grand Rapids called Goalbrock Church. The first organ was given to us by Zutphen Church. The first organist on record was Jennie VanFarrow. She was given a gift for playing, not to exceed $3.00. In November of 1915 the Consistory asked the members to pledge money for a pastor’s salary. $306.50 was pledged.
In early 1918 the Consistory of North Blendon sent a letter to Classis to be forwarded to Synod that they would like to start a Fire Insurance Company. It seems the Consistory felt “too many dollars were wasted” using outside insurance companies. It does not appear to have gone very far. The Consistory also canvassed the congregation to get money for a telephone in the parsonage, $27.50 was raised. On May 30 they held a prayer service for peace and took an offering for the Red Cross. Later the government closed all the churches because of influenza. The Consistory did not agree with that decision so sent a letter to the governor stating that “instead of closing every church they all should be open for prayer”. In November the war came to an end, a special service was held that Sunday night and three young people made Profession of Faith. They were Mill Driesenga, Tony and Pieter Miedema.
In July of 1911 there was a Congregational Meeting held where the grass and wheat growing on the church property was sold for $8.00. It was also decided that for the summer months the members of the congregation would take turns doing the janitor work, except for the Consistory members. However since the furnace needed to be attended to in the winter, bids were taken. Five men put in bids ranging from $21.00 to $50.00. A Mr. VanderVeen got the job, $21.00 for 5 months.
In 1915 they hired a custodian for the whole year. The low bid that got the job was by M. Visser, $38.50 for the year.
Did you know that for many years the Consistory meetings included lunch? According to past records Mrs. Gritter, Mrs. Netz, Mrs. Sonnema and Mrs. Beute prepared and served the lunches. They were paid for this service at the end of the year. In January of 1954, Mrs. Beute was given $50.00 for serving the lunches in 1953. Later the Consistory members’ wives took turns. Finally in February of 1985 the decision was made to discontinue the lunches completely. (Since then the meetings have been much shorter.)
In late 1915 the Consistory canvassed the congregation to take pledges for the salary of a new pastor, $306.50 was pledged. On February 3, 1916, Rev. Mokma was called but declined to take the call. On April 10, 1916 the congregation voted to extend a call to Rev. Rottier. On May 5, 1916, he took the call and on July 3, 1916, lead the first Consistory meeting. The Consistory paid his moving bill of $75.00 and also decided to give him a car for $200.00, if he would stay for 3 years.
The first Consistory meeting was also held on November 30, 1910. J. Miedema was chosen President, J. Haveman as Vice-President, Peter Driesenga as Treasurer, and Frederik Westveld as Vicar. J. Miedema was also chosen to teach the “big kids” catechism and J. Haveman the “small” ones. Decision was made to pay visiting Pastors three dollars if it was a Classical Exchange and five dollars if it was a student. If the visiting Pastor had to rent a horse, they also paid for that.
They were looking to borrow a thousand dollars to build a church building. A Mr. Jannes Zwiers offered it to them a five and one-half percent interest, which the Consistory gladly agreed to.
The first meeting of the duly organized North Blendon Christian Reformed Church was on November 30, 1910 at the home of P. Driesenga. Attending were 16 families, 34 of them were communicant members and 50 were baptized members. Five of them made Profession of Faith that very day. Rev. T. Ark preached a sermon from Isaiah 40:11, they sang from Psalm 68 and an offering was taken. They also voted in a Consistory. Jon Miedema and Jon Haveman were elected as Elders and P. Driesenga and Frederick Westveld as Deacons. They were ordained that same afternoon.