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Description
At a meeting of the Classis of Holland in Kalamazoo, there was an invitation of the Committee for Mission Work to send a pioneer gospel minister to serve the Dutch population of South Africa. Surprisingly, the Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte offered to take this position. At the conclusion of this Article X,"Classis unwilling to see Rev. van Raalte leave its midst and believes that the reasons underlying this offer are not sufficiently justified for sending Rev. Van Raalte to Africa. Later at the Classis meeting, Van Raalte was asked specifically why he wished to go to South Africa. The first reason given was: "In the history of the colony, the pressure of necessity had made it necessary for Rev. van Raalte to be involved in many activities and intervening in many matters. As a result, his extensive influence has been placed in an unfavorable light." The classis refused him permission to leave saying "that Rev. van Raalte's service and person are precious to the classis and that they could not make a decision to send him out of their midst."
Date
9-17-1860
City
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Source
The original documents are held by Archives and Special Collections, Hope College Library.
Rights
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Recommended Citation
Buursma, William, "Meeting of the Classis of Holland in Kalamazoo" (1860). Van Raalte Papers: 1860-1869. 14.
https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/vrp_1860s/14
Notes
In Dutch, with translation by the Rev. William Buursma, pp. 39, 40, and 41 of his translation.
Description of the document and reference to The Joint Archives of Holland [now called Hope College Archives and Special Collections] by Dr. Elton J. Bruins.
About the collection:
Elton J. Bruins, long-time professor in the Department of Religion at Hope College, spent years collecting documents by and about Albertus C. Van Raalte, founder of Holland, Michigan and early patron of Hope College. Documents were gathered from dozens of public and private collections, making a nearly exhaustive collection of Van Raalte's writings and reflections. It is these documents that make up the "Van Raalte Papers."
Digitizing the Van Raalte papers was supported by the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. The project was done in partnership with Heritage Hall at Calvin University, which also digitized its Van Raalte collections.