August 2 Today in OPC History

Today is the anniversary of the establishment of Bethel OPC in Carson, North Dakota. “On August 2, 1936, twenty-nine members of the First Presbyterian Church of Carson voted at a regularly called congregational meeting to renounce the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of Bismarck of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.,” the minutes read. The area had just been scorched by a heat wave. In fact, 1936 holds the record for the both the lowest temperature (-60° on February 15) and the highest temperature (121° on July 6) ever recorded in the state. Perseverance was needed to live on the plains of North Dakota.

Perseverance enabled Dutch immigrants to make the move from Chicago to central North Dakota in the first decade of the twentieth century and establish a CRC congregation in Lark, ND. Two of the families were those of brothers Henry and Peter van den Burg (the name later became either “VandenBurg” or “Vandenburg”). Henry and Elizabeth had ten children. Their oldest, Richard, became a member of Bethel OPC in 1939 and served as an elder at neighboring Lark OPC and then at Bethel for many years. Richard filled the pulpit, sewed chair covers, and built an elevator for the older saints. Gerrit, their second son, moved back to Carson and Bethel in the mid-80s with his wife, Barb. Gerrit also served Bethel as an elder and supplied members with produce from his gardens. Barb, always hospitable, kept ice cream bars in her freezer for the congregation’s children.

Peter and Johanna Vandenburg had eleven children and were the grandparents of Ronald Vandenburg, a long-time elder of Bethel OPC, and JoAnn Vandenburg, a long-time member. JoAnn can remember both J. Gresham Machen’s visit in winter 1937—“he was short”—and her early eagerness for worship: “My sister and I loved to go to church. Uncle Herman drove the car, and I remember he was usually unhappy because we weren’t dressed in Sunday clothes. Grandma Johanna’s remark was always, ‘Clothes don’t matter; God looks at the heart.’” Ronald’s daughter, Cynthia Swimley, is currently a member of Bethel OPC, now located in Mandan, North Dakota.

Picture: Worship at Bethel OPC