     The
  STANDARD
.&E/ME
        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                      -





   "...to see these children, when come to
 years of discretion, instructed  and brought
 up in the aforesaid doctrine, or help or cause
 them to be instructed therein, to the  &most
 of your power."
from "Form for the.Administration of Baptism"
                                     Volume  LVII, No. 5, December 1, 1980


                                                                              1I
                                                                              I
9         8                                                 THE STANIQ,ARD BEARER
                                                                              i



                                                                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER
                              CONTENTS                                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                              Semi-monthly, except  monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                              Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
     Meditation-                                                                                    Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                    Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
        We Have Heard, We WillTell..  . . . . . . . . . . .98                       Department Editors:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Arie
                                                                                    denHartog, Prof.  Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev. Richard
     Editor's Notes-                                                                Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman  Hando, Rev. John A. Heys, Mr.
                                                                                    Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
        R.F,.P..A. Publication Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101                Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper. Rev. James  Slopsema,
                                                                                    Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
        A Word of Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101                 Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                     4975  Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
     Hope Christian School (Redlands) . . . . . . . . . . 101                                        Grandville, Michigan49418
                                                                                    Church  News  Editor:  Mr. Calvin Kalsbeek
     Hope School (Grand Rapids) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102                                         1313  WilsonAve. S.W.
                                                                                                          Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504
     Adams Street School (Grand Rapids) . . . . . . . . 104                         Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                    articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and questions for the
     Free Christian School (Edgerton) . . . . . . . . . . .107                      Question-Box Department are welcome. Contributions will be limited to ap-
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     Loveland Prot. Ref. Christian School. . . . . . . . 108                        signed. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the month. All com-
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     Northwest Iowa Prot. Ref. School (Doon). . . . 111                             reproduced in full;  b] that proper acknowledgement is  made:  c) that a copy of the
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MEDITATION


                            We Have Heard, We Will Tell
                                                                Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                  For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded
               our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
                  That the generation `to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who
               should  dvise and declare them to their children:
                  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his com-
               mandments.                                                                                                             -Psalm  78:5-7

     A marvelous wonder of God's grace it is, that the                                contact with first-generation children of God. With-
Lord our God continues His covenant in the line of                                    .out question, that is a wonder. A spectacular
generations. Never forget it!                                                         wonder of God's grace! The Almighty, Who calls
     You can go to the foreign mission field-and I                                    the things which be not as though they were, and
speak from experience-and there come into                                             Who quickens the dead, calls His children  effec-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 99



tually out of the darkness of heathendom into His            No, but He established a testimony in [acob,  and
marvelous light. In the most direct and literal           appointed a law in Israel. Don't you see?-The Word
sense, He translates them out of the power of dark-       of God here has to do with His  .church, His
ness into the kingdom of His dear Son. Amazing            covenant people, the one body of our Lord Jesus
grace! One can only marvel at the sudden, radical         Christ, His beloved elect, who are gathered by His
change that such grace works.                             Spirit and Word from the beginning to the end of
   But do not forget that it is no less a wonder-and      the world, whom He began to gather already in the
in some respects an even greater wonder, if indeed        old dispensation and whom He continues to gather
comparisons are in order-that the Lord our God            throughout the centuries of the new.
continues His covenant in the line of generations.           And now note carefully: the concern here is not
No, this does not mean that all the children born of      that by our instruction we must make our children
believing parents are regenerated children of God.        and children's children into children of God. Our
Nor does it mean that we may and must presuppose          homes and our covenant schools are not little
this: for this would be presupposing what both            mission stations to make true Israelites out of  cir-
Scripture and experience teach us is not true. But in     cumcized Philistines, so to speak. The purpose of
the line of generations God calls His own, and that,      Christian education is not to lead our children to
too, from infancy on, out of the power of darkness        Christ and make them into children of God. That
into the kingdom of His dear Son. He calls the seed,      would be a task far beyond our capability, and it
the seed of the promise, the true and spiritual seed,     would be hopeless folly to attempt it. Basically, and
out of our seed! He brings a clean thing out of an        from the point of view of the positive seed that is
unclean! Generation after generation He does this,        always organically present in all the generations of
so that our generation of His church brings forth         the church, the order is just the other way around.
the next generation. Once His church is established       Because the Lord our God draws His seed out of
among a people, that church continues to be built         our seed, it is both possible and necessary to
up out of the church. And this shall continue until       instruct our children in His wonderful works and
Jesus comes. Amazing grace! Covenant faithful-            to teach them to keep His commandments.
ness!                                                                             *****
                          *****                              A testimony established, and a law command-
  It is about these generations, the generations of       ed....
the people of God, and it is about this seed, the seed       Covenant education is not an option, but a man-
of His covenant, that the Word of God here is con-        date.
cerned. You cannot fail to note this in the text and         A divine mandate!  He,  Jehovah, our covenant
context. It is on the foreground, this concern with       God, has established a testimony and a law. It is a
covenant generations. "...ouY @hers have told us."        testimony, that is, a witness concerning the will of
"We will not hide them from their chiZdren,  shewing      God with respect to the instruction of our children
to the generation to come...." Such expressions you       and grandchildren. And that testimony is at the
find in the preceding context. And in the text you        same time a law. The testimony is not merely good
find the same emphasis.  "...that they should make        advice, which you follow or do not follow as you
them known to their children." "That the generation       see fit or as your money allows or depending on
to come might know them, even the children which          your priorities in life. It is a rule. It is a divine
shouZd be born; who should arise and declare them         principle of right. It is a mandate from on high!
to their children." Fathers.. .children. ..children's
children. ..generations to come.. .children as yet un-       Need I remind you how often that`testimony and
born! This idea is on the foreground here. To a           law occurs in the annals of Israel's history? Here in
thousand generations..  .until Jesus comes! No            Psalm 78 it is simply stated that this testimony
wonder we sing often from Psalm 78 at occasions           consisted in this, that God "commanded our
connected with Christian education; it is totally         fathers that they should make them known to their
appropriate.                                              children.' ' But this testimony, as the psalm sug-
                                                          gests, is a matter of history; it is something which
  Moreover, it is not about generations in general        the Lord commanded of old already. You read of it,
that the Psalm speaks, even as it is not about the        for example, in connection with the hardening of
transmission of knowledge in general that the             Pharaoh's heart and God's purpose to show His
inspired poet is concerned here. After all, it is true    signs before Pharaoh: "And that thou mayest tell in
also in the world that the transmission of know-          the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what
ledge with which education is concerned takes"            things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs
place  from, generation to generation. That is axio-      which I have done among them; that ye may
matic; it is simply a fact of life.                       know how that I am the Lord." (Exodus  10:2) Of


100                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



this same testimony you read in connection with                          this earth and this world but toward heavenly
the Passover, Exodus 12:26, 27: "And it shall come                       things, not of the flesh and of the men of this world
to pass, when your children shall say unto you,                          but of the wonder-working God of our salvation in
What mean ye by this service?" That ye shall say,                        Christ must be all their hope and expectation and
"It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who                         longing. And the more they know of His wonderful
passed over the houses of the children of Israel in                      works, the stronger that hope and confidence will
Egypt, when he smote the Egyptian's, and delivered                       be. Secondly, therefore, they must not forget, but
our houses." You find the same law in Exodus 13:8,                       be mindful of the works of God; and to this end
9: "And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying,                     they must be instructed in them. Failure to instruct
This is done because of that which the Lord did                          the generation to come can only result in ignorance!
unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it                           And, thirdly, the purpose is that they shall keep
shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and                       and learn to keep His commandments. For hope
for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's                       and sanctification belong together: he that hath this
law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand                          hope in him purifieth himself. And remembrance,
hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt." (cf. also                      thankful remembrance, of God's wonderful works
vss. 14-16) And who has not heard this emphasized                        and the keeping of His commandments are insepar-
in a Christian instruction sermon or speech in                           able.
connection        -with    the      f a m i l i a r   w o r d s   o f      And so, in some of our school constitutions we
Deuteronomy 6:6-9: "`And these words, which I                            have stated these things rather prosaically: "The
command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And                      Bible is the infallibly inspired, written Word of
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,                      God, the doctrine of which is contained in the
and shalt talk of them when thou  sittest in thine                       Three Forms of Unity, and as such forms the basis
house (How detrimental is TV to this! HCH), and                          for administration, instruction, and discipline in
when thou walkest by.the way, and when thou liest                        the school. Our Sovereign, Triune, Covenant God
down, and when thou risest up.  iAnd thou shalt                          has from eternity chosen and in time. forms a
bind them for a sign upon thine  Ihand, and they                         people unto Himself, that they may stand in cove-
shall be as frontlets between thine' eyes. And thou                      nant relationship to Him, and live to His praise in
shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and                        friendship and loving service in all spheres of life,
on thy gates."                                                           in the midst of a sinful world. The training'of the
                           *****                                         covenant child in the school as well as in the home
                                                                         and in the church must serve to prepare him to
  What must be told to unborn generations, to                            follow his lifelong calling to reveal the glory of their
children and grandchildren and great grandchil-                          God in a life lived from the principle of regenera-
dren in the line of the covenant?                                        tion by grace."
  In a word: God! His praiseworthy deeds, His                              More poetically, in the spirit of this psalm we
strength, His wonderful works that He hath done!                         s i n g :
  That must be the center of it all. In the deepest                          Instructing our sons we gladly record
sense of the word, all education must be God-cen-                            The praises, the works, the might of the Lord;
tered. It must all be centered about the God of the                          For He hath commanded that what He hath
wonder, the God Who quickens  the,dead, the God                                   done
Who saves His people, the God Who has revealed                               Be passed in tradition from father to son.
Himself in Jesus Christ our Lord, the God Who is
the Covenant Jehovah, the God of all the wonders                             Let children thus learn from history's light
of grace, the God Who saves His people for His                               To hope-in our God and walk in His sight,
own name's sake, that they should in all their walk                          The God of their fathers to fear and obey,
and conversation in the midst of the world walk as                           And ne'er like their fathers to turn from His
pilgrims and strangers, journeying toward the city                                way.
that hath foundations, and thus should be to the
praise of His glory.
  Closely connected is the purpose of such educa-                           The Standard Bearer
tion; a threefold purpose. Our children must
know Jehovah and all His wonderful works, first of                        makes: a thoughtfid gift
all, in order that they may fix their hope in God. All
their expectation must be of Him. All the certainty
of their hope and confidence must be founded on                                     on any occasion.
Him. All their longing must be toward Him. Not of
this world but of the next,.not toward the things of


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              101



     EDITOR'S NOTES

                          .R.F.P.A. Publication Notes

       We are happy to announce that THE VOICE OF             inflation, goes a price increase. As long as any old
     OUR FATHERS, An Exposition  of  the Canons  of           stock remains available, the old prices will prevail.
     Dordrecht,  is at long last available. Book Club Mem-    But the new printings will show the following in-
     bers will receive their copies as soon as possible;      creases in price: The Five Points of Calvinism goes up
     others may order this 861-page  book at the regular      from $1.95 to  $2.95; Marriage,  $1.95 up to $2.95;
     price of  $T8.95. Those who order it for Christmas       Mysteries  of  the Kingdom,  up from $5.95 to $6.95;
     gifts may be assured that we will do our utmost to       Whosoever  WiZZ,  up from $1.95 to $2.95;  The  TripZe
     fill all orders in time. We have also been informed      KnowZedge,;)   up from $8.95 to $10.95 per volume,
     that Rev. Engelsma's Hyper-Calvinism and the CczZZ of    and from $24.95 to $29.95 per 3-volume set. Two
     the GospeZ is scheduled for early December publica-      remarks in this connection: first, our books are still
     tion. This will be a paperback, priced at $4.95.         priced well below most books of similar size;
     Several of our books are temporarily out of stock,       second, it is becoming increasingly profitable for
     or nearly so; but they are being reprinted as rapidly    you to join our RFPA Book Club. When are YOU
     as possible. With the reprinting process, due to         going to join?

                               A Word of Introduction

       As you will readily see when you peruse it, this is    include two more features, namely, an editorial,
     a special issue of our Standard Bearer. It is devoted    which would have been devoted to promoting Pro-
     to Protestant Reformed education, more specifi-          testant Reformed teacher-education, and a signifi-
     cally to our ten Protestant Reformed schools from        cant article from the past. However, we found out
     Michigan to the Pacific. The purpose of this issue is    that teachers as well as preachers can sometimes be
     not to brag. How could it be? We have nothing of         longwinded and violate space limitations. In the
     which to boast; what we are and what we have,            interest of presenting the stories of our schools un-
     also as far as Protestant Reformed education is con-     abridged, therefore, we are omitting the two items
     cerned, is by grace only. But the purpose is twofold.    mentioned above. The editorial will appear at a
     First of all, the aim is to acauaint our readers with    later date.
     our schools and with the progress we have made in          We take this opportunity to thank all those who
     the realm of education. Secondly, the purpose is to      cooperated by writing and sending in the requested
     promote  covenantal education.                           pictures. We hope our readers will enjoy this
       We had intended, when we planned this issue, to        presentation.                                 - H C H



                   Hope Christian School (Redlands)

       Our Christian school of Redlands  was first organ-     Christian grade school established by parents of
     ized in 1934. For seven years, the First Reformed        Protestant Reformed persuasion. The first principal
     Christian School, as it was then called, was housed      and teacher was Mr. P. R. Zuidema.
     in the basement of the original Protestant Reformed
     Church at the intersection of Lugonia Avenue and           In 1941, a new two-room school was constructed
     Clay Street in north Redlands. The late Rev. G. Vos      adjacent to the church. There we instructed our
     was very instrumental in the formation of this first     covenant youth until the loss of our property in
I                                                                            \


102                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



1954. Teachers during those years were Mr. A.C.
Boerkoel, Miss Alice Reitsma, Mrs. Harriet  (Schip-
per) Engelhart, Mrs. Alice Sawyer, Mrs.  Marian
(Vander Werff) Karsemeyer, Mrs. Florence  (Hoek-
stra) Brunsting, Mr. Edwin Gritters, Mrs. Ruth
(Vermeer) Stuursma, Miss Beth De Boer, Miss
Florence Terpstra, and Miss Ruth Brunsting.
  It was not again until 1975 that we were priv-
ileged to have our own school. Under the able
direction of Mr. George Joostens, our new three-
room school was constructed, consisting of two
classrooms and kitchen-utility rooms. For the
better part of eight months, the people of Redlands,
men and women, young and old, spent their Satur-
days (and many evenings) in the construction task.
We were happy to obtain the volunteerservices of
an experienced block layer (who also served as our
pastor)-the Rev. Marvin Kamps. The result is a                the ten families with children in school, our finan-
beautiful concrete block building with tile roof. As          cial burden is not easy. We are heavily reliant
befits our California climate, the school is complete         upon, and grateful for, the help of our fellow
with refrigerated air conditioning and a picturesque          supporters, young and old, who contribute finan-
cactus "garden."                                              cially and physically to the operation of the school.
                                                              Our school was constructed in its entirety by
  Our school is located at 1309 E. Brockton Ave. in           volunteer labor. Today, all able-bodied members
northeast Redlands. It is situated on a 5-acre parcel         take their weekly turns in landscaping and grounds
underlooking the beautiful San Bernardino moun-               maintenance.
tain range to the north and east. We have sold the
westerly half of our property to the Hope Protes-               We are also grateful to- our fellow churches who
tant Reformed Church of  Redlands who, the Lord               so graciously responded during a particular time of
willing, will soon be our "next-door" neighbor. The           need this past school year. It is always our prayer
church's parcel includes a house which may be                 and endeavor that we may be self-supporting.
used as a future parsonage but is presently occu-               Although we have a present enrollment of only
pied by our principal, Mr. John Kalsbeek, wife                seventeen children, we look forward to continued
Judy, and their seven children.                               growth. The Lord has blessed Redlands with many
  When our school re-opened in 1975, Mr. Jon                  young families and we have a large number of pre-
Huisken took a year's leave from his labors at Hope           school age children. We thank God for His continu-
College, Holland, Michigan, and with his wife,                ing covenant faithfulness. It is our prayer that he
Joanne, guided our school through its first year.             will continue to provide dedicated parents and
Our present principal, Mr. Kalsbeek, has been                 teachers to labor in the blessed privilege of instruct-
assisted by Mrs. Neva (Doezema) Feenstra and, at              ing those whom He has so graciously entrusted to
present, by Miss Laurie Buiter.                               our care.
  The Lord has been truly good to us during our                 "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the
first years of operation. With a budget of approxi-           fruit of the womb is His reward." Psalm 127:3
mately $40,000, two-thirds of which is funded by                                  Edwin Gritters, Board Secretary
                                                         i
                                                         I
                                                         I

                     Hope School Grand Rapids)

  Hope School began thirty-three years ago in 1947
with approximately twenty-five society members
in a two-room school house with two teachers.
Presently the plant includes eleven classrooms, a
large library, and an adequate all-purpose room;
our teaching staff numbers fourteen and society                   Hope School- 1947


                                              THE STANDARD  BEARER                                               103





rolls number some one hundred eighty-eight                     nonetheless staggering; and the need for the new
members.                                                       building  pkoposed  by the new or satellite school
                                                               committee was very really impressed on the society
  The student enrollment has gone from fifty-two
in those early days to the present two hundred                 at its meeting of September 29.
ninety-one students. But probably the most inter-                   We from Hope School believe this to be true
esting part of the enrollment is that, in spite of             because of the phenomenal growth of four support-
having a larger total enrollment way back in 1974              ing churches in the last five or six years. Beginning
(313), we, just this past September 29, held a special         with our Holland Church and its increase in size,
society meeting and decided to build a new  ten-               especially of young, growing families, to the estab-
room school building in the Hudsonville, Michigan              lishment of Faith Church in Jenison, of some eighty
area because of proposed enrollment increases. The             families, this growth is a pleasant reality. What a
kindergarten class last year was forty-three                   joy to see young children mature and grow out of
students, necessitating a split class; and the  thirty-        our grade school, through our high school, and into
seven for this year required another split class. But          Christian adults, marrying and taking their places
from here the situation changes drastically: the pro-          in our churches! One such example is Rev. Ronald
posed kindergarten class for next year is  forty-              Hanko who had all his training in our school
three; the  `82-`83 school year fifty-two; the  `83-`84        system. Now we are also faced with the fact that
year, fifty-three; the `84-`85 year, sixty-two; and the        these young people are settling in the Jenison-
`85-`86  year, eighty-two. The computer projection             Hudsonville area, and it proves to us at Hope that
for up to ten years from now shows us with                     another school is a necessity.
incoming classes of one hundred sixty-seven
students. If twenty-five percent is deducted for un-                One of our major concerns is the cost. We read in
foreseen errors or circumstances, the figures are              the August 21, 1950 society minutes that a motion





Artist's drawing of proposed new satellite school in Hudsonville


104                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



is approved to raise the tuition for one child from       no ministers. We also have some teachers with
$120 to $130; for two from $135 to $145; and for          special training. and talents for the learning-dis-
three or more from $150 to $160. (Oh, to be able to       abled students and those who have learning diffi-
go back to those days!) This present year the cost.       culties because of physical impairments. Techno-
for one student in the grades with the bus is             logy has also come to Hope in the form of special
$1,762.50. The burden of these costs can only             hand-held calculators. The recent PTA (October)
increase, especially in light of the fact that several    voted to use some of its funds to purchase these
of our churches experience large debts and pros-          things for the education in math.
pective building projects. But what a privilege we          One organization connected to our school has
have in educating the covenant seed! What a joy to        helped support us financially when special projects
hear them proclaim the majesty of our God at an           were needed, such as additions or `remodeling
all-school program, when some two hundred and             work, and that organization is our Mothers' Circle.
fifty strong stand to sing and shout the praises of       Each year this group of dedicated mothers works
our God! And what a thrill to note that we have           through various projects to raise money for our
teachers dedicated to the same cause, who instruct,       school. I believe its annual bazaar alone makes in
mold, and nurture our children in the doctrines we        excess of $5,000.00.
hold dear!                                                  Because of the staggering budget which we must
  This points, also to another need we will have as       look'at now and in the future, we need all the finan-
time rolls on: that of at least one new teacher for       cial help we can get. We at Hope are happy with
each of the next five years. I spoke recently with        the strong support we receive from our consti-
another former Christian School teacher from out-         tuents, many of whom have long ago put their last
side our circles and who now sells insurance, and         child through our school. Our semi-annual drives
he finds it hard to believe our growth patterns.          of the past several years have gone over our asking
Every school system outside our circles-has either        goals. No, we don't have a surplus of money, but
stopped growing or has declining enrollment,              we always seem to come up with enough.
forcing teachers to look elsewhere for work. Here
we will have to promote the idea of our own                 As secretary of the Board, I know I can speak for
teachers for some time to come.                           the Board, in thanking our loyal. supporters and
                                                          asking  .for your continued support-and we mean
The Board at Hope has always. worked conser-              especially that of prayer. Without God's continued
vatively toward providing the Christian education         blessing we couldn't continue. I believe that holds
we need in our circles. And, because of a very real       true for all our Protestant Reformed Christian
shortage of trained teachers, we were forced to call      Schools. I would urge prayer for boards, teachers,
on mothers of our Covenant homes, ministers and           administrators, and students that we may be kept
their wives, and yet others who had not received          in the way of the truth.
enough college training to be certified in order to
train our Covenant seed. But times have changed;                              James Schipper, Board Secretary
we now have all certified teachers on the staff and



              Adams Street School (Grand Rapids)

Note: Most of the content of this article is quoted       where. noted, quotations are taken from Board
directly from an article written by Mr. Ken               documents.      Cal Kalsbeek, Present Administrator
Schipper (former student, former Board President,
and present parent of two Adams students) in the            It was with the need for distinctly Protestant
1975 Spotlight. This school annual also served as. a      Reformed      instruction    becoming    increasingly
commemorative booklet celebrating 25 years of             evident that a group of men. met on the night of
covenant instruction at Adams. Due to the length of       January 28, 1937, in the basement of First Church
that document, much of its content could not be           (Grand Rapids) to discuss the possibility of starting
included here. If you are interested in that more         our own school. It seems that little was accom-
complete history (with pictures) of Adams, copies         plished at this first meeting other than that a
are available at the school for a nominal fee. Except     committee was appointed to consult with Rev. H.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                           105



                                                         percent behind the movement, finances  .were  hard
                                                         to come by, and when finally the board proposed to
                                                         buy property, they found out that even more work
                                                         had'to be done.
                                                           From March of  1942. until the end of 1943 the
                                                         Board busied itself with the matter of a location for
                                                         the school. The sites considered included a YWCA
                                                         building on Eastern Avenue, some lots on the
                                                         corner of Fuller and Franklin, a plot of ground on
                                                         Adams and Calvin, property in the Ball' Park area,
                                                         and the property on the corner of Adams and
                                                         Fuller. The lack of funds greatly delayed and com-
                                                         plicated the matter of purchasing property, but
Front: G. Faber, G. Hoeksema, R. Dykstra, J. Doezema     finally, at a society meeting in January, 1944, the
Back: C. Kalsbeek, C. Doezema, D. Harbach, J. Booth,     purchase of the Adams and Fuller property for
     A. Kamper, G. VanDer Schaaf                         $4,500.00  was  ,approved,  even though money had
                                                         to be borrowed to make the  $2,500.00  down pay-
Hoeksema as to the best way to proceed in the            ment. After this concrete step was taken, things
establishment of a school.                               began to happen at a little more rapid pace. It seems
  After a couple  .of interim meetings, a Mass           that our people began to sense that the realization
Meeting was announced, to be held the evening of         of the society's goal was now within sight. The
April 15, 1937, in the basement of Fuller Ave.           treasury began to build up. Churches sent collec-
Church for the purpose of organizing into a society.     tions, societies donated, and the Ladies Auxiliary
The purpose of this society was to establish a school    became a big help with their financial support. By
of our own, "freed from the so-called Doctrine of        January, 1945, the final payment on the property
Common Grace." It should be noted that on that           was made, and the board pressed on.
evening, after a brief speech by the Rev. R.               By early 1946, a sign was erected on the property
Veldman, a Protestant Reformed Society for  High         stating that this was "The site of a School for
School Education was in fact organized, The board,       Protestant Reformed Education." And, shortly
which was elected at a later meeting met on              thereafter, the board proposed to the society that a
numerous occasions over the next couple of years,        complete school be built during the next year with
establishing a constitution, taking census, studying     an opening target date of September, 1947. After
requirements for operation of a high school, and         retaining an architect and being advised by him
collecting data on teachers, pupils, and buildings.      that their present plans were not suitable, and with
All of their deliberations, however, led them to         war restrictions on building materials, the board
believe that the interest of our people could best be    soon realized that the school could not be
served not in the establishment of a high school, but    completed by the September, 1947 date. By late
in the establishment of a grammar school. Upon           1947, the plans for the school were completed, and
recommendation of the board, a meeting was called        at the society meeting held January 15, 1948 the
for the evening of April 18, 1941, and progressed        society authorized the board to proceed with con-
rapidly with a "motion to disband the society, and       struction of an eight room school.
to thereafter organize an entirely  new. society."
After this motion carried, a board was elected and         On January 2 1, 1949 the committee reported that
mandated to "prepare a suitable constitution, begin      the "foundation, walls, and fill dirt project was
laying plans for a grammar school, and devise ways       finished," and on March 18, that "they have started
and means to raise funds."                               with the brickwork." Plans were made for corner-
  The board zealously set about the business of          stone-laying ceremonies to be held in late April. Joy
establishing a school, with the result that within a     was evident on `that occasion, where Rev. R.
month a general society meeting was called, and          Veldman opened with prayer, Rev.  .H. Hoeksema
our present name and a constitution were adopted.        addressed the gathered crowd, Mr. Don Knoper led
                                                         the singing with his trumpet, and Rev. C. Hanko
  Thereafter the board set about the task of locat-      closed with prayer. By late fall the plastering was
ing a suitable building or lots on which to build. To    completed and twenty-five tons of coal had been
say the least, during the next couple of years the       ordered.
board did much "leg work" which must have been
in many cases somewhat frustrating to those early          In January, 1950, the society adopted the follow-
board members. Some of the evidence would indi-          ing tuition schedule: One Child in Kindergarten  -
cate that all of our people were not one hundred         $2.25 per week, One Child in Grades  - $2.50 per


106                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



week, Two Children in Grades  - $3.50 per week,          primary importance of course, is the instruction
Three or More Children in Grades - $4.00 per week.       given and received. About that the editor of the
In April, enrollment was held with a $5.00 deposit       1956 yearbook (presently a parent of an Adams
required. By June the Education Committee                student) wrote: "In all our activities we have seen
reported that all the teaching contracts had been        God's hand. He reveals himself to us in all the
signed (six teachers and one teaching principal).        subjects that we study in school, and we are also
  Finally, after all those years (13) of anticipation    taught to be observant of his revelation all around
and hard work, the school was ready to receive           us." To the degree the instruction has accomplish-
students. That must have been a momentous day,           ed that, Adams has served its students well.
that September 6, when school was opened! Can
you imagine the joy? Students and teachers num-
bering 235 gathered in that one building-dedicated
to the proposition that all the academic subjects be
taught from a Protestant Reformed perspective.
  For the next two years the school had an enroll-
ment of nearly three hundred students. Then, in
1953, a schism took place in the churches which
drastically affected the enrollment at Adams Street
School. In the ensuing controversy, many left our
fellowship. In June of 1954, the enrollment was two
hundredninety, but by September it had dropped
to one hundred twenty-nine.
  Now, of course, there was an excess of space and
equipment. Desks were loaned to various other
schools including our own Hope Protestant
Reformed Christian School. One classroom was               Adams Street School can be justifiably proud of
used by the Protestant Reformed Theological              its graduates. As we look about us, we find some
School to conduct Seminary classes, and two rooms        who have become Professors of Theology,
were rented, first to the Redeemer Lutheran School       engineers, officers of financial institutions, design-
while they awaited completion of their own build-        ers, businessmen, school teachers, ministers, and
ing, and later to the Oakdale-Sylvan Christian           nurses. Many of those graduates have served on
School Society until their expansion program was         our Board. In fact, .our present Board President, Mr.
complete.                                                James Decker, was a 1966 graduate.
  In April, 1956 (the 15th anniversary year of the         Over the years, though many times it seemed as
society) the board prepared a public meeting to          though the Lord led us "through the valley of the
"together express humble thanks to our Covenant          shadow of death," He has richly blessed us; yea,
God for all His manifold mercies and His sustaining      we may say that "our cup" indeed "runneth over."'
guidance throughout the years of our existence."         For we know that, whether Professor of Theology
On that, occasion, the Rev. Homer C. Hoeksema            or ditch digger, school teacher or housewife, our
(now professor of theology), pastor of the First         graduates have been instructed in the principle that
Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland,             "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"
Illinois, spoke on, "Protestant Reformed Education       and that "whatever ye are called therefore to do; do
. . . .a present privilege, a real responsibility, an    all to the glory of God."
enduring challenge." A musical number was given            What shall we say then? "Praise God from
by Mr. Robert Decker (now professor of theology)         Whom all blessings flow." Let our prayer be, grant
of the class of 1955, and closing prayer was offered     us the grace that we may be faithful to our calling
by Rev. Herman Hoeksema of the First Protestant          that God's covenant may be realized among us, and
Reformed Church.                                         that we may continue to "train up our children in
  The years that followed were filled with events        the way that they should go."
of interest too numerous to enumerate here, but of                                               Cal Kalsbeek

                 Know the standard and follow it-
                        Read The Standard Bearer


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                107


                Free Christian -School (Edgerton)

                                                         effort to save money, hoping that it will more than
                                                         pay for itself in fuel savings over a few years. Also it
                                                         has done much for the beauty and acoustics of the
                                                         c l a s s r o o m s !
                                                           Last year one of the church members donated a
                                                         number of little evergreens to replace the ones lost
                                                         in a recent drought, and volunteered to keep them
                                                         watered through the summer months.
                                                           The women  .of the congregation also take an
                                                         active interest in the running of the school. Over
                                                         the years we have always had a "school cleaning"
  The Free Christian School is small. It was found-      every summer, with different groups assigned to
ed about 30 years ago in the small town of Edger-        cleaning different parts of the school. Men and
ton, Minnesota, which has a population of about          women work together doing everything from strip-
1000. The society is made up of almost all the mem-      ping and waxing the floors to washing window
bers of the local Protestant Reformed Church.  Al-'      blinds and varnishing desks.
though only 12 families have children in school, the       Recently a Women's Circle was formed by the
society is made up of 25 families. The budget of the     ladies of the church. They keep in constant contact
school is set up so that one-half of it is brought up    with the principal and the board and see to things
through tuition, and the remainder has to be             that are usually overlooked by the board and the
brought up through church collections and dona-          staff; Even though only a couple of years old, the
tions. The people of the  Edgerton  Protestant Re-       Circle has already bought the school numerous
formed Church support the school long after their        things with money raised through various means.
last child has graduated. Without this support the       They also conduct craft classes at school once a
school would have closed years ago.                      month for grades 5-9. Various individuals take
  Our teachers are Mr. P. Brummel who has been           turns teaching the students some craft with which
our principal and teacher of grades 5-9 since 1972,      they are familiar. They have taught macrame, cake
and Miss B. Hoekstra who has taught grades K-4           decorating, string art, latch hook, plaster molds,
since 1976. Both of these teachers are qualified and     and others. In the very near future they plan to
able to teach in schools much larger than ours and       have a series of art instruction classes to give the
receive much higher salaries. We are fortunate to        students a better ability in drawing and a greater
have them stay with us so long.                          appreciation of it.
  The unity and strength of our school society             The Free Christian School is small. The principal
shows itself in the active interest everyone has in      is our Education Committee and the teachers are
the operation and advancement of our school. In
addition to the usual fixing up and maintenance,
we have been involved in several projects in the
last few years. We have laid a piece of concrete
near the school for a basketball court and for other
activities. We have also re-landscaped the area
around the school. We removed much of the old
gravel from the back and added black, dirt and
grass, put new gravel in the front, and installed
posts to keep traffic from going around school.
Much of this was done with volunteer labor.
  This year we lowered all the ceilings and added
insulation above the new lowered ceilings. We also
added new lights for both classrooms. The society
did this also with almost all volunteer labor and is
paying for materials through fund-raising drives
through the society. We look at this project as an


108                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



the janitors. Through the years; our size has been a     a positive attitude concerning growth and  expan-
problem. We have never had many students, never          sion. We hope this trend will continue.
had enough money, and sometimes had trouble
finding teachers. We were always so busy trying to         We are grateful that we have had many years of
keep the holes in the boat plugged and the boat          ,distinctive  Protestant Reformed education availa-
floating that we rarely had time to row or look          ble for our children. We now are constantly striving
ahead. However, the Free Christian School has            to keep this heritage which has been given us and
been growing in the last few years. Grades 5-9 have      also continue to glorify our Heavenly Father in all
nine students and grades K-4 have 19 students.           that is done in this school.
Many of the  you;ger  students are the oldest              We thank God for the 30 years of Covenantal
children of young families. Our growth is such that      Education with which we have been blessed and
the board has been looking toward getting a              pray that our children may be trained in the fear of
separate kindergarten teacher next year. This  in-       His name in this school for many more years.
crease in students and young families has generated



             Loveland Pkot.`Ref. Christian School

  The history of any Christian school is associated      was to be no military service for the settlers or their
with the history of the church which sends its           descendants. Every effort was made to provide
children to that school. -That is true of the Protes-    loans, free land, and transportation. The settlers
tant Reformed Christian School in Loveland. Most         could practice their own religion and govern them-
of this article will deal with the history of our        selves in all*local  matters if they wanted to come.
church people and their use of Christian schools in
the past. Our school itself is like many other small       In this dark hour, light was seen in Russia. From
Protestant Reformed Schools in the West, but the         1809 - 1812 some 155 families emigrated to an area
history of its church is unique. Our story begins in     of southern Russia just north of the Black Sea. They
the valleys of southern Germany and ends on the          established two towns, Rohrbach and Worms,
Front Range of the Rockies, many hundreds of             about 65 miles from the seaport of Odessa. All of
miles from other Protestant Reformed schools or          the people in these two colonies were Reformed.
churches.                                                They remained German, having little contact with
                                                         the vulgar Russians. Although future generations
  Southern Germany in the early 1800's was an            learned the Russian tongue, none of the native
area of small kingdoms, principalities, and duchies,     customs were adopted.
,none of which was very strong or stable. Wars had
kept the people in a nearly constant state of turmoil      The first two decades. of life in this new area
for many years. Many of God's people, some of            were difficult. According to an 1848 report on the
whom belonged to the Reformed church, were               progress of the colonies the neglect of the church
involved in these troubles. Now came further diffi-      and an ungodly way of life had brought the punish-
culty with the Napoleonic Wars. In addition to the       ing hand of God to the people. The later 1820's
fighting, disease, and lack of food, the young men       brought change. A new pastor  .and schoolmaster
were being conscripted to fight in the French army.      came, and the people heeded the preaching. Atti-
Some other place must be found to live, but know-        tudes changed greatly, so that the people became
ledge. of other areas and means of travel were quite     diligent and God-fearing. It was reported that
limited.                                                 schooling became their first and foremost concern.
  Actually, a refuge had been provided some 40             The schooling referred to was most likely under
years earlier in that distant, mysterious country of     the guidance of the church. One teacher, whose
Russia. In an attempt to develop unsettled areas of      title was that of parochial schoolmaster, mentioned
her great country, and to bring order to border          that the church and school house were combined in
areas, Catherine the Great had invited foreign set-      one stone building. He also mentioned his duties of
tlers to her country. This invitation was known as       teaching reading, writing, and religion. It could pro-
the Manifesto of July 22, 1773. It provided more         bably be assumed that arithmetic would also be in-
than the Germans could have dreamt for. There            cluded. These would then make a practical course


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                          109



of study, useful for understanding Scripture, or for    Rev. H. Kuiper. People from other Protestant Re-
use in -farming or simple business. For about 40        formed Churches also moved to Loveland in the
years these colonies prospered. The preaching re-       next few years, giving greater boost to the Christian
mained pure and the church was faithful.                school.
  In 1871, after three generations in Russia, the         On September 5, 1961 the school opened for its
two Reformed communities were struck a great            first day. There was one teacher and seven students
blow. The Manifesto had been revoked. The social        in grades one through five. At this time the Love-
and legal reforms of Alexander II brought the           land congregation was meeting in an abandoned
Germans completely under all Russian law. The           schoolhouse three miles north of town. The up-
greatest impact was that the young men were now         stairs was used for church services and two small
obligated to service in the Russian army. Their per-    rooms in the basement were used by the school.
petual rights were interpreted by the Russians to       The classrooms were cheery and bright with new
mean rights for  100  years. Could it be that their     curtains on the windows and fresh paint on the
freedom of worship and Christian schools might          walls. Other conditions were hardly modern.
also be jeopardized? A ten-year period of grace was     Water was supplied from an outside cistern by
given before all this would take effect. The            means of a hand pump. Every noon during cold
colonists must decide. what to do in this time.         weather the teacher had to heat water for washing
  Again, God provided a home. The prairies of           hands. Toilets were outhouses, located near the
America, similar to the steppes of Russia, were         edge of the schoolyard. The school was nearly sur-
waiting to be settled. Accommodating railroad           rounded by a huge cherry orchard. The old horse
companies provided cheap land and transportation,       shed by the` side of school was put to good use for
especially for proven farmers. From 1873 to about       games of hide-and-seek and Annie-over.
1892 hundreds of families left to settle in America.      The school is now in its twentieth year. Chil-
Those which we are concerned with settled in York *     dren's children are now among the students. God's
County, Nebraska, around the town of Sutton.            hand of blessing has been with us. Growth of the
  Again Reformed churches were organized: This          school has been steady. When a new church build-
time, however, a slow process of assimilation into      ing was completed in 1965 the school followed, still
another culture took place. German remained the         using the basement. Three years later the school
primary language, but American customs were             expanded to two rooms with two teachers and eight
learned. Christian schools, called German schools,      grades, but still in the basement. In 1975, the
were begun; most older people in the Loveland con-      dream of a separate school building was realized. A
gregation remember them well, They were run'by          60 foot square brick-trimmed steel building; with
the church as a supplement to the public country        three classrooms, was constructed.
schools which all the children attended. Some
children went to the German school for just a few
weeks in the summer, while others left their public
school for three months to attend in the winter.
Typically, the subjects were Bible, Heidelberg
Catechism, German grammar, spelling, reading,
and arithmetic. Under the guidance of good Re-
formed ministers these churches and schools pros-
pered for many years.
                                                          This bring us to the present school year. We now
  The 1940's brought trouble to one of these            have grades K - 9. Kindergarten is held half days for
churches in particular. It was at this time that a      four months. The first four grades, known as the
number of families moved to the area around Love-       lower room, has 15 children taught by one teacher.
land. Here there was a Reformed church still using      The upper room, also with one teacher, has 22
the German language. However, it was served by a        students in grades 5  - 9. We also have a full-time
Lutheran minister from Greeley; one who could           teacher's aide, who gives much relief to the other
preach from the Heidelberg Catechism when the           teachers by taking two or three grades at a time to
occasion demanded. There was little hope for a          the third classroom. The multi-grade classroom
better church, none for a Christian school.             situation has worked well in Loveland, even having
  From a group in this church, the Protestant Re-       some advantages over the single grade in one room.
formed Church in Loveland was organized. This             We are confident that our school will continue to
was in 1957, after several years of mission work by     prosper. As God has blessed us in the past, so will
Rev. Lubbers. A school society was formed two           He also do in the future.
years later, with encouragement from the pastor,                                              Tom De Vries


110                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                         Prot. Ref. Christian School
                                      (South Holland)





  There are over one million children of school age       training of His covenant seed, He doesn't promise
in the greater Chicago area. Of these, eighty-nine        commodious buildings and all the latest in educa-
attend the Protestant Reformed Christian School in        tional equipment. While we enjoy them, we should
South Holland. Nevertheless, while the enrollment         consider them "blessings upon blessing."
of many of these large school systems is either
dwindling or necessitating the closing of its doors         What began as a four-room school in 1961 has
altogether, our little school is growing.                 burgeoned into a six-room school along with a cen-
                                                          tral office and adequate storage space. Our recent
  The history of the Protestant Reformed Christian        addition provides a spacious assembly room,
School of South Holland is not without its "skele-        suitable for such activities as chapel exercises held
tons." It is a school which has, by God's grace,          each Thursday. It also includes a large library, pre-
weathered adversity as well as prosperity-both of         sently accommodating the kindergarten class in the
which can sound the' death knell of Reformed,             mornings.
covenantal education.
  If you were driving through South Holland                 Our school, employing four full-time teachers
looking for our school, you would be sure to find it      and one who teaches kindergarten half days, has
if you looked for the school beautifully landscaped       always been multi-graded. Although our school
and festooned with flowers. In the spring, tall, ele-     began with three teachers, each responsible for
gant tulips abound; in the summer,. petunias cas-         three grades, the current task has been altered
cade over the grounds; and in the fall, glorious          somewhat, each teacher now instructing two
clumps of mums flourish. In the winter, our school        grades.
might be difficult to find, since it is tucked rather       The Protestant Reformed Christian School in
unobtrusively behind the Protestant Reformed              South Holland-in growing may it remember Him
Church of South Holland.                                  Who nourishes, in prosering may it consider The
  Like nearly all of our Protestant Reformed Chris-       Source of all riches, and in its years of great
tian Schools, South Holland is a handsome,  well-         strength may it ascribe all glory to Him Whose
furnished facility in which to educate its children. I    strength alone is able to keep our school from
stress this because we must never take such bles-         failing.
sings for granted. When Jehovah demands the                                                    Lamm Lubbers


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER             ,                                  111



     Northwest Iowa Prot. Ref. School (Doon)

  When  you  begin to ponder the history of the            ten through eighth grade facility.
Northwest Protestant Reformed School, three dates            Our third date is August 10, 1977. On this date
seem to be foremost in the chronology of the               there `was a celebration. The celebration was in
school. Theyare  June 1,1960, August 28, 1967, and         honor of paying off the debt on the school. But this
August 10, 1977. These dates seem to be certain            night meant more to the constituents. It was an evi-
milestones in our history. Through the events that         dence of God's continuing faithfulness to His
took place on these dates we see God's covenant            people. It was a time in which God was given the
faithfulness manifested in Doon.                           glory for all that had been done in the Northwest
  On June 1,196O ten men from the Doon and Hull            Iowa Protestant Reformed School.
area met together and decided to draw up a consti-           The early years from 1961-1966 were a struggle
tution and to work to organize a society. This was         for those interested in this venture. The cause of
done, and one year later a society was formally or-        Protestant Reformed education had to be expound-
ganized. For the next few years this society spent         ed over and over. Three of our ministers did much
much energy in the arousing of interest by means           in this line of work: Rev. Van  Baren, Rev. H.
of lectures, meetings, and newsletters. On January         Hanko, and Rev. Decker. The school now runs
31, 1965 the final decision to build a school was          with a good base of support from the families in
made. The finding of a suitable lot took much more         Doon.  Fathers and mothers join in working to keep
energy than the society had planned to expend.             the school going. Each summer there is time set
Some of the available lots were held by the local          aside for the work of keeping up the building and
railroad, and a clear title was hard to obtain. The lot    grounds. The women have formed  a.circle which
on which the church now stands was considered,             works for fellowship among the school supporters
but the Roman Catholic church owned it and no              and for those things which make school life easier.
one could direct the board to a person who had the         The school has had four principals in its history:
authority to sell the land. They finally bought a          Mr. Fred Hanko, 1967-1969; Mr. John Kalsbeek,
piece of land on the north,end of town for $1175.00.       1969-1976,; Mrs. Jenette Van Egdom, 1976-1978;
For the next two years drives were held to gather          and Mr. Chester Hunter Jr. (where did the  non-
money for the building. In April of 1967 the               Dutchman come from?), 1979 to the present.
building contract was let to a building contractor.





                                                           B.  Hunter, J. Van Egdom, C. Hunter, B. Joostens

  The second milestone date is August 28, 1967.               If you look through the roster of teachers you
On that day the school was opened and the                  will see one name appearing and reappearing.
covenant seed of the church were enabled to learn          Jenette Van Egdom has taught in the school for all
of God's great goodness under the auspices of Pro-         but two and a half years of its history. Even during
testant Reformed education. School was opened in           these two and a half years she was a substitute for
that year with an enrollment of thirty-six students        the school. Her husband, Ed, was the first board
in grades one through eight. School went on from           president and is also the president now. This is just
that point as schools do. Teachers were hired and          an example of one of the families which make
teachers left. Books were bought and books were            Doon special. There are many others who work
discarded. In the 1972-1973 school year the kinder-        hard to make their school adequate for their
garten was added, making the school a kindergar-           children. A former principal made the statement


112                                          Ti-lE STANDARD BEARER



that one of the joys of working in  Doon was the           nine students in his room. This year's graduating
superior backing received from both parents and            class will be the fourteenth. They are the first class
board.                                                     to attend all nine grades in the Northwest Iowa Pro-
  Doon has always had between thirty-five and              testant Reformed School.
fifty students. The highest enrollment was in 1972-          As we look ahead we know that our support is
1973 when there were fifty-one students. The pre-          not only from the board, parents, and friends but
sent enrollment is forty-one. In 1973-74 Mr.  Kals-        also from our heavenly Father to Whom we give all
beek taught grades five through eight with twenty-         the thanks and praise.              Chester Hunter, Jr.




                 Covenant Christian High School
                                    (G rand R a p i d s )

                                                           and understand definite principles and doctrines,
                                                           when it is  .of utmost importance  ,that, both with
                                                           respect to their thinking and to their conduct they
                                                           are guided in the right direction." What Rev.
                                                           Hoeksema wanted, he said, was "specific instruc-
                                                           tion" for the covenant young people of our
                                                           churches. He was not at all content with "so-called
                                                           Christian  instruction in the general sense of the
                                                           word, without emphasis on specific principles."
                                                           "If we are serious about this," he wrote, "and want
                                                           to reach this ideal, strive for it, realize this purpose,
                                                           there is only one way: a school of our own." And he
                                                           meant a Christian  high  school, a high school
                                                           "based on specifically Protestant Reformed princi-
                                                           ples," which, he insisted, "is worth fighting for."
                                                             As it turned out, Rev. Hoeksema never saw the
                                                           realization of that ideal. But the first tentative step
  It was in September of 1968 that the doors of            was taken toward it already in 1937, some thirty
Covenant Christian High opened to admit the first          years before the first teacher was hired for service
group of young people of our Protestant Reformed           in our own Protestant Reformed high school. On
Churches in the Grand Rapids area who were privi-          February 5 of that year a group of men met in the
leged to receive their secondary education in our          basement of First Church of Grand Rapids and
own Protestant Reformed high school. The idea of           decided to "start a society" and to "start with a
starting that school, however, had been born long          high school." A couple of month later all of the men
before. In the September 15, 1937 issue of the             of our churches in the Grand Rapids area were
Standard Bearer  there appeared an article                 invited to a mass meeting, with a view to organizing
entitled, "Our Own Christian High School." In that         a school society, in order to begin to lay plans for
article Rev. Herman Hoeksema noted that it had             our own school. That was on April 15, 1937, at 7:45
been "at least ten years ago" that he had "pleaded         P.M., in "the large basement room of Fuller
for a Christian High School of our own." Rev.              Avenue Church." It was there that the first Protes-
Hoeksema believed that, though grade schools of            tant Reformed Society for High School Education
our own were indeed important,. the need for a high        was born.
school was decidedly more urgent. He argued that             The newly-elected board set to work at once
"the age when our boys and girls attend high school        drawing up a constitution, investigating "state and
is the period in their life when they begin to reflect,    city requirements for conducting a high school"
to think for themselves, when, more than in the            and gathering facts and figures on "teachers, stu-
years of their childhood, they are able to imbibe          dents, and buildings." The deliberations of the next


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                               113



several vears, however, found the board increas-         instruction for our covenant young people; to the
ingly of ihe opinion that efforts should be directed     hopes, to the expectations of our parents with
toward the providing rather of elementary school         respect to- the school which was soon to be built;
education, and at length it was decided to call a        and to the confidence that we might have that the
society meeting for the purpose of considering a         Lord would bless our efforts.
proposal "to reorganize merely as a school society,        It happens that that speech was printed in the
omitting the special aims for high school education      May 15 issue of the Standard Bearer that year. I'm
at this time."                                           glad for that. It gives us an opportunity to look back
  At  ,that meeting, held again in the basement of       over twelve years of the school's existence and ask
First Church, on April 18, 1941, a motion was made       ourselves, in the light of that article, whether Cove-
and carried "to disband the society, and thereafter      nant Christian High School has been, and is, what it
to organize an entirely new society." The minutes        was hoped to be. "We are gathered here," Rev.
of the board recorded instructions given at that         Heys said at that time, "because within six months
time to the secretary to forward the files and funds     we  hope to  see covenant  young men and young
of the old society to the board of the new society,      women, through the covenant faithfulness of their
and then they came to an abrupt conclusion  wit,h        parents and friends, enter through the doors of
the notation: "END of the PROTESTANT RE-                 Covenant.Christian High to be taught the matters
FORMED SOCIETY for HIGH SCHOOL EDUCA-                    of their natural life by covenant blessings to be be-
TION."                                                   stowed upon them, through this instruction, by our
  The fruit of the efforts of the board of the new       covenant God." He went on to suggest this: "Since
society was seen in the opening of Adams Street          we do, as covenant parents, pupils, and teachers
Christian School in September of 1950. It was a K-9      have a covenant God Who promises covenant
school. Apparently, however, the thought of              blessings, I would like to see  engraven over the
working toward an extension of the educational           doors of our high school for pupils and teachers, for
program into grades lo-12 was not forgotten. For, at     parents and board members, yea for all who enter;
the Adams Street School Society meeting of May 21,       to read and consider, those beautiful words of
1952, there was discussion of building a high school     Psalm  103:17 and 18 as they are versified in our
on the corner of Adams and Kalamazoo. But,               Psalter,  number 28 1, the last stanza. The'words are
nothing ever came of that idea. Perhaps the split of     these:
1953, with the resultant drastic drop in grade                     All the faithful to His covenant
school enrollment, dimmed for a time the hope of                   Shall behold His righteousness;
being able to provide what is needed for education                 He will be their strength and refuge,
at the high school level. It seems, at any rate, that              And their children's children bless.
the Society for Protestant Reformed Education was        .  .."And if," he added, "we cannot have those
content from then on to limit the scope of its           beautiful words engraven  in stone over the door of
interests to the provision of elementary education       our school, may God grant that they be written in
for the children of our churches in Grand Rapids.        that mercy in the hearts and lives of the pupils of
  The hope of having a -high school -of our own,         Covenant Christian High, by the covenant
however, was hardly dead. Before the decade was          instruction given unto them."
over, there was held at Southwest Church an orga-          As it turned out, the words were never engraved
nizational meeting of a Society for Protestant Re-       in the stone. How about in the hearts? Have they
formed Secondary Education. Four years later             been and are they being written there? Several
(September, 1963) that Society was prepared to           weeks ago, when a board member and I were dis-
purchase ten acres of land, on  Ferndale Avenue,         cussing together a particularly vexing problem he
within sight of Hope Church and Hope School.             asked me, "Do you think that if, when we were
Several more years of preparatory work were              considering the building of our own high school,
necessary before construction began early in 1968,       we could have foreseen these problems, we would
and before the board was prepared to give contracts      have gone ahead with the plans?" To ask the
to six teachers, with a view to the opening of school    question is to answer it, of course; but would not
to tenth and eleventh graders in the fall of that        that kind of foresight have given at least some
same year.                                               pause for thought? Is the school that we have had
  On Saturday, April 20, 1968 the "date-stone"           for some twelve years now worth our wholehearted
laying ceremony was held at the site of the new          support, morally and financially? Have those beau-
construction. Rev. Heys gave the address on that         tiful words of Psalm 103 indeed been written in
occasion. In that address he gave expression to the      mercy in the hearts and lives of the pupils of Cbve-
concerns of our people which motivated them to           nant Christian High by the covenant instruction
make the sacrifices required to provide distinctive      given unto them?


114                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



  One of our seniors was recentlv assisting a custo-     which reveals itself in night-time vandalism. And
mer at his place of part-time employment hhen the        the result, understandably enough, is that teachers
man asked him what school he attended. On                tend to become disillusioned by it all and wonder,
answering, "Covenant Christian," the student             "Are our covenant children and parents really any
heard the man reply, "That makes you all the             different?" But...theyshouldn't.  For the fact is that
better." The student felt pretty good about that.        more parents are concerned, cooperative, and
Perhaps, though, the man did not know whereof he         trying hard to help make their children's stay at
spoke. Not being connected in any way to the             Covenant one which works for their profit-both
school, he could not have known, for example, that       intellectually and spiritually.
that very week someone had driven a car over the           From the point of view of some parents and con-
grass at the high school and did an effective job of     stituents those same problems, and others like
"turfing." Nor could he have known that one night        them, are perceived to be a reflection somehow on
that very week three of our teachers had their           the school. A school whose students must, for
houses egged-two of them after midnight...on             example, be suspended from athletics for drinking
Reformation Day. He could not have known that            is. thought to have forfeited its right to the whole-
that sort of harassment of teachers (toilet-papering     hearted support of its constituency. People begin to
of trees, dumping of bags of leaves on home pro-
perty, deflating of car tires, using cans of shaving     wonder, "Is our school, with our own covenant
cream to write vulgarities on lawns, knocking            students and. covenant teachers, really any dif-
down mail boxes) occurs with distressing regulari-       ferent?" But, again, that ought not to be. We do
                                                         well, of course, to be concerned about and grieved
ty. He never saw "Class of 1980" written with
spray paint on the doorstep,and  on the windows at       by the world conformity, the spiritual laxity and
                                                         insensitivity which begins increasingly to show
Covenant. He could not therefore have known the
grief that some of these "covenant young men and         itself among us. The school, however, for reasons
young women" cause teachers and board                    which ought to be obvious, should not be made the
members, nor how those teachers and board mem-           scapegoat.
bers wonder sometimes about an apparent lack of            There is, further, from the point of view of the
vigilance on the part of the covenant parents of         school constituency, the matter of indiscretions,
those young people who are out at that hour of the       and supposed indiscretions, on the part of teachers,
night. He could not have known either how young          principal, and board. The pity of it all is that the
people of Covenant can be a cause of grief also to       reaction is all too often, "A school that does  that
each other, in the form of hazing of underclassmen,      (whatever  that  may be) is not going to have  my
or shunning an unpopular classmate. And, not him-        support." I'm here to say that there  are  indiscre-
self having children at the school, he could not         tions. I'll be the first to admit that  I am guilty of
have known the frustrations  parents  sometimes          them. But the truth of the matter is that dealing
feel with respect to the school; for things do not       hour after hour, day after day, with 150 teenagers is
always go the way they would like to see them go         a task that will test the mettle of the best of men.
(and sometimes the reason for that is simply that        It's a task, in other words, which requires an un-
teachers and principal do or say things which            common measure of grace. At Covenant we have a
should have been done or said differently).              staff of teachers, each of whom has his own unique
  The man, I say, could not have known these             capabilities and personality, and each trying in his
things-at least not the particulars. But then again      own way to serve the students . . . and their parents.
it's just possible that he could have guessed the        We can only ask, when our fallibility becomes
kinds of problems which appear at Covenant Chris-        apparent, that you be charitable.
tian....and said what he did anyway. And I'd Iike to
suggest that our attitude ought to be the same. I say
that because, in the few short years that I've been
,at Covenant, I've sensed (rightly or wrongly) that
there is a lukewarmness to the enthusiasm for our
own high school. And, in a way, I guess I can
understand that, too. From the teachers' point of
view, it appears sometimes that the "support"
which some parents give to the school in counsel-
ing their children amounts to this: "They're a
bunch of fuddy-duddies, over there, but they are
after all in authority, so be sure to respect them."
Parents would hardly tolerate that kind of support
from the teachers. It encourages the "respect"


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                             115



  Near the end of his speech at the date-stone           some way produces men and women of God. That
laying ceremonies of Covenant, Rev. Heys advised         our children remain faithful to the covenant, and
that "when the way gets rough, when problems             that some of them become leaders in our churches,
arise and sacrifices are demanded,...rest in the         is a wonder of grace, a work of our covenant-keep-
assurance that God is faithful to His covenant           ing God. But, nevertheless, the Lord uses means.
promise...." Has the way at times been rough?            That means is covenant instruction-in our homes,
Indeed it has. Will problems continue to arise? We       in our churches, in our schools. And it's evident
can be sure of it. For we and our children are           that the God Who moved us to start our own high
sinners. Have we, however, seen evidence that            school is continuing to use that institution for good
God is faithful to His covenant, also with respect to    in our churches. Problems persist (and, somehow,
our high school? There can be no doubt about that.       problems always seem to receive maximum visibi-
We have seen the school grow, from 60 students in        lity). But that's not the whole story. There are
grades 10 and 11 in 1968, to a high this year of 157     many, many students who, when they are at
in grades 10-12. Throughout its history the school       school, reflect favorably on the covenant homes
has been academically solid. And the teachers have       from which they come, and who, when they leave
tried hard to communicate to the students, through       our school, will be a credit also to the institution
all of their instruction, a distinct perspective of      from which they have graduated.
creation. They have tried, too, in all of their deal-      In that 1938  Standuvd   Bearer article, Rev.
ings with the students, to impress on their minds        Hoeksema made  an- appeal for dedication of our-
the calling which they have to be responsible            selves to the. cause of Protestant Reformed secon-
Christians.                                              dary education. Perhaps it's time for a call to
  What is the fruit of those efforts? Rev. Heys fore-    rededication.
told in 1968 that "out of Covenant Christian High          There is a lot of hard work. done at Covenant, by
will come future ministers, elders, deacons, school      teachers and students alike. The Lord's blessing
teachers, covenant fathers and mothers who know          will surely rest on those efforts. And for that we
God in His righteousness, will maintain the truth        thank Him. We thank Him for the rich heritage
vigorously, sacrifice and work for the kingdom."         which is ours; for the desire he has given to parents
Today, two of those who teach at Covenant have           to pass that heritage on to their children; for the
themselves graduated from the school; `and no            high school he has given us, in which our children
fewer than ten of their colleagues in the teaching       may be instructed by teachers whose convictions
profession have done the same. Two of Covenant's         are the same as that of the parents; and for young
alumni are ministers in our churches, and four           people whose desire it is to walk in the old paths.
more are currently attending our seminary. In First      Our prayer is that God's mercy might so rest upon
Church alone there are two deacons and three             us that we see in this life evidence of His blessing
Sunday School teachers who have come out of              on our work, and that one day, as Rev. Heys put it
Covenant. And who knows how many faithful                at the close of his speech, we might "see in the new
"covenant fathers and mothers" can be numbered           Jerusalem the fruit of the labors wrought in
among Covenant's graduates?                              Covenant Christian High."
  The idea is not, of course, that the high school in                                           Don Doezema



                 Hull Prot. Ref. Christian Schdol

                                                           The title "Protestant Reformed" is very precious
                                                         to the parents who call themselves by it. Not only
                                                         do they demand that the preaching in the church be
                                                         Protestant Reformed, but they see to. it that the
                                                         instruction in the home is also in harmony with the
                                                         Scriptures. Since the school is an extension of the
                                                         home, it necessarily follows that Protestant Re-
                                                         formed education is to be desired by such parents.
                                                           The constitution of the Hull Protestant Reformed
                                                         Christian School states that the supreme standard


116                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



of the society is the Word of God and the three           matters were minor in comparison to the fact that
forms of unity, which are to "form the basis of the       we now had our own school, and covenant instruc-
administration, instruction, and discipline of the        tion was taking place in the classrooms.
school." However, the name Protestant Reformed
alone is not enough. The instruction must be
"Word of God" centered, and that Word must be
an all-pervading force in the educational program.
  The reality of that Protestant Reformed school
came to fruition in Hull in the 1976-77 school year.
In June of 1973 an organizational society meeting
was held. A month later a school board was elected,
with Rev. Kortering appointed as spiritual advisor,
and a constitution was adopted. The Board then set
the target date of operation for the fall of 1976. The      Our school has experienced the Lord's blessing
date was pushed ahead to the fall of 1975 by the          in the past four years. The school support and
Society, but after getting their feet wet with the        numbers have grown from within. The teaching
arrangements necessary to begin a school from             staff has increased from three to four full-time
scratch, the Board requested that the original target     teachers, and potential student growth is something
date stand.                                               the Board will have to deal with `in the future. The
  A search was made for available property in the         student enrollment this year is forty-seven', but the
area and a few possibilities surfaced. In August of       number of pre-school age children in our Hull
1974 a large plot of land in Highland Park, the           church is fifty-seven.
former name for a western section of Hull, was              Two of the most exciting and beneficial days of
purchased. The house on that property was also            the school year for both teachers and students are
purchased, and it now houses the principal and his        what we refer to as chapel days. The Protestant
family.                                                   Reformed schools of Doon,  Hull, and Edgerton  get
                                                          together, on a rotating school basis, to enjoy a
  With proper rearing of the covenant seed being          chapel delivery and special numbers in the
the primary and deepest concern of Society and            morning followed by special activities in the after-
Board, the wheels of planning kept rolling. The           noon. These prove to foster' positive relationships
Board was also concerned about the quality of aca-        between the students as well as the teachers and
demics it was to offer. Working closely with the          schools.
newly contracted Mr. Russ Dykstra, the Board
examined and purchased educational materials,               Just a month or so ago, our school had the privi-
school equipment, and even janitor equipment and          lege of co-hosting the twenty-sixth annual Teach-
supplies.. The Ladies' Guild is also to be mentioned      ers' Convention. Even though much planning was
as a fund raiser and supplier of many of our educa-       required and some teachers suffered some incon-
tional extras. The quality building also reflects the.    venience, we think the positive effect of the con-
effort to provide a facility where quality education,     vention for this area far outweighs those inconven-
in harmony with state codes, could take place. The        iences. In a real way, unity for the cause of
Society applied for state certification, which, after     Protestant Reformed education was conveyed to
typical dealings with the state, came into effect a       the schools and people of this area, not to mention
year or's0 after it was expected.                         the usual spiritual and practical benefits of such a
                                                          convention. We again thank all those who made the
  It's very interesting to talk to students about         convention possible; it will always be a special
those first days of school. Some of the topics that       convention for us.
surface are the lack of chalkboards, bulletin boards,
and desks those first few days, and the fact that the
students had to sit around tables. Another interest-
ing fact is that the third, fourth, `and fifth graders
were to get an extra week of summer vacation until
their teacher could arrive. The students complain
that they had to play in an alfalfa field because the
playground lawn had just been sown with grass.
The path on which they walked to that field is still
visible today. The building of the gymnasium and
the fun the students had with the workers is still
very vivid in the minds of many. All of these little         J. Westra, S. Vander Woude, S. Keizer, R. Poole


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  117



  At the present time, our faculty consists of four      position in January. Miss Sandy Vander Woude
members. Mr. Ron Koole teaches the seventh and           instructs the second and third grades, while Mrs.
eighth grades, while sharing the teaching responsi-      Jan Westra teaches kindergarten and first.
bilities of the sixth with Mrs. Sharon Keizer, who         Our prayer is that God will c,ontinue to bless our
also teaches fourth and fifth. Shortly, she will be      school, as He has in the past, and the cause of
teaching in her own home due to the fact  that'she       Protestant Reformed education in our schools
will be blessed with a child, the Lord willing, in       nation-wide.
December. Mr. Ed Karsemeyer will take over her                                                      Ron Koole



           Covenant Christian School (Lyndeti)


                                                           In January of 1978 the society purchased the
                                                         present school property, and on March 21 decided
                                                         to begin classes in the  ,fall, if qualified teachers
                                                         were available. After substantial remodeling of the
                                                         building, the parents in awe were thankful to open
                                                         our school that August 31 to begin the first year of
                                                         operation of Covenant Christian School. What a
                                                         mighty provision by God!
                                                           During the first year, with a staff of two teachers,
                                                         we taught 30 students in grades 1-8. And in May,
                                                         1979, we rejoiced  *after  the  first.year's labors, to
                                                         witness the first graduation from the eighth grade.
                                                         You readers know well enough, I believe, the joy
                                                         that surged in parents' hearts here that night. The
                                                         usual prospect that these graduates would have to
                                                         return for their high school instruction to schools
                                                         where the faith of these parents is not upheld was
                                                         tempered by God's work in the Society earlier.
  Approximately 120 miles north of Seattle, a mere       They had decided to add the kindergarten and high
three miles from the United States-Canada border,        school freshman classes to the school that fall, if we
and only thirteen miles from Pacific waters, lies the    were able to obtain an additional teacher on our
peaceful little village of Lynden, Washington, Here,     staff to assist in the work. God granted that too.
through the missionary labors of Rev. A.                   During the second year, we experienced the
Cammenga in the late 1940's, God rekindled a love        blessing of seeing. five very young students
for the pure, historic Reformed faith. The result of     included here as well as the first grade of those who
those labors, under God's gracious blessing, was         had already finished the work of the elementary
the establishment of the Lynden Protestant               school, five freshmen pioneering along with their
Reformed Church in 1951.                                 teachers and parents under God's evident blessing
  It was the members of this congregation, having        on their work in high school. Challenged, and not a
the knowledge of the blessings and demands of            little awed, were the board and the teachers, as well
God's eternal covenant, who established in August        as the high  schoolers themselves, as such subjects
of 1977 the Society for Protestant Reformed Educa-       as Latin I, World History, and Algebra among
tion in Lynden. And so, in a flurry of subsequent        others became part of their daily work. In addition
yet determined events, began our little school in        there was the consideration of credits and require-
order to provide instruction for the seed of these       ments. But behind all these, and through all the
Reformed believers according to the truth of Holy        joys and difficulties alike, was the unshakable
Scripture. (See Mr. Tolsma's article which follows       conviction of soul that this way was the way of
for motive in this work.)                                obedience through faith. The faithful bore one


118                                           THE STANDARD `BEARER



another up and encouraged one another in that             every Protestant Reformed Christian School that
conviction.                                               remains a useful tool in the hands of parents that
   Yet another special event happened during that         are faithful to the heritage which is ours.
second year. The Society, realizing our calling                                                Hem-y W. Kuiper
before the face of God, decided to add also the
sophomore year to our high school department the                 The Motive for Covenant Christian
following year, if that should prove to be God's will                      School in Lynden
by His sending us our fourth teacher. This, too, He
g a v e .                                                   We, as Christian parents, have been instructed
                                                          by the Scriptures (Deut.  6:1-9)  to rear our children
   Presently, Miss Genevieve Lubbers instructs 16         in the admonition of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are
students in grades kindergarten, one, and two, with       told to teach them diligently the fear of the Lord
teachers' aides utilized mornings and afternoons,         and joyful obedience to His commandments.
especially in the kindergarten and first grade levels.
Our other three teachers, Mr. Gary Lanning, Mr.             Our baptismal vows are in direct accordance
David Zandstra, and Mr. Henry Kuiper each have a          with God's Words in Scripture. These vows con-
homeroom responsibility, but also have assign-            fessed before; God and His Church require
ments in the other upper rooms to provide for             believing  `,`to  see these children, when come to the
departmentalizing among them. This is especially          years of discretion, instructed and brought up in
true for the high school level subjects, where we         the aforesaid doctrine, or help or cause them to be
teach one-year courses in English I and II, Latin I       instructed therein, to the utmost of your power."
and II, Algebra, Geometry, Biology, Church                This certainly means that we as believing parents
History, Bible, and a two-year course in World            must seek to establish our own Protestant Reform-
History. Some of these subjects are given in alter-       ed Christian schools, so we can fulfill this beautiful
nate years; some are given to freshmen and sopho-         vow to the utmost of our ability. We must not settle
mores together. In addition, choir, typing, and           for less. Other Christian or public schools cannot
physical education are taught two periods per             satisfy our holy vow.
week. We have eight 40-minute periods of instruc-           Most existing Christian schools embrace the
tion each day, and the usual go-day semester.             doctrine of common grace. (Public schools. do not
   In our short existence God has given uninter-          teach any Biblical truth at all!) Because of this root
ruptedly, materially, and spiritually. We are a very      lie, the antithesis between the child of God and the
small school, and yet we are thankful that we have        child of Satan is no longer present. Do we want our
received an increase in enrollment from 30 to  51;        children taught that "God loves'everyone," a teach-
we have received the K-8 range in the elementary          ing in direct contrast to limited atonement? Also, is
school as well as the first two grades in our high        it not wonderful that .in our Protestant Reformed
school department; we have received four Protes-          school,  every subject is taught in relation to our
tant Reformed teachers as staff for the-school; and       Lord and His Son?' Reformed, covenant truth is
we have received a constant zeal in our hearts to         emphasized, not only in Bible or Church History
continue in the way that is set before us.                classes, but in all courses. World History is a
                                                          history of the world in relation to Christ's first and
  A word of caution is in order now, as we reflect        second coming. Science is the study of the myster-
on the course of things here at Covenant Christian.       ies of God's creation. Mathematics shows God to be
On the occasion of the dedication of our school to        a God of order and number. English is a class
God, during the first year, Rev. D. Kuiper gave that      taught to show that God is a God of language, a God
word of caution in his speech, as he noted the list of    Who has perfect speech. In English, we find the
dates that had been printed on the program for the        Bible written by God, a holy book and perfect,
evening: "Those dates are not recalled proudly, or        above all books. All classes and subjects are in
printed there to show what we have done, or how           reality Bible classes. In our own schools, we are ful-
hard we have worked together. That's not the idea         filling, to the best of our ability, Christ's mandate to
of those dates. The listing of those dates is testi-      instruct our children in these Reformed truths.
mony to God's faithfulness, and to God's quick              To be obedient to Deuteronomy 6, we seek,
giving. Less than a year and a half had to pass           through our ,schools and in our family lives, to rear
between our first meeting together to discuss the         our children to become Christ-like adults. By this
school, and the first lesson given in the classroom.      we mean children who are meek, pure in heart,
God did that. `Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."'        peacemakers, merciful, humble, patient,  diligent-
  May we remember that now and in all that lies           men and women who will give God `all praise and
before us here at Covenant  .Christian  School in         honor throughout their lives. A formidable task?
Lynden. May God continue to prosper this and              Yes, truly it is, and impossible without the wisdom


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             119



and guidance of our Lord. Our task is great, but                           thou good and faithful servant."
Christ tells us to be faithful to it.                                                                               For the Board,
  We can be confident that He will bless our                                                                Harold Tolsma, Secretary
efforts and some day will say to us, "Well done,


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                RESOLUTION OF SYMPPTHY                                                                 NOTICE

  The Adult Bible Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church              Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
of Isabel, South Dakota, expresses its deep and abiding sympathy to        regular session Wednesday, January 14, 198 1, at the Hudsonville
its members, Mrs. Lorraine Collmann, Mrs. Jake Reichert, and Mr.           Protestant Reformed Church, the Lord willing. Material for the
Jerry Reichert in the death of their husband, brother, and uncle,          Agenda for the  Classis must be in my hands thirty days before the
respectively, MR.  MILTON.COLLMANN.                                        convening of  Classis.
  "Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast  holden me by                                                 Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk
my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward
receive me to glory." (Psalm  73:23 and  24)

                                      Rev.  R. Flikkema, Pres.
                                      Mr. G. Streyle, General Adjunct                                                           ,




                          : News From Our Churches


   By the time you finish reading this column, I'm                         Teachers' Convention that was hosted by our Doon
sure you will agree that the title above should read,                      and Hull, Iowa Schools on `October 16 and 17.
"News From Our Schools." The emphasis on school                            Worthy of note is the fact that this was the first P.R.
news is intended to be in `keeping with the special                        Teachers' Convention ever held west of Illinois.
theme of this issue of the Standard Bearer.                                   About fifty teachers gathered in the all-purpose
   "Strategy for Survival" was the theme of the                            room of Hull Protestant Reformed Christian School
Twenty-Sixth          Annual         Protestant          Reformed          at  8:15 on Thursday morning. Following a song


  THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





120                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


service and opening devotions, a keynote address         first time in P.R. Teachers' Convention history, a
was delivered by Mr. Gerald Kuiper of our                convention activity was open to the public. The
Covenant High School in Grand Rapids. He spoke           result was a nearly full house in attendance to hear
on "Protestant Reformed Education:  Traditions or        Rev. Kortering, pastor of our Loveland congrega-
Conviction?" As the title suggests, Mr. Kuiper           tion, speak on the topic: "Strategy for Survival and
questioned whether we have lost some of our early        the Standards Required." Although this instruc-
dedication and conviction for Protestant Reformed        tional and inspirational speech will be printed in
education. To demonstrate this he cited documents        the spring issue of Perspectives in Covenant Educa-
from our early history that clearly show a very real     tion, a brief survey of its content may be of interest
conviction for the founding of our schools. At the       to our Standard Bearer readers. After describing the
same time Mr. Kuiper questioned whether or not           battle scene, Rev. Kortering directed our attention
we have grown complacent over ,the years and are         to: our standard in the battle, why the standard is
now resting on the laurels of tradition. To remedy       so important, the four-fold attack on our schools
this he suggested a re-examination of the covenant       and the strategy for victory. In closing Rev. Korter-
basis of our schools, and that we as teachers do all     ing remarked that as teachers we are on the firing
in our power to achieve a unity of purpose in our        line in the battle. He encouraged us to take our
schools. (If you are interested in the complete text     position under the standard in obedience to the
of this speech, it is printed in the fall issue of       command of our Captain, Jesus Christ.
Perspectives in Covenant Education.  Readers not            There you have it: what you never knew but
familiar with this publication might like to know        always wanted to find out about teachers' conven-
that this journal is published semi-annually by the      tions. But there's something else, and that some-
Protestant Reformed Teachers' Institute and can be       thing is a very real and important part of every
obtained for $3.00 per year by sending to:               convention. I think it is best expressed in the first
        Protestant Reformed Teachers' Institute          verse of Psalter number 371, "Behold how pleasant
        c/o Covenant Christian High School               and how good that we, one Lord confessing,
        1401 Ferndale Avenue, S.W.                       together dwell in brotherhood, Our unity expres-
        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504                     sing. ' '
Complimentary copies are available upon request.)           The following tidbits of school news were
   Throughout the two days of the convention             gleaned from our  Redlands Church bulletins: The
teachers had opportunity to attend  sectionals with      Mothers' Circle had an aluminum can collection
the following titles: Teaching Grammar in Junior         that ended in early September. A later bulletin
High and the High School, Teaching Geography as          announced that the Mothers' Club of the same
part of our "Strategy for Survival," Horticulture in     school sponsored "a plant and accessory sale" in
the Classroom, Writing and  Reskarch in the Ele-         October at `the.Community  Center. It is interesting
mentary Grades, Continuity of Bible Instruction,,        to note in this connection that while most schools
Contemporary History, Integrating Physical Edu-          have a single organization of mothers, apparently
cation with other Subjects in Lower Grades, Using        Redlands has two, a circZe and a club. Or might that
Mementos as a Primary Source-in the Teaching of          be a false assumption?
History, A New Approach to Geometry. The taped              Hopefully a little church news will not seem out
speech "Survival of the Christian Schools," by a         of place. From a trio of Reverends Bekkering,
Texas attorney, Mr. David Gibbs, was also heard          Miersma, and Woudenberg, our Holland Church
and discussed.                                           called Rev. Miersma; and our  Redlands congrega-
  What I would call the highlight of the convention      tion called Rev. Kuiper from a trio of Rev. Bekker-
took place in  Doon Protestant Reformed Church           ing, Rev. Bruinsma, and Rev. Kuiper.
after the banquet on Thursday evening. For the                                                            C.K.


