Nathaniel Rademaker

I studied at MARS from 2016 to 2019. Since graduating, my family and I returned to NZ to serve in the RCNZ. After a year-and-a-half vicariate and Presbytery exams, I was called to serve the Reformed Church of Whanganui, NZ. I was ordained in January 2021 and have served 4 1/2 years in this Church.

The Reformed Church of Whanganui is small; we are currently 70 members (communicant and baptized). I can genuinely say the church is like a loving family. God has been so good to us as a church family over the past few years, as we have seen an increase in membership through outreach into the community. Repeatedly, I have been reminded it is God who grows His Church as we see how God has been preparing people to hear the gospel before we have even proclaimed it to them. This has been so encouraging to me as I seek to be faithful to God’s calling.

My wife Sharon has been an amazing blessing, not only by being a fantastic helpmeet to me as Pastor, but she has also been such a gift of grace to the whole congregation. She is the church librarian, involved in leading Women’s Fellowship, and is a great mentor to the younger women in the congregation, among other things.

We have 7 children: Marielle (17), Luana (16), Rachel (14), Lucas (12), Emma (10), Raphael (8 born in the US), and Josiah (4). All the children love to serve in the church in whatever way they can. We are grateful to God that we can serve Him and His people together as a family. It truly is a blessing! Marielle and Luana play the piano in church, help run the sound desk, and are both active in the youth group.

Each year in the ministry is full on! There are always fresh challenges and encouragements. Every step of the ALUMNI way stretches and grows us in our trust and dependence upon our gracious Lord.

The longer I am in ministry the more I appreciate and value my time studying at MARS (yes, even the exams). I look back with fondness on my time at Seminary. The bonds of friendship forged there with fellow students and Professors are an ongoing blessing as we continue to strive to encourage one another in the ministry.

I also continually grow in my admiration and gratitude for the professors whose teaching and wisdom have prepared me well for ministry in ways that I am amazed they had the foresight to train me for. T hey gave me the tools I needed to preach God’s Word weekly. They prepared me well for pastoral situations that I didn’t even know they had prepared me for until I went through various circumstances in the work of ministry. It was only afterwards, as I reflected on what I had been taught at MARS, that I could see the professors had equipped me for that moment. Whether it was preparation for a difficult pastoral situation, or for leading Session and Presbytery meetings, or even for establishing good patterns of prayer and personal devotions, and so many other situations besides. For that, I am ever grateful to MARS for their dedication to training men specifically for ministry in the Reformed Churches.

Here in the RCNZ we love our MARS graduates! I just counted: out of our 17 current serving ministers, 9 are MARS graduates. We are always grateful to be able to send our students to MARS where they get thoroughly trained for ministry in the Reformed Churches. We continue to appreciate MARS training as we have a Kiwi representing the RCNZ at MARS currently in Geoff Doyle.