The Pain of Separation: “De Afscheiding”

Rev. Henk DeWaard. Trowel & Sword. Oct. 1984

Preamble: History! What is of greater concern? That history is often re-written to conform to the narrative of the day or that history is totally ignored? Have you ever heard of ‘The Great Emu War Of Australia?’ Perhaps the greatest concern of all is that history simply isn’t taught to new generations. How many members of the Reformed churches in Australia or New Zealand, particularly the younger generations, know of, or have even heard of a painful separation in the Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands called “De Afscheiding”? How many can even pronounce the words? Yet the effects of this division can still be seen today. Knowing the past often leads to a greater understanding of the present.

1834 The Pain of Separation: “De Afscheiding” 1984

‘We are not divided, 
All one body we..!

So we sing with great gusto, while the Body of Christ is in tatters! Never before in the church has there been such emphasis on unity, and never before has the church shown such division and diversity. It is 150 years ago this month that a painful separation took place in the Dutch Reformed Church of the Netherlands. The separation is called: De Afscheiding. Older readers will know something about this historical event. I hope the younger generation will want to know!

Why remember this event?

It is not popular in an ecumenical age to rake up stories of church division, yet the underlying issues at stake are of such importance that we would do well to take note of them through an examination of the Afscheiding.

Fifty years ago, when the centenary of the Afschiding was commemorated, prime-minister Colijn was chairman of the committee to organise activities to remember the event. Today it is inconceivable that a Dutch prime-minister would head such a committee. Rather, the importance of the Afscheiding will be downplayed and many would like to forget it altogether. They regard rememberance of this event as a misplaced triumphalism, for the Afscheiding not only split the church but in turn gave rise to many denominations all of which claim Hendrik De Cock as their spiritual father.

Why then should we remember this event? Obviously for some it is a churchly nostalgia. They want to idealise the ‘Golden Age’ of the Reformed church when men and women were prepared to fight for the faith! Publishers will encourage church historians to write books about the Afscheiding in order to keep printing presses busy. I believe that commemoration of this event only has meaning if we ask what motivated the men of the Afscheiding to separate from the church. What did they consider of more importance than unity? What was at stake at the time?

Decline and Revival

In the late 18th century, the impact of rationalism and the Enlightenment was keenly felt in the Dutch church. This was the movement which glorified human reason and the scientific method. According to the enlightenment view, only what can be observed, proved, analysed and understood can be accepted as truth. Since only ‘nature’ is objectively real, Nature (with a capital N) came to take the place of God. At best God became the Prime Mover who set everything in motion and then withdrew behind the natural processes. It was the time when there was widespread belief in the goodness and perfectability (sic) of mankind. Dogma became a bad word representing prejudice, superstition and non-scientific thinking. The only acceptable authority was the human mind, not God, Scripture or the church.

However, early in the 19th century, a revival took place in the Dutch church. Men such as Bilderdijk (1756-1831), da Costa (1798-1860) and Groen van Prinsterer (1801-1876) were the leaders of the movement. They met regularly for study and discussion on the condition of the church. In 1823 they published a treatise entitled: ‘Objections to the spirit of the age’, in which they concluded that the age of freedom and enlightenment, of which European culture was so proud, was in fact a dead end leading to unbelief, meaninglessness and ignorance.

These leaders sought to formulate ideas that would result in programmes to implement Reformational principles in society. Groen van Prinsterer is best known for his labours in the political arena and particularly for his activity around the question of the nation’s schools which were dominated by the liberal principle of neutrality. When optional religious instruction was refused by the government, Catholics and Protestants began establishing their own schools financed by parents.

Revival leaders also attempted to free the church from state domination and return it to its Calvinistic confessional basis. They did not leave the Dutch Reformed Church but hoped to renew it from within. However, secession could not be prevented in the conflict surrounding Hendrik De Cock.

The 1834 Secession (Afscheiding)

Some church history books tell us that this church split took place because De Cock provided pastoral care to neighbouring parishes and because he criticised the hymnal. To suggest this does not go to the heart of the matter. The cause of the Afscheiding is to be found in the devaluation of the Three Forms of Unity which formed the confessional basis of the Dutch church. The official teaching of the church was not adhered to by a number of ministers and professors. Without any action on the part of the church, doctrines such as the vicarious atonement of Christ, justification by faith, could be denied. This situation had been encouraged by a new Church Order of 1816 imposed by King William I. This church order made Synod accountable to the King and the church subject to the state. The King forbade the formulation of new doctrinal statements and denied the church’s right to make decisions in doctrinal controversies.

Hendrik De Cock, minister of the Dutch Re-formed Church in Ulrum, became the spokesman for the confessional group in the church. Protesting against the spiritual apathy and doctrinal laxity of the church, he was the focus of a controversy which led to his suspension in 1833. His reference to the ‘enlightened’ ministers as wolves who attack the sheep-fold of Jesus Christ did not endear him to the hierarchy of the church!

One of the charges against De Cock was that he baptised children of parents from neighbouring congregations. Parents who would refuse to have their children baptised by liberal ministers would ask De Cock to baptise them. The offence this gave led to his deposition from office in 1834. Yet De Cock had no plans to form a new denomination. The formation of a new church was encouraged by the members of his congregation who had endured injustices from church authorities and had been prevented from inviting Reformed ministers to their pulpit. On October 13, 1834, the greater part of the congregation seceded from the ‘synodical Reformed church in order to return to the foundation of our fathers’. They wished no fellowship with the Dutch Reformed Church until such time that the church would return to the true service of God. Wrangling about church property (usual after church splits!) caused much bitterness and even landed De Cock in prison for three months. Much persecution and ill-feeling were generated, causing considerable numbers to migrate to the USA where they founded the Christian Reformed Church in 1857. In spite of opposition, the secession movement grew so that by 1886, it had a membership of around 200,000.

The Question of Separation

What is the relevance of the Afscheiding for us today? Obviously, it raises the question of whether and when we may separate from a church. Separation is serious business and must always be a last resort. Christians should normally remain in the fellowship which gave him/her spiritual birth. I have no sympathy for those who continually transfer church membership, never satisfied, always looking for (and finding!) heresies, always angry at the church because the church is not perfect. 

Admittedly, at times ‘abnormal’ things happen in a church. The New Testament speaks of apostasy, that is, a falling away from the faith. The whole Christian era is marked by evil, violence, godlessness, paganised religion (Matthew 24:4, I Tim. 4:1- 4, Il Tim. 3:13, John 15:19, 20). The church and the world are at odds with each other. One way to ease this tension is for the church to compromise the message of the Gospel. It is against such a course of action that the N.T. warns, calling on the church to deepen its loyalty to Christ and not to fall away from the faith. The church is vulnerable to penetration by corruption and must fight for its integrity. I Peter 2:1-3. This is what occurred in the 19th century Dutch Reformed Church. The Church did not deal with teachers that spread heresy. Nor was De Cock free to protest against abuses. Rather, he was deposed and the formation of a new denomination was inevitable.

While the unity of the church is a very important matter and a Biblical command, the desire for unity has its limits. When ‘another Gospel’ is proclaimed, the limits of unity have been reached and truth must triumph over unity, Gal. 1:9. It is precisely this concern for truth that has caused such intolerable tensions within the Reformed Ecumenical Synod.

Some Questions

No reader of T&S will have problems with the above. We have been used to defending the faith, coming down hard on the side of separation from other denominations, World Council of Churches and such like. While I would uphold the need for separation, I also believe that we have been far more concerned to reject fellowship with those who fail the test of truth than to seek fellowship with all who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In that respect I believe we are not fulfilling our ecumenical calling. Perhaps we would do well to ponder the following questions – Do I sincerely believe that there are Christians beyond my own group? Do I ever pray for them? Do I really believe that the expression of unity is a Scriptural command, Eph. 4:3? Is the Lordship of Christ expressed in my attitude to Scripture, sacraments, discipline and evangelism? Am I allowing an emphasis on doctrinal purity to detract from the search for the unity of the church?

We must be continually grieved by the fact that our commitment to Scriptural truth has cut us off from millions of people who say they believe in Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Can anyone be satisfied about that?

Reunion in 1986?

In 1834 Hendrik De Cock reluctantly separated from the established church, but… only as long as the church would continue in its disobedience. At present there are very serious efforts to undo the Afscheiding (and a later separation called the Doleantie, 1886). Leaders of the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (GKN) hope that in 1986 they will be able to declare a state of union. Does this mean that the Dutch Reformed Church has returned to the foundation of the fathers? If that were so, we would rejoice.

The opposite, I fear, is the case. The churches that once separated, are themselves moving from the foundation of the fathers!

So we must pray.
Pray that a new ‘afscheiding’ may be prevented.
Through renewal and revival.

Henk DeWaard.

Footnote:
In 1986, the synods of the Netherlands Reformed Church (Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk or NHK) and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland or GKN) formally approved a document declaring they were in a “state of reunion” to facilitate an eventual full merger.
The Outcome: The journey was long and marred by intense debates among conservative factions. However, the process ultimately succeeded, and the denominations officially merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) in 2004.
Churches Involved: The Netherlands Reformed Church (NHK), the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (GKN), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (ELK).
The 2023 Merger: The New Dutch Reformed Churches (NGK)
While the mainline churches merged into the PKN, the orthodox/neo-Calvinist churches underwent their own massive reconciliation. On 1 May 2023, a historic split that occurred during the Cold War era was completely healed.
Churches Involved: The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) (Gereformeerde Kerken Vrijgemaakt or GKv) and the Netherlands Reformed Churches (Nederlands Gereformeerde Kerken or NGK).
The History: The two groups had painfully fractured in 1967 over church exclusivity and strict dogmatic binding. Over decades, the GKv loosened its stance, opening the door for dialogue.
The Outcome: The unified denomination adopted the name Dutch Reformed Churches (Nederlandse Gereformeerde Kerken, also abbreviated as NGK). With roughly 130,000 members across 320 congregations, it is currently the second-largest Protestant body in the Netherlands.
(Source: AI Overview of reunions in the Dutch Reformed Churches in the Netherlands).

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