When Ds Jac van Belkum retired, he stayed in Heidelberg and did some Sermons in the church.  On 2 November, 1931, on his 80th birthday, a large celebration was arranged by Ds and Mrs Oosthuizen.Ds Van Belkum died on the 4th of November 1933 and his wife died on the 11th of January 1935.  They are both buried in the Heidelberg Kloof Cemetery.  When the new church was completed in 1933, the hall was named “The Van Belkum Hall”, after DS Jac Van Belkum, who served as minister from 1903 to 1927.  

THE HISTORY OF THE NEDERDUITSCHE HERVORMDE CHURCH IN HEIDELBERG

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THE CHURCH SPLIT AND THE FOUNDING OF THE HULPKERK (1888 - 1897)

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The Nederduitsche Hervormde (NH) Church shares its early South African roots directly with the Nederduitsche Gereformeerde (NG) Church, with Reverend (Ds.) Nicolaas van Warmelo serving as the first shared minister who actively attempted to unite the two factions. Following the collapse of this union, Reverend M.J. Goddefroy met with congregants on the farm of Gabriel Jacobs in January 1888 to formally reorganize the independent Hervormde congregation. A major obstacle arose immediately, as their original church grounds and property had remained in the possession of the competing United Church faction.

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To resolve their lack of a sanctuary, the Hervormde congregation voted in January 1889 to construct a hulpkerk (subsidiary or relief church). Jacob van der Westhuizen—the son of N.J.G. van der Westhuizen, one of the congregation's founding pioneers—partnered with a business associate to donate a dedicated piece of land for the construction project. The donors attached a specific condition stipulating that the church must never alter its historical name, though this clause was never officially recorded on the final title deed. Construction commenced immediately, and the new sanctuary was formally consecrated on 20 July 1889. This historic ground continues to be utilized by the Nederduitsche Hervormde Church to this day. A permanent rectory (pastorie) was later added to the property in 1897.

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THE BRIEF MINISTRY OF REVEREND A. LAGERWEY (1895 - 1898)

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Following the passing of Reverend Van Warmelo, the congregation extended a call to Reverend A. Lagerwey, who arrived to assume his duties in January 1895. Lagerwey had entered the ministry in the Netherlands in 1881 and was a close personal friend of Reverend Goddefroy. He accepted the extensive responsibility of ministering to the combined regional congregations of Heidelberg, Volksrust, and Klerksdorp, choosing Heidelberg as his primary place of residence.

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Reverend Lagerwey’s calm presence and leadership brought much-needed stability to the community, helping the congregation recover from the institutional damage caused by the earlier church unification disputes. He dedicated himself to extensive pastoral care, routinely traveling by horse and cart to visit congregational families at their homes in town and on distant farms.

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The grueling travel schedule quickly took a toll on his frail physical health. Forced to return to the Netherlands to seek specialist medical treatment, Lagerwey delivered his final sermon and baptized 13 children on 17 July 1898. Tragically, he passed away on an operating table in The Hague on 17 August 1898 at the age of 42. Consequently, when the Anglo-Boer War erupted in 1899, the Heidelberg congregation was left without a resident minister.

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RECONSTRUCTION AND POST-WAR CHURCH LEADERSHIP (1902 - 1904)

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The congregation held its first formal church celebration following the conclusion of the three-year Anglo-Boer War on 3 August 1902. The parish’s consulting minister, Reverend M.J. Goddefroy, was unable to attend as he was still being held in a British prisoner-of-war camp in Trichinopoly, India, from which he would not return until 1903. In his absence, the congregation invited Reverend Jac van Belkum of Rustenburg, who had recently been released from the Merebank Concentration Camp, to lead the post-war service.

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On 7 March 1903, the congregation officially elected a new post-war Church Board. The leadership council comprised the following verified historical members:

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• Elder J.H. Jacobs: A long-serving member who had guided the parish through the original church unification conflicts. He served until 1909, later relocating to Morgenzon where he passed away in 1923.

• Elder C.J. Jacobs: The nephew of J.H. Jacobs, representing the farm Rietpoort. He served from 1895 until his death in 1914, having spent a portion of the war exiled as a prisoner of war in Ceylon.

• Elder S.J. Bronkhorst: Served on the board from 1898 until 1914. He passed away in 1928 at the age of 85.

• Elder W.J. Basson: Served as a deacon from 1899 to 1903, and subsequently as an elder from 1903 until his death in 1921.

• Elder F.C. Rosslee: Appointed as a deacon in 1893 and elevated to elder in 1898.

• Elders J.H. Pretorius, W. Nel, and clubs W.J. Botha.

• Deacon P.F. Strydom: Served as a deacon from 1889 to 1909, and later returned as an elder in 1928.

• Deacon B.J. Jacobs: Son of Gabriel Jacobs of the farm Houtpoort.

• Deacon D.J.C. Martins: Served as a deacon from 1903 to 1904, and later returned as an elder starting in 1908.

• Deacons S.P.M. Mulder, W. Gouws, C.F. van der Westhuizen, J. Janse van Rensburg, and J.A. Venter.

• Prominent supportive members who played vital organizational roles during this reconstruction era included individuals from the Brits, Bekker, Strydom, Gouws, Bierman, and Botha families.

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At a decisive board meeting convened on 24 April 1904, the council voted unanimously to extend a permanent call to Reverend Van Belkum. He accepted the position and was officially inducted into the Heidelberg ministry by Reverend C.W. du Toit on 1 August 1904.

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REVEREND JAC VAN BELKUM AND THE GOLDEN ERA OF GROWTH (1904 - 1935)

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Reverend Jac van Belkum was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, on 2 November 1851. Orphaned at a young age, he and his brother were raised inside the "Old Burger Weeshuis" (Citizen Orphanage). Recognizing his sharp intellect, the orphanage superintendent arranged for him to enter the University of Utrecht in 1871 to study theology. Van Belkum excelled in his studies, passing his doctoral examinations in theology and completing extensive preparatory research for a New Testament thesis, though he left university before formally submitting the final paper.

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He was ordained as the minister of the Varik congregation in 1877 and served various other parishes across the Netherlands. On 12 April 1891, he departed the Zierikzee congregation to accept a formal call to Rustenburg, South Africa. A passionate writer, he established a church publication titled De Hervormer in 1899, though publication was immediately halted by the outbreak of the war. He launched the church Almanak in 1907 and successfully resurrected De Hervormer in 1909, a periodical that remains in continuous publication to this day.

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Assuming the Heidelberg pulpit on 1 August 1904, Reverend Van Belkum served the local community continuously until 1927. Under his guidance, the parish erased the heavy structural debts remaining from the 1897 rectory construction. He successfully steered the congregation through a succession of major historical crises, including the political upheaval of the 1914 - 1915 Rebellion, the economic strains of the First World War, and the devastation of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.

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By 1927, local church membership had expanded to nearly 900 congregants. Van Belkum was widely revered for his deeply Christ-centric, evangelistic preaching and his incorruptible, peace-loving, and self-sacrificing character. Despite his European birth, the congregation fully embraced him as an Afrikaner. In February 1927, the community hosted a massive celebration to mark his 55th anniversary in the ministry, and he officially accepted emeritus (retired) status on 16 October of that year.

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Following his retirement, the Reverend remained in Heidelberg and regularly assisted by delivering guest sermons. On 2 November 1931, his 80th birthday was marked by a large community celebration organized by his successor, Reverend Oosthuizen, and his wife.

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Reverend Van Belkum passed away on 4 November 1933, and his wife followed him in death on 11 January 1935. Both were laid to rest in the Heidelberg Kloof Cemetery. When the congregation completed construction on their new church hall in 1933, the structure was permanently named "The Van Belkum Hall" to honor his 23 years of dedicated service.

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References: 50-Jarige Gedenkalbum (1933 - 1983) of the Nederduitsche Hervormde Kerk, Heidelberg. Photographic archives curated by the Bloemfontein Museum.