Dirk Postma
Dirk Postma was the first minister in the Reformed Church in South Africa and the founder and first professor of the Church’s theological school in Burgersdorp, in the Eastern Cape, the forerunner of the Theological School and University in Potchefstroom.
His biographer, Dr. G.C.P. Van der Vyver, wrote in 1958 in the only comprehensive biography published on Postma, that he “was a deeply devout, sincerely pious man who recognized 'God's Providence' in all things and therefore continually wrestled in prayer for God’s counsel and guidance. Strongly warmhearted by nature, he walked and communed with the Lord as a Friend and Counselor. And it is precisely this faith and relationship with God that gave a steadfastness to his character which left a deep impression on his contemporaries.”
Postma is the South African patriarch of the remarkable Postma family, which has contributed in many areas and continues to do so today. He was married five times, three times in the Netherlands and twice in South Africa, and outlived all his wives except the last. From these marriages, 20 children were born, of whom five did not reach adulthood. Among the children who gained prominence were, Petrus Postma, a Reformed minister in Pretoria, and chaplain to Paul Kruger; Martinus, the first Reformed minister on the Witwatersrand; Dirk Jr., a Reformed minister, writer and church historian; Stephanus, a Reformed minister and theologian; and Willem, a Reformed minister also known by his pen name Dr. O'kulis.
Postma is one of only three ministers in the Afrikaner churches to have had five sons who also became ministers. The other two, both belonging to the Dutch Reformed Church, are Andrew Murray and Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr.
Early life
Postma was the youngest child of Pieter Pieters Postma and Lolkje Arjens Boekhout. Although he was baptized as Durk, he abandoned this Frisian spelling in the Netherlands in favor of the Dutch spelling, Dirk. His parents were simple laborers who lived in poor circumstances. He lost his father at the age of five, leaving his mother to care for four children. The eldest, Pieter, was 17, Arjen 13, Tyttje nine, and Durk just five.Life was hard and simple, so Postma left school at 15 to work as a blikslagersknecht to support his mother.
Together with his mother, he aligned himself with the church Afscheiding of members from the Hervormde Kerk in 1834 in the Netherlands, through which the seceders returned in doctrine, worship, and discipline to the confessions, liturgy, and church governance established by the Synod of Dordrecht of 1618–19. The father of this movement was Hendrik de Cock, whose great-granddaughter Anna Böeseken later became a well-known historian in South Africa. Through Postma’s efforts, De Cock’s son, Helenius de Cock, a friend of Postma, was called to South Africa three times, but each time he declined the call. On 12 May 1838, Postma made a public profession of faith in the Afgescheidene Christelijk-Gereformeerde congregation of Wanswerd, and through this connection with the 1834 Secession, he aligned himself with the Reformed-conservative segment of the Dutch population.
Ministry in the Netherlands
He felt a strong calling to become a minister in his church and, due to the absence of a theological seminary during the early years of the denomination, received approximately one year of private theological training under T.F. de Haan, who instilled in him a particular love for the classical languages. Postma was ordained on 5 July 1840, without formal theological education, as minister of the Word in his first congregation, Minnertsga. He subsequently served the congregations of Middelstum-Bedum, Wildervank, and Zwolle.In the Netherlands, he played a significant role in the establishment and development of church life. As a young man, he distinguished himself as a capable leader and earned the trust of his peers. He was especially active in promoting Christian education, mediating between conflicting factions within the Christelijke Afgescheidene Gereformeerde Kerk, and advocating for the establishment of a dedicated theological seminary, which was eventually founded in Kampen in 1854.
In South Africa
In 1858, there was a significant shortage of ministers in the state church of the South African Republic, the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, which since 1852 had only one permanent minister, Dirk van der Hoff. In 1857, church elder Van Andel of 's-Hertogenbosch brought this situation to the attention of the synod of the Christelijke Afgescheidene Gereformeerde Kerk in Leiden. In response, the synod commissioned Postma to travel to South Africa to assist the Transvaal church and to explore opportunities for missionary work. His official letter of appointment, however, gave him a broader mandate, instructing him to investigate the religious condition of the related people and fellow believers in the South African Republic, to establish fraternal relations with them, and to act in all things as he deemed most beneficial for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.Postma departed from the Netherlands on 22 May 1858 and arrived in Simon’s Town on 9 July. After a brief stay in Cape Town, he continued to Durban, as his intended destination was the Transvaal. A report of his arrival was sent to the authorities in the Transvaal. For an unclear reason, the message was forwarded to the church council of Rustenburg, where a group of members who had long opposed the use of evangelical hymns and doctrinal errors in the existing South African churches offered to sponsor Postma and fetch him from Durban. The Transvaal government granted them permission to retain him as their minister, provided their arrangement did not conflict with the relevant articles of the Transvaal constitution.
Founding of the Reformed Churches in South Africa
On 5 November 1858, at six o'clock in the morning, Postma crossed the Vaal River near Standerton in the company of Flip Snyman from Rustenburg and Douw Kruger, the brother of the future president Paul Kruger, who had fetched him from Natal and accompanied him to the South African Republic. A few days earlier, Kruger had ridden ahead on horseback to inform the people of Postma’s arrival. As soon as the Dutch minister set foot on Transvaal soil, he was asked to preach. At the home of a certain D. Leus, a number of people had gathered, and there Postma held his first service in the country to which his church had delegated him.Later that same morning, the group continued their journey in the hope of reaching Potchefstroom by Saturday evening, but by that evening they had only reached the farm Buffeldoorns, owned by Flip Schutte. The next day, Sunday, two services were held at this location. On Monday, 8 November, Postma and his companions continued on to Rustenburg, accompanied by Schutte, after learning on Sunday afternoon that both Dirk van der Hoff and president M. W. Pretorius were absent from Potchefstroom. On 10 November, Postma arrived in Rustenburg and took up residence in a room at Van der Hoff’s parsonage.
Upon his arrival in the Transvaal, Postma became acquainted with the so-called Doppers, who already formed a group with a distinct identity in South African ecclesiastical and religious life. Postma offered his assistance to the Transvaal Church, but the general assembly of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk decided on 11 January 1859 to make the use of evangelical hymns compulsory. Postma regarded this as a coercion of his conscience and therefore found it unacceptable. Fifteen individuals, among them the future president Paul Kruger, officially separated from the state church and requested that Postma assist them as minister so they could continue as a free Reformed Church. This led to the founding of the Reformed Church in South Africa at Rustenburg on 11 February 1859. In this secession, as Postma saw it, the Reformed Church had returned from a state of “deeply sunken liberalism” to the true Reformed position.
Postma’s role in the founding of the Reformed Church has been interpreted in various ways in South African church historiography. The Dutch Reformed historian G.B.A. Gerdener wrote in Geskiedenis van die Ned. Geref. Kerke in Natal, Vrystaat en Transvaal that, after disembarking in Simon’s Town on 9 July 1858, Postma was “warmly received in the Western Province, frequently spoke in Dutch Reformed churches, made use of the hymns, and expressed himself favourably about men such as A. Faure, N.J. Hofmeyr, and F.L. Cachet.” According to Gerdener, Hofmeyr had the impression that Postma’s coming resulted “from a revived zeal among the Secessionists to promote the cause of Gospel proclamation among the heathen as the Church of Christ.” Gerdener concluded that this missionary aim was only a secondary goal in what was primarily an endeavour focused on work “among kindred and fellow believers,” though the secondary goal soon faded away almost entirely.
Dr. S. du Toit, at the time a professor at the Reformed Church’s Theological School at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, wrote in Handleiding vir die studie van kerkgeskiedenis that Postma’s first impressions of the Cape Church were “generally favourable.” According to Du Toit, Postma could detect “no impurity in the preaching” and found the strongest agreement. Du Toit noted that Postma allowed a hymn to be sung only once. “This action was later held strongly against him. He was accused of dishonesty and hypocrisy, being satisfied with the church in Cape Town, even allowing hymns to be sung, and later facilitating a secession from that same church on the very point of hymn-singing.” Du Toit maintained that Postma acted “on first impressions.” In his diary, Postma wrote: “As far as I can see at present, I expect much good from this church.” And further: “If the church here, in the freedom it now enjoys, continues as it has, I cherish the thought that in time they will remove those hymns which are not found to be in a good spirit; for I have made my opinion known to the foremost among them and we are in complete agreement.”
Du Toit explained that Postma’s conduct was consistent with his policy, which he would later clarify in the Transvaal: “If a church uses hymns, and there is peace in the congregation and the hymns are doctrinally sound, then I may not condemn the church for it nor cause trouble about it, as I demonstrated during my journey.” According to Du Toit, Postma did not wish to cause any untimely agitation. In the Transvaal, the question of hymn usage had already been a point of contention for several years. There, Postma refrained entirely from allowing hymns from the beginning.
Dr. B. Spoelstra also wrote in Beknopte kerkgeskiedenis vir katkisasie that the Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands had informed the Cape ministers of Postma’s arrival. They were immediately concerned that a church split might arise in the interior, as they were aware of the Doppers’ opposition. They did everything in their power to persuade Postma that the Cape Church was very sound in its Reformed doctrine, apart from the hymns. According to Spoelstra, a comment from a liberal Cape newspaper indicated that Postma was already associated with the Doppers, clearly showing that there was already a divide in church matters even before a Reformed minister had set foot in the country. Nevertheless, malicious individuals have sometimes claimed that Postma transplanted the Dutch Secession into South Africa. Such individuals fail to see the work of the Lord in the hearts of ordinary people, even though they had no minister. Because they read the Word of the Lord and the books of the old Reformed authors, such as Smytegeld, Á Brakel, Mel, and others, the Holy Spirit kept the true faith alive in the hearts of these simple believers.
Some writers viewed him as a deliberate schismatic who was unfaithful to the purpose of his mission, even though he initially discouraged secession. Dr. S. P. Engelbrecht wrote in Geskiedenis van die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika that Postma did not cause the secession but rather organized it. According to his own testimony, Postma did not conceive, seek, or desire the Reformed Church in South Africa, but even resisted its formation by the advice he gave under the circumstances. As the first minister of the Reformed Church in South Africa, Postma bore great responsibilities, but some people initially slandered and defamed his good name and character. Even some of his ecclesiastical and religious opponents repudiated the accusations.