2025 Kuyper Conference: Reflection on Seeds Planted

If you were going to invest in the life of a person, what would that look like? I saw one answer to that question on a recent international trip.

Jackie and I have just returned from the Kuyper Conference, held for the first time ever outside North America. Calvin Theological Seminary and Calvin University have been stewards of the conference and the annual Kuyper Prize award since 2018. Before that, it was held by Princeton Seminary since 1996, as it was initially established by the late Rimmer and Ruth DeVries.

The conference took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, in conjunction with the wonderful hospitality of local conference host of the International Reformed Evangelical Seminary at the Messiah Cathedral of the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia. The conference was attended by over 600 attendees, who came from over 12 different countries. This was the largest group of attendees in the history of the conference. It was humbling to visit a church and meet church members in Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world.

The Kuyper Prize was awarded this year to Rev. Dr. Stephen Tong. He is an evangelist, institutional builder, composer and pastor. The end of the conference included a concert where Stephen Tong conducted a wonderful orchestra and choir.

 Click here to watch Rev. Dr. Stephen Tong’s acceptance speech.

He and his wife also sent their four children to the then Calvin College and one of those children – Dr. David Tong – is now the Rector of a new school in Indonesia – the Calvin Institute of Technology!

Click here to watch a video about the life of Rev. Dr. Stephen Tong.

In 1991, Stephen Tong asked a young man to identify what are the two greatest needs for building up the church in Indonesia. The young person said there are two things – (1) translation of Reformed theology books from English to Bahasa and (2) supporting scholars to be trained in the United States. Then Stephen Tong asked which one of these two things that he thought he could do. The young man said – “Both!”

As a result, Stephen Tong employed that young man to translate the Systematic Theology of Louis Berkhof (which turned into six volumes in Bahasa). That project took a full year and then in 1992, that young man came to Calvin Theological Seminary to study. I know that young man, as he moved into the apartment in Sigma Student Housing right next to myself, Jackie and Josh. As he puts it, we shared a wall.

That young man is the person many of you may know as Dr. Yudha Thianto, who now serves in the P. J. Zondervan Chair and Professor of History of Christianity and Reformed Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary.

That story was retold as we reviewed that the ministry of Stephen Tong, which may be noted for his large gospel rallies over the last 50 years. It should also be celebrated for the investment in the life of one person, such as Yudha Thianto.

When I think of the ministry of Calvin Theological Seminary, I am encouraged to think of seeds planted and how I have been privileged to witness the harvest of seeds planted. And that planting and harvesting continues!

During the time of the conference, Yudha, Jackie and I met a new student from Indonesia who was just accepted into the PhD program at Calvin Seminary. Seeds planted lead to a harvest, and that harvest has led to the next generation of students – or should I say – seed planters of the gospel?

Be encouraged! God is working through us and in us at Calvin Theological Seminary!

In His Service With You,

Jul Medenblik

President, Calvin Theological Seminary