07/29/2026
We warmly welcome Rev. Bartel Elshout to our congregation this coming Sunday August 2, 2026.
Rev. Elshout has served as pastor of the Kalamazoo Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, since 2023. Previously, he served the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Jordan, Ontario, from 1998 to 2005; the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Chilliwack, British Columbia, from 2005 to 2012; and the Heritage Reformed Congregation of Hull, Iowa, from 2015 to 2023. He continues to serve as a part-time instructor at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Before entering the pastoral ministry, Rev. Elshout served as the founding principal of the Netherlands Reformed Christian School in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, from 1975 to 1984, and subsequently as an evangelist in Denver, Colorado, from 1984 to 1989.
Of particular value to the English-speaking Reformed church has been Rev. Elshout’s extensive translation work. He translated Wilhelmus à Brakel’s four-volume The Christian’s Reasonable Service, Theodore VanderGroe’s two-volume exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism, The Christian’s Only Comfort in Life and Death, and Alexander Comrie’s The Distinctives of Saving Faith. Through these considerable labors, important works from the Dutch Reformed tradition have been made accessible to a much broader audience and preserved for future generations.
Rev. Elshout was married to his first wife, Joan, until her passing in 2013. Together they were blessed with two children, David and Sarah, and seven grandchildren. In 2015, he married his present wife, Clarice, and they now reside in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
We are grateful for the opportunity to receive Rev. Elshout among us and warmly invite you to join us in welcoming him to our congregation.
You can find "The Christians Reasonable Service" here: https://heritagebooks.org/products/the-christians-reasonable-service-4-volumes-brakel.html
