1890.05

[Theses on mission and report.]

In: Acta van het Zending-Congres, gehouden te Amsterdam, volgens opdracht der Voorloopige Synode van Nederduitsche Gereformeerde Kerken, op den 28sten, 29sten en 30sten Januari 1890, waarin zijn opgenomen eene bijdrage van Dr. Mr. W. van den Bergh; de referaten van Dr. A. Kuyper, Ds. A.O. Schaafsma, Dr. Th.C.L. Wijnmalen, Ds. F. Lion Cachet, Dr. L.H. Wagenaar, Ds. N.A. de Gaay Fortman; en de Zendingrede van Ds. J.C. Sikkel. Met twee kaarten.

Amsterdam, J.A. Wormser 1890 (Rotterdam, Stoomdrukkerij A. ter Weeme), pp. 2–10.

Kuyper was the first of six speakers at the 1890 Mission Congress of the Dutch Reformed Churches. Here he sets out in twenty-seven theses (pp. 2–10) the primary lines along which he thinks missionary work should be developed. At the heart of these theses is a new principle, namely, that the work of mission should no longer be turned over to missionary societies but should be carried out by the church, that is, by every local church (cf. 1871.14 and 1893.02).

The twenty-seven theses are arranged in four series: (1) “dogmatic theses” (theses I–VIII); (2) “mission in the strict sense, i.e., among the still unbaptized” (theses IX–XVII); (3) “methodological theses” (theses XVIII–XXII); and (4) “on the missionary office” (theses XXIII–XXVII). At the conference Kuyper and F.L. Rutgers gave a brief extemporaneous explanation of each thesis and opened the floor to discussion after each series of theses. A report on these oral remarks and interchanges is included in this publication.

Kuyper characterized his contribution as a lecture in dogmatics/church order (cf. De Heraut, no. 633, February 9, 1890). The republication of this item exactly fifty years later (see 1940.01), with a foreword by J.H. Bavinck (1895–1964), attests to the fundamental and enduring significance of this principled articulation of the work of missions. The theses were also printed in De Heraut, no. 632, February 2, 1890, and in De Heidenbode, New Series, no. 8, March 1890, pp. 90–91.

The Mission Congress took place at the request of the (first) provisional synod (cf. 1888.10, art. 86) and was called to order by the Delegates for Mission and the Mission Congress. Kuyper was one of four advisors to the members of the congress. The synod praised the printed Acta of the Mission Congress as “a highly valuable manual.” The Advisory Committee on Mission had 3,000 bound copies of the Acta printed (cf. 1890.14, art. 34) so that the price could be kept at only ƒ0.50 per copy. Copies were sold not only directly by the publisher (508 copies; HUA 92, no. 73), but also by the deputies, who sold copies to church members via a circular letter (HUA 743, no. 111).