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Collection Overview
Abstract
Minister of the Christian Reformed Church. Collection includes correspondence and reports to the Home Mission Board, 1948-1958; papers on evangelism and immigration, and office of deacon and elder; minutes and reports regarding the Ralph Janssen case, 1921; radio, catechism, special occasion, and Old and New Testament sermons.
Biographical Note
Charles Spoelhof graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1921. After spending a year of post-graduate study at Princeton Seminary, he accepted a call to the Oskaloosa, Iowa, CRC. In 1922 Spoelhof married Elizabeth Keegstra. Also around this time, Spoelhof's ordination to the ministry took place September 17, 1922. The Oskaloosa ministry called for preaching in the Dutch language, but carrying on youth work in English. During his fourth year at the church he introduced English at one service a month.
His ministry in Lodi, New Jersey, involved a return to the area of his birth, Paterson, New Jersey. Twenty-one of the twenty-two years in Lodi, Charles served as stated clerk of Classis Hudson. Pastor Spoelhof was a sympathetic and tender shepherd during the years of the Depression and the Second World War.
When Chatham, Ontario, called him to serve as a home missionary in the Ontario area, Charles began a ministry in Canada among the immigrants of the post-war period which extended from 1948 until his retirement in 1962. His home mission activity covered immigrant churches in the Ontario and British Columbia areas.
After forty years of full-time service in the Christian Reformed Church, Charles Spoelhof retired. He continued to minister, however, as assistant to the pastor at Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He served in this capacity until 1980. His wife, Elizabeth, passed away in 1964. He married Theresa Bergsma Keegstra, and she passed in 1987. Charles Spoelhof passed away on March 21, 1989 in Rochester, New York.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Sermonic Material],
[
Series 2: Miscellaneous, 1921-1980],
[All]
- Series 1: Sermonic Material
- Box 1
- Folder 1: In memoriam --- 1989
- Folder 2-4: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 1-52 --- 1924-1962
- Folder 5: Anniversaries --- 1951-1965
- Folder 6: Ascension --- 1927-1962
- Folder 7: "Bileam" series --- 1930-1980
- Folder 8: Christmas --- 1922-1961
- Folder 9: Communion --- 1923-1961
- Folder 10: Easter --- 1920-1962
- Folder 11: Elijah --- 1931-1937
- Box 2
- Folder 1: Funeral addresses --- 1928-1980
- Folder 2: General text --- 1926-1960
- Folder 3: "Great Dreams" series --- 1928-1946
- Folder 4: Good Friday --- 1926-1962
- Folder 5: Hebrews 11 --- 1919-1934
- Folder 6: Installation, Confessions of Faith --- 1923-1962
- Folder 7: Jonah --- 1934
- Folder 8: Mother's Day messages --- 1939-1947
- Folder 9: Old and New Year's --- 1926-1966
- Folder 10: Post-communion --- 1926-1962
- Folder 11: Prayer Day --- 1923-1962
- Folder 12: Radio messages --- 1944, undated
- Folder 13: Reformation Day --- 1934-1959
- Folder 14: Words from the Cross --- 1927-1962
- Folder 15: Thanksgiving Day --- 1926-1961
- Series 2: Miscellaneous --- 1921-1980
- Box 3
- Folder 1: Seminary student reports with regard to the Janssen Case. --- 1921
- Folder 2: Minutes of meetings for "general discussion" with regard to the Seminary and Janssen Case --- April 27, 1921 - May 31, 1921
- Folder 3: "The Offices of Deacon and Elder Conference in Woodstock, Ontario," paper --- undated
- Folder 4: Correspondence while home missionary in Canada --- 1948-1954
- Folder 5: Drie Formulieren van Eenigheid outline
- Folder 6: Committee on Order of Worship for Canada, report --- 1953
- Folder 7: "Evangelism and Immigration," paper --- undated
- Folder 8: "Sociale Voorzieningen in Canada," by A. S. Tuinman, Nederlands Landbouw en Emigratie Attache --- January 1956
- Folder 9: Reports of C. Spoelhof to the Home Mission Board --- October 1957, February 1958, May to November 1958
- Folder 10: Biographical notes --- 1968-1980
- Folder 11: Sermons on Psalm 8, Genesis 32, Habakkuk 3, and Hosea 1-3 --- 1928-1965
- Folder 12: Twelve radio sermons given on WPAT, Paterson, NJ --- 1944-1947
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Sermonic Material],
[
Series 2: Miscellaneous, 1921-1980],
[All]
