





































Ecclesial Futures
2024 – Volume 5 – Issue 1

116
Ecclesial Futures – DOI: 10.54195/ef19200

B O O K  R E V I E W

DOI: 10.54195/ef19200

Spijker, J. van ‘t. 2021. To Participate: 
Looking for an ecclesial structure to be a 
witnessing church today

Utrecht: Eburon Academic Publishers
ISBN: 978-94-6301-361-1

Reviewed by Rein den Hertog

Missionary fruitfulness in the form of new ecclesial communities in a Western 
context is liable to generate uncomfortable scenarios for traditional church denom-
inations. After all, new missionary communities do not always take existing ecclesial 
cultures into account and often deviate from well-trodden paths. Not surprisingly, 
God’s mission often puts pressure on ecclesial cultures. In this light, the pursuit of 
fruitful cross-fertilization between traditional denominations and new missionary 
communities is of utmost importance.

Ecclesial Discomfort
It is this very tension that led Van ’t Spijker to conduct his study of a small Reformed 
denomination in the Netherlands: the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland 
(CGKN). This denomination is characterized by Van ’t Spijker as having a pietistic slant, 
thereby placing an important emphasis on the believer’s personal relationship with 
God. At the turn of this century, a joyful development occurred within the CGKN with 
missionary communities of new believers emerging in major cities. Initially these 
developments were greeted with joy, but as the years passed, discomfort increased. 
This discomfort was already painfully visible in the naming: the new congrega-
tions were called “missionary congregations”, thereby implying that the traditional 
congregations were not characterized by the same adjective. But it went beyond the 
naming, which in itself could be dismissed as a being a matter of mere semantics. 
The practices within these communities deviated from what was standard in the 
culture of the CGKN, straining the relationship between the new ecclesial communi-
ties and the denomination. At one point, the synod of the CGKN even proposed that 
the new communities form a separate denomination. It did not come to that, but the 



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Ecclesial Futures – DOI: 10.54195/ef19200

mere suggestion indicates that missionary fruit was seen as a possible danger to the 
own ecclesial culture. So, which would take precedence: the missionary calling or 
church culture?

Missiological Conferences and Missiologists
In his research, Van ’t Spijker is looking for a fruitful interaction between tradi-
tional denominations and new ecclesial communities. How can existing denomina-
tions learn from missionary fruitfulness? To do so, he first turns to the missionary 
discussion of the last century. An overview of ecumenical conferences shows that 
the church is called to participate in the mission of God, not as an activity alongside 
its “ordinary” life, but as an expression of its very nature. The church should not be 
primarily focused on its own growth, but on its service to the kingdom of God.
Next, to look for starting points for the missio Dei within Reformed ecclesiology, Van 
’t Spijker puts his ear to the ground of some Reformed missiologists who have been 
decisive for the situation in the Netherlands. He discusses successively J. H. Bavinck, 
Kraemer, Verkuyl and Newbigin. Remarkably, the name of Hoekendijk, who after all 
had an enormous influence in the Netherlands, is missing here. This is unfortunate, 
because a balanced treatment of Hoekendijk’s radical critique of ecclesiocentrism 
could have helped to bring Reformed vulnerabilities into focus.

Practical Theological Research
With both overviews in mind, Van ’t Spijker focuses on the CGKN. Using the Theo-
logical Action Research method, he listens to the normative, formal and espoused 
voices within this denomination. The conclusions that Van ’t Spijker then draws on 
this basis are perhaps not as surprising as they are painful. The pietistic slant of the 
CGKN results in a vision of salvation “in mainly individual, spiritual (non-physical), 
post-mortem categories: It is about justification of sin and entering into eternal glory 
with God. Related to this, the physical and communal aspects of salvation that are 
taking shape in today’s world are only secondary”1 (190). Within the CGKN, therefore, 
there has always remained a certain reluctance toward the concept of Missio Dei, 
prompted by the fear that in this way the gospel threatened to become very hori-
zontal. After all, the gospel is about the justification of sinners and not about the 
betterment of the world. Van ’t Spijker therefore argues that within the CGKN there 

1 Van ’t Spijker realizes that a pietistic slant need not necessarily result in an inward focus – examples 
from the past show that pietistic communities can be very much committed to work in the world – but 
he sees the main problem of the CGKN’s pietism lying in a lack of theology of God’s kingdom.



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Ecclesial Futures – DOI: 10.54195/ef19200

has hardly been an eye for God’s action in the totality of reality. In such a setting, 
mission risks narrowing into a form of proselytism.

Conclusions
Van ’t Spijker draws to a close with a chapter in which he gives impulses for a church 
structure that does justice to the concept of missio Dei. As far as he is concerned, 
this begins with the fact that the whole of church life must be rethought from the 
missio Dei. This means, for example, that the church order must be re-examined to 
see if all canon law arrangements are serving the growth of God’s kingdom in this 
world. It also means that the CGKN must take a critical look at the agenda of church 
meetings: Are the things the CGKN puts on the agenda actually on God’s agenda? In 
addition, the CGKN must rethink how ecclesial ministry is designed. In the current 
situation, ecclesial ministries are particularly internally focused, but an open eye to 
God’s kingdom means that a shift is to occur here as well.

Assessment
Van ’t Spijker’s research is a welcome addition to the missionary discourse in the Neth-
erlands and Western Europe. Based on practical theological research, he convinc-
ingly shows how an existing denomination is primarily focused on its own ecclesial 
culture and therefore has insufficient regard for the work of the Spirit outside the 
walls of its own church. It is to be feared that the CGKN are not an exception in 
Western Europe in this regard. Van ’t Spijker’s study is therefore useful for existing 
churches that want to live up to their missionary nature while facing a highly secu-
larized culture.
Van ’t Spijker takes a comprehensive approach in which he provides an overview of 
discussions and states of affairs with a birds-eye view. Instead of zooming in on one 
aspect of ecclesiology or a particular church practice, Van ’t Spijker observes – from 
a distance, as it were – an entire denomination. This helps to get the big picture 
in view without getting bogged down in details. But there is also a downside: the 
consequence of a birds-eye view is that the vulnerabilities and possible solutions 
are only drawn sketchily. The final chapter of the study remains therefore slightly 
unsatisfying: the general areas of concern are localized and loosely characterized, 
without serious in-depth reflection. Positively stated: Van ’t Spijker’s research calls 
for a follow-up in which the sketchy drawings are further developed.



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About the Author
Rein den Hertog, Associate Researcher, Theological University Apeldoorn, The 
 Netherlands.
rgdenhertog@gmail.com

mailto:rgdenhertog@gmail.com

