Pioneer Christian Monthly - September, 1981

Profile of Henry Van Essen
Cor G. Bons

Our Family:

Engelina and I have two sons and two daughters, Martyn, Joan, Walter and Miriam. Martyn married Mary Warburton on August 2, 1980, while Joan plans to be married D.V. August 29th to Derk TeBokkel. Walter and Miriam attend high school in Prescott. All are interested in modem gospel music; all play at least one musical instrument; the boys are also into model building. We like to play games as a family and to joke around with each other. Our present home, on the St. Lawrence River, of course, encourages all of us to share in various water and winter sports.

My Background

I did not choose the ministry. It was the Lord's idea, and eventually, I surrendered to His direction. In the Netherlands I completed a six-year high school. Hope College granted me a B.A. degree in 1957, and Western Theological Seminary, a B.D. degree in 1960. The Classis of Cascades ordained me to the gospel ministry in July 1960 in Vancouver, B.C.

Our Present Church:

The church we presently serve has its sanctuary in the community of Maitland, five miles east of Brockville, Ontario; 200 miles west of Montreal. The church was a member of Classis Montgomery, Particular Synod of Albany until January 1, 1980. There were good reasons for this since some of these churches are much closer, geographically, than the nearest RCA church in Canada (Whitby is 180 miles away). Therefore, this congregation is now slowly becoming familiar with the RCA work in Canada.

The congregation has gone through some very rough times during the past ten years. They are fully committed to the goal of being a community church. The specific service they required of me in their call was "to give direction and leadership to the congregation as it seeks to minister to its community". We arrived here in August, 1980.

My Evaluation of RCA in Canada:

It is my considered opinion that the RCA in Canada has a real opportunity to reach out for the Lord. There are more fields white unto the harvest than the other denominations can work. And the ministry of the RCA is a viable alternative to the ministries of other denominations, and it is able to meet otherwise unmet needs. The present initiatives and direction by the leadership of the RCA in Canada, and the wholehearted support for them by the leadership of the RCA in the United States holds great promises.

What About the Future of the RCA in Canada?

The goal for a congregation has been, for me throughout my ministry, that the redeemed community become the redeeming community; in other words, that the people of the Lord Jesus so reach out in love and compassion to whomever around them is in need of such tender loving care, that life abundant flow out of the congregation and be received by those in death and darkness; that furthermore, these newborn Christians then be enfolded, nurtured and discipled by that loving congregation. That means upbuilding the congregation, spiritual growth, in-reach, while engaged in outreach. That also means that people of all kinds of backgrounds and with all kinds of pasts are to be received in Jesus' Name. That will also mean a change in our original identity of Netherlands Reformed. If we are not willing to have this happen, our churches will slowly die.

It is also my conviction that the cost of this change in identity is again and again considered to be too high by various groups in quite a number of our RCA churches in Canada. The battle in the congregations is far too often not to liberate people from the powers of darkness, but amongst ourselves, to keep our Dutch (reformed) face. But the Lord Jesus wasn't a Dutchman!

If we can strive towards the Canadianization of our congregations and our ministry, then, by the grace of God, we shall have great blessings on our ministry in this country.

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