Don’t Forget De Wachter

It’s The Banner’s 160th birthday this year, but it wasn’t actually an official publication of the Christian Reformed Church until almost 50 years later. That honor belongs to De Wachter, the Dutch language publication published by the church from 1868 until 1985.

De Wachter, true to its name “The Watchman,” stood in defense of the beliefs of the CRC, known then as the True Holland Reformed Church. De Wachter brought sermons, Sunday school lessons, and church news to the 19 congregations of the church. It helped Dutch immigrants to “the new country” learn more about the teachings of the newly formed denomination. Its early editors were all professors from the newly established Calvin Seminary.

The synods of the day firmly controlled the magazine, deciding what type of paper the magazine would be printed on, what kind of advertising would be allowed, and what the subscription price would be.

Synods also dictated what content was required to be printed. From its earliest days, editors were required to report the important decisions made at each synod. In 1890, it required reports from each classis meeting so that, as the Acts of Synod that year state, “the pulse beat of each other’s ecclesiastical life be better experienced.” Other synods mandated the addition of new departments: a children’s section; monthly reports from the seminary; a column dedicated to young people; meditations; departments for dogmatic and ethical issues; and missions. Seminary professors were required to submit articles written in a popular style about the discipline they were teaching to increase “love for Reformed instruction among our people.”

The content of the magazine wasn’t always grace-filled. In his tribute to De Wachter in 1985, Rev. William Buurma noted that in its first decades the magazine was highly partisan and parochial. “A CRC synod in the 1880s expressed its concern about the heated dialogue being carried on in the pages of the paper,” he wrote. Synod 1892 noted that the magazine’s content often “does not edify … often reduced to personalities.” Another request from a classis asked synod to “take steps for improvement … with respect to the editor in chief and articles concerning ecclesiastical questions.” In 1884, a congregation requested that De Wachter “refrain from publishing personal and religious articles, and to refuse to accept articles which have not been written to stress or advance the truth but rather injure a person.”

Over the years several debates on doctrinal beliefs, church practice, and the modern world appeared in its pages, including baptism, the covenant of grace, use of English in worship services, and whether women could vote in congregational meetings.

As the church became more Americanized, the magazine waned in influence. In 1926, De Wachter had fewer subscribers than The Banner for the first time. In 1936, subscription and advertising income for The Banner was double that of De Wachter, though the magazine did experience a revival as immigrants from The Netherlands poured into Canada after World War II.

In 1963 the magazine became a bi-weekly. Though in earlier decades it had provided income to the church’s seminary, De Wachter was now operating at a loss. However, recommendations in the 1970s to phase out the magazine were defeated.

By 1980 it was on life support but survived after editor Rev. William Haverkamp asserted that De Wachter was still considered an official publication of the CRC, alongside The Banner, and filled an obvious need in Canadian churches.

Synod 1983 finally decided to put the magazine to rest. Its last issue appeared in December 1985. De Wachter was never produced on CRC Publications’ computerized typesetting equipment because the operators of that equipment could not read Dutch.

In his 1985 tribute, Rev. William Buursma wrote that although it engaged in theological warfare at times, its pages were also graced with meditations, sermons, devotional articles, poetry, and information about the struggling, but steadily growing, denomination. Of its 10 editors, he wrote, “each spoke prophetically to his time.”