Dutch Reformed minister
Johannes Hendrik Frederik Gangel was born on 7 December 1839 in Appeltern, the son of Bernardus Gangel, a schoolteacher by profession, and Christina Leemhorst. He studied theology at Utrecht University. In 1879, Gangel was called as minister to the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederlands Hervormde Kerk) in Aalten.
He succeeded the liberal minister, the Reverend Klinkenberg. Relations between the two ministers of Aalten—the Reverend Gangel and his liberal colleague, the Reverend C.F.S. Pape—soon deteriorated. Because he was ill, Pape had appointed a substitute to conduct his catechism classes. However, church regulations granted that authority strictly to the church council (kerkenraad). The Reverend Gangel and the council would undoubtedly have preferred to appoint an orthodox substitute.
In Aalten, Gangel quickly became a beloved figure. He was deeply committed to his congregation and was known for preaching in a clear and inspiring manner. For his time, Gangel was a progressive minister who strove for renewal within the church. He was a proponent of modern biblical criticism and wanted the church to focus more on the daily lives of its believers. He was also a strong advocate for using standard Dutch in church services, rather than Latin or the regional dialects that were still being used in some congregations.
In Aalten, Gangel was highly active in community life. For instance, he founded both a choral society and an amateur dramatics society. He was also involved in education and worked hard towards the establishment of a Christian school.
Gangel’s activity extended well beyond the confines of the church community. He was involved in setting up a local health insurance fund (ziekenfonds) and establishing a local branch of the Society for Public Welfare (Maatschappij tot Nut van het Algemeen). Furthermore, he served as a member of the municipal council and held various other civic and public roles.
Although Gangel was a well-loved minister in Aalten, he faced several conflicts over the years. Initially, he found it difficult to adapt to the conservative and orthodox congregation of Aalten. Consequently, it took some time before he truly found his feet there.
The school dispute
A subsequent conflict arose when the Reverend Gangel (who, it must be said, was not always the most tactful of men) wished to allow a representative from the Unie School en Evangelie (School and Gospel Union) to give a lecture on the importance of Christian education in the Reformed church building. However, the church trustees (kerkvoogden) refused to grant permission. Over sixty members of the congregation, including the Reverend Pape, completely agreed with the trustees and made their views plain in writing. They stated they had heard of the Reverend Gangel’s plan “with indignation”, expressed their “full sympathy” for the trustees’ decision, and “highly condemned the conduct of the aforementioned minister”. Conversely, the Christian Reformed (or Seceded) Congregation (Christelijke Gereformeerde Gemeente) did grant permission to hold the lecture in their own church building. Notably, Gangel’s stance on Christian education ultimately led to a significant increase in pupil numbers at the local School met den Bijbel (School with the Bible) in Aalten.
However, the school board did not invite the Reformed members whenever board elections were held. The board wished to “keep its principles pure” and prevent too much Reformed influence from taking root. Naturally, the Reverend Gangel disagreed with this policy and protested with some passion. When they were barred from a second meeting as well, a fierce conflict erupted, both with the Reverend Breukelaar (the chairman of the school board) and with the Christian ‘Seceded’ Congregation, as the Christian Reformed members still called themselves. Headteacher Siebel also left his post to join the newly established Reformed primary school.
The Secession
Meanwhile, the struggle against theological liberalism and the power of central church hierarchies had come to a head in Reformed Amsterdam. The majority of the Amsterdam church council had been suspended by the denominational authorities, leading them to establish the Nederduitsche Gereformeerde Kerk on 16 December 1886. This movement was led primarily by figures including Dr A. Kuyper (1837–1920), who was himself one of the suspended elders.
In the Reformed congregation of Aalten, the atmosphere between the Reverend Gangel and his liberal colleague, the Reverend Van Oostrom-Soede, had also become toxic. Van Oostrom-Soede had stopped attending church council meetings for some time, and his wife refused to retract an accusation she had levelled at the Reverend Gangel (whom she had called “the vilest scoundrel in the world”). As a result, she was barred from taking Holy Communion. A succession of disputes between the two ministers only worsened the atmosphere. Naturally, the congregation noticed this rift, splitting into two opposing camps of supporters: the ‘Ganglians‘ and the ‘Soedians‘. The liberal newspapers reported on the ecclesiastical unrest in Aalten with great relish.
On 15 February 1887, the Aalten church council resolved to enter into Doleantie (secession) by withdrawing from the central Reformed church authorities. At that meeting, three council members stated that they felt “with grief compelled to step down from office”. The council then took the decisive step, formalising the resolution in an official council deed. Unlike the Reverend Gangel, the Reverend Van Oostrom-Soede informed the council that he would not be joining the Doleantie. The first Sunday following the secession passed quietly, and the Seceders (Dolerenden) were able to use the Reformed church building as usual.
A turbulent Sunday…
On Sunday 6 March 1887, however, events did not unfold so smoothly. The regional church classis had instructed a Reverend Bergsma to preach in the Reformed church of Aalten; however, the Reverend Gangel also intended to lead the service in that very same building. As soon as churchwarden G.J. Lammers opened the church doors, followers of both ministers rushed inside to capture the pulpit. “A burly Soedian [who, according to the Seceding church council, had been bribed by close friends of the Reverend Van Oostrom-Soede] occupied the elevated ministerial seat, while crowds positioned themselves on or near the stairs—shoving, thumping and scratching much like on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange,” one newspaper reported.
The Seceding church council recorded in its minutes: “Deplorable in this regard was the attitude of Mayor Hora Adema, who happened to pass by the church during the scuffle and did nothing to prevent it. Nor did he act when, called upon five minutes later by the churchwardens, he witnessed and heard the shouting and swearing near the pulpit, refusing to bring the crowd to reason, whereupon the churchwardens requested him to clear the church.”
The council decided not to hold a service the following Sunday because E. van Eerden, a supporter of the Reverend Van Oostrom-Soede, had threatened to shoot the Reverend Gangel dead the moment he stood in the pulpit.
The Reverend Gangel appeals to the authorities
While opponents of the Reverend Gangel gathered at the railway station with pockets full of stones—having caught wind that he would return that evening from a train journey to see the King’s Commissioner—the minister instead travelled on to The Hague, accompanied by Elder W. te Gussinklo. There, he sought an audience with the Minister of Justice, Baron Du Tour van Bellinchave.
When the Reverend Gangel failed to arrive on the evening train in Aalten, the disappointed prospective stone-throwers marched to the rectory in Hoekstraat, chanting: “Hop, hop, hop, hang Gangel and the Ganglians.” Eventually, the Reverend Gangel had to return home, but the Reverend Van Dorsen of Varsseveld warned him beforehand of the looming danger as a precaution.
The minister arrived in Aalten at half past one in the morning. Since no one was willing to drive him, he walked to the rectory, escorted by some seventy like-minded farmers from the Aalten hamlet of Lintelo, who were armed with sticks.
The following Sunday, the church remained closed. It was guarded by soldiers, as was the Reformed rectory. On the Saturday, fifteen hussars and forty infantrymen had arrived in Aalten to maintain public order. This, however, did not entirely prevent further disturbances. As a safety measure, the mayor ordered all pubs to close.
A temporary church
In the meantime, the church council had set to work building a wooden temporary church on Varsseveldsestraatweg (the ‘Plankenkerk‘ or Board Church). Architect Van de Wilk drew up the designs for what was described as a ‘lead-blue painted shack with an undeniably austere, seceding appearance’. A communion set and a baptismal font were purchased, and the building was opened for use on 1 May 1887. The sermon was based on 1 Kings 18 verse 21: “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” Twenty-four young people made their confession of faith, and six children were baptised that afternoon.
To safeguard the congregation’s records, the Reverend Gangel transcribed the membership registers from 1816 up to the Doleantie, and also copied the council minutes starting from the meeting at which the secession was decided. This was done out of fear that a court might eventually order these books to be returned. This order was indeed issued in the summer of 1888. The court also ordered the Reformed rectory to be handed back. Consequently, a new rectory was built on Hogestraat in 1888 at a cost of 5,100 guilders.
Disagreement over church construction and more
A variety of disagreements and conflicts made life within the Seceded church less than pleasant during its early years. For instance, the Reverend Gangel was eager to replace the wooden Plankenkerk with a brick church. He proposed that this could be financed by renting out the pews in the new church, a common practice in many other parishes. In his view, this revenue would cover the interest and loan repayments. However, the churchwardens believed it would be better to hold “a voluntary annual subscription to meet the costs of public worship”. The Reverend Gangel feared this would take far too long, while the Plankenkerk remained highly uncomfortable: stiflingly hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. Friction persisted.
The Reverend Gangel also deemed it necessary for the elders to take on pastoral home visits. The elders, however, felt that spiritually caring for a congregation that had grown to 1,700 members would demand far too much of their time. The parish had been divided into four districts: Dale and Barlo, IJzerlo and Heurne, Aalten and Haart, and a district for Lintelo, each overseen by two elders.
The classis intervenes
Meanwhile, relations within the Seceded church council continued to sour. During a mid-week evening service on a Wednesday, Elder De Wijn caused an uproar by launching an “unprecedented public vilification”, presumably targeted at the minister. The Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant reported on the incident, and the regional classis was naturally made aware of the infighting. It dispatched a committee to Aalten, led by the Reverend J.C. van Schelven (1854–1904) of Dieren, to conduct an inquiry. It emerged that Elder Lammers was also on poor terms with the minister: “The unpleasantness that has arisen owes its origin to the Reverend Gangel’s driving desire to build a brick church in place of the wooden temporary church.” Elder Wijn further brought up the allegation that the Reverend Gangel had knowingly failed to visit a gravely ill member of the congregation.
Naturally, the Reverend Gangel did not remain silent, pointing out the vast amount of extra work he had been forced to undertake. He had been responsible for all the correspondence relating to the lawsuits following the Doleantie. Moreover, he was heavily burdened with work for the school, the Supplementary Fund (which paid the school fees for children of impoverished congregation members), the Young Men’s Association, and the Sunday schools, which had left him severely sleep-deprived.
The Reverend Van Schelven urged reconciliation. In the end, Gangel and Lammers made peace, but De Wijn wished to put the entire matter before the male voting members, though peace was eventually brokered with him too through the mediation of the Reverend P.C. Koster (1857–1929) of Velp. The Reverend Gangel began to find his working environment unbearable and wished to relocate to Velp, stating, “because quite apart from any reconciliation, my work here has been rendered impossible.” Nonetheless, he rescinded this decision in February 1889, noting that “after a heavy personal struggle, he had yielded to the pressure exerted upon him by so many members of the congregation.” Two council members visited him to express their delight at his decision. The others remained resolutely silent.
Sermon reading and minuting disputes
Another source of friction between the council and the minister concerned the practice of ‘sermon reading’ by elders when the minister was away. One day, Elder Lammers was on duty and was given a choice of several sermons handed to him by the Reverend Gangel. Refusing to comply, Lammers chose instead to “just speak a few words of his own”, adding in passing that he was entirely opposed to the practice of ‘sermon reading’. The minister had no choice but to state that if no sermon readers could be found, he would have to ensure that Sunday services were cancelled in his absence.
The drafting of council minutes also proved a divisive issue. Up to this point, the Reverend Gangel had always written the minutes himself, using them to record detailed accounts of all the arguments that took place within the council. This caused resentment among other council members. Consequently, Elder W. te Gussinklo was appointed as secretary (scriba). However, he eventually had to hand the role back to the minister, admitting that he had “deliberately omitted” certain matters from the record.
The construction of the Westerkerk (1891)
In March 1891, during a meeting of the male voting members, the question was raised regarding the desire to build a brick church and thereby close the Plankenkerk. The vote revealed ninety-four in favour, thirty against, and twelve blank votes. The construction project went ahead. The site chosen was next to the new rectory on Hogestraat. As the full sum could not be raised immediately, a loan of 15,000 guilders was taken out. Construction progressed very rapidly, and the church was completed that same year. Congregation members went door-to-door to raise funds for a church bell. A memorial stone valued at 40 guilders was also commissioned; this was partly funded by the remaining balance from the bell collection (15 guilders), while the Reverend Gangel personally paid the remaining 25 guilders.
The church was dedicated on ‘a Wednesday in February 1892’. The church council of the Christian Reformed Congregation was also invited and attended. Meanwhile, the rental prices for the pews in the new church had been fixed. The most expensive seats cost 5 guilders, the ‘middle class’ seats were 3.50 guilders, and the cheapest cost 2 guilders. “To the poor and those of modest means, a 5-guilder seat was offered right in the middle of the church!”
The church featured a hexagonal pulpit resting on a central pillar. Initially, there was no gallery; this was added in later years. There was, however, an organ situated at the front of the church, which by 1898 had deteriorated to such an extent that a committee met to consider purchasing a new instrument. Although the church council—upon seeing the plans—did not deem it strictly necessary, they ultimately gave permission to raise 1,500 guilders, on the condition that impoverished members of the congregation would be spared during the collection.
A year of saving yielded the required funds. The church council decided that the organ would be installed ‘in a position where it blocks the least light’, which was directly above the pulpit—requiring the pulpit’s central pillar to be slightly shortened.
Church A and Church B (17 June 1892 to 1 January 1909)
As previously indicated, the national ‘Union’ between the Christian Reformed Church and the Nederduitsche Reformed Churches—originating from the 1834 Secession and the 1886 Doleantie respectively—was finalised in 1892. From 17 June 1892, the two denominations merged to form The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (De Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland).
The synods had agreed that in towns where a local merger between the two churches could not be achieved immediately, both congregations would nonetheless take the name ‘Reformed Church‘. The older of the two—usually the Christian Reformed Congregation—would append an ‘A’ to its name, while the younger—usually the Nederduitsche Reformed Church—would append a ‘B’. Consequently, from 17 June 1892, two entirely independent Reformed churches existed in Aalten: the Reformed Church of Aalten A (the former Christian Reformed Congregation) and the Reformed Church of Aalten B (the Seceded/Dolerende church).
Merger talks put on ice
In Aalten, too, both churches were expected to enter into talks to achieve local unity. Joint council meetings were held from time to time. However, there was considerable opposition, particularly within Church A, to a full merger of the two congregations. The majority of Church A’s members were opposed to it, as well as to the holding of joint council meetings. Furthermore, Church A did not want elders from both churches conducting pastoral home visits together. It was decided to let the matter of the merger rest for the time being.
For the council of Church A, a key reason to proceed cautiously with the merger was the fear of a schism within their own ranks. What would the opponents of the merger do if both councils decided to unite? Examples of this could be seen elsewhere in the country. For instance, two Christian Reformed ministers had submitted a formal objection to the ‘Union’ at their synod and—when the merger went ahead regardless—had broke away to found the ‘Continued’ Christian Reformed Church.
Similarly, in the Frisian village of Suawoude, the church council and the congregation, led by their minister, the Reverend J.W. Draijer (1851–1894), had severed ties with the Reformed Churches in 1893 “to remain what we were, namely Christian Reformed”. A similar outcome was feared in Aalten, which undoubtedly slowed down the unification of the two churches
Eighteen months after the council of Church A had put the talks on ice, the council of Church B sent a letter asking whether Church A actually desired a merger of the two congregations at all. If so, what steps was the council taking to bring about unification? Or was the council perhaps afraid of a split within its own ranks? The council of Church A replied that while a majority of its council members were now in favour of a merger, this did not mean it could be implemented immediately. The council of Church A made no mention of the hostile attitude of many of its own congregation members…
The council of Church B found this disappointing. It decided to cancel the joint mid-week services—effectively the only activity they did together. In turn, the council of Church A found this disappointing.
The Reverend Gangel departs
The Reverend Gangel departed in 1895 to take up a position at the Reformed Church in Rijswijk (South Holland), having preached his farewell sermon to the congregation in Aalten on 28 April. The following year, he became a Reformed minister in Voorst, but in 1900 he left the Reformed Churches to return to the Dutch Reformed Church. He passed away on 27 July 1908 in Arnhem.
