Draft text of a complete set of regulations for the ministry of missions. The text was commissioned by the Synod of Middelburg (see 1897.01) and written as a report for the Synod of Groningen (August 15–30, 1899). A letter titled “Aan de Generale Synode der Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, te houden te Groningen in Augustus 1899” [To the General Synod of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, to be held in Groningen in August 1899] accompanied the draft.

Kuyper reprinted the draft in its entirety in De Heraut, no. 1116, May 14, 1899. At the request of the Synod of Middelburg, it was also reprinted in: De Bazuin 47 (1899), no. 18, May 5, 1899–no. 20, May 19, 1899; Het Mosterdzaad 18 (1899), no. 5, May 1899–no. 6, June 1899; and De Heidenbode 4th series, no. 51, June 1899. Less than a month after its publication, the Rev. H. Dijkstra (1851–1922) published De Concept-zendingsorde besproken en geamendeerd [The draft missionary order reviewed and amended] (Leiden, 1899), a critical commentary offering a number of alternative regulations. Kuyper immediately printed an extensive response in De Heraut, no. 1123, July 2, 1899.

There are also other indications that suggest that Kuyper was the author of these draft regulations. He himself placed an advertisement in De Heraut, no. 1116, May 14, 1899, announcing that the draft was available in print. On June 22, 1899, he apologized for his absence from the Second Chamber explaining that he had been medically advised to undergo a cure and was then expected at the Synod of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (see 1899.05, p. 1204) “for the purpose of defending the reports which I have prepared for the meeting.”

During his vacation in Switzerland, however, his spouse, Mrs. J.H. Kuyper-Schaay (*March 8, 1842), became ill and died in Meiringen on August 25, 1899 (cf. 1902.17). Kuyper was thus unable to attend the meeting of the synod. The Synod of Groningen did not consider the draft order for mission and put it to the side.