View source for Gorter, Simon Henri Nicolaas (1885-1967)

Simon Henri Nicolaas Gorter, b. 25 June 1885, at Hoorn, son of Pastor Klaas Gorter and a descendant of an old family of Mennonite preachers, studied at the [[Amsterdam, University of (Amsterdam, Netherlands)|University of Amsterdam]] and the [[Amsterdam Mennonite Theological Seminary (Kweekschool)|Mennonite Seminary of Amsterdam]]. He served the congregation of [[Zijldijk (Groningen, Netherlands)|Zijldijk]] 1910-1912, [[Twisk (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Twisk]] 1912-1914, [[Hoogezand-Sappemeer (Groningen, Netherlands)|Sappemeer]] 1914-1916, Rotterdam 1916-1946, and [[Apeldoorn (Gelderland, Netherlands)|Apeldoorn]] 1946-1951. Gorter was a well-known Dutch Mennonite leader, a member of the [[Algemene Doopsgezinde Societeit|Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit]] (General Conference), editor of the [[Doopsgezind Jaarboekje|Doopsgezinde Jaarboekje]] 1932-1943, and of the [[Algemeen Doopsgezind Weekblad (Periodical)|Algemeen Doopsgezind Weekblad]] 1946-1950. He was a popular radio speaker. During a number of years he was a coeditor with C. E. Hooykaas, a Remonstrant preacher of Rotterdam, of <em>De Stroom</em>, a religious liberal weekly. He was a delegate at the [[Mennonite World Conference|Mennonite world conferences]] held at Basel 1925, Danzig 1930, and Amsterdam 1936.

His name is gratefully remembered among hundreds of Mennonite emigrants who passed from [[Russia|Russia]] via Rotterdam to [[Canada|Canada]] and [[Brazil|Brazil]] in 1928 and following years when he was president of the [[Hollandsch Doopsgezind Emigranten Bureau|Hollandsch Doopsgezind Emigranten Bureau]]. Besides reports published in the records of the Mennonite world conferences of 1930 and 1936, and a large number  of articles in various issues  of the <em>Doopsgezind ]aarboekje</em>, [[Zondagsbode, De|<em>Zondagsbode</em>]], and <em>Algemeen Doopsgezind Weekblad</em>, he published <em>Waarom zijn wij nog Doopsgezind</em> (Rotterdam, 1921); <em>Doopsgezinde Emigratie</em> (1934); <em>Medewerkers</em>, a farewell sermon, Rotterdam, 1946); <em>Levende Steenen</em>, a sermon preached at Apeldoorn in 1946 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the congregation; <em>Langs de Vloedlijn</em> (sermons, Zeist, 1941), <em>Voor de Oude Dag</em>, a volume of addresses given on the V.P.R.O. broadcast (Amsterdam, n.d., 1953); and <em>Waarom zijn wij Doopsgezind</em>, issued by the A.D.S. in 1954. He died 2 August 1967.
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