BELGIUM – President Gijsbertus van Hattem of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Belgium (Evangelisch-Lutherse Kerk in België – ELKB), former Secretary of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), was called to glory on December 6, 2024. He was 69 years old.
“President van Hattem was a true servant of God, faithfully bringing Word and Sacrament to his congregation in Antwerp for many years,” said Rev. Dr. Klaus Detlev Schulz, General Secretary of the International Lutheran Council. “But he was also a great servant to the worldwide confessional Lutheran church, serving for many years as Secretary of the ILC. May God give his family comfort in the knowledge that Gijsbertus is now in the presence of His loving Saviour, Jesus Christ.”
President van Hattem served as pastor of the ELKB’s Heilige Geest church in Antwerp, Belgium from 1986 until his death. For many years, the Lutheran church in Belgium operated as part of a combined Evangelical Lutheran Church – Synod of France and Belgium (EEL-SFB). During that period, Rev. van Hattem served as Vice President of the EEL-SFB from 2000-2002.
In 2002, the church in Belgium became recognized as an independent legal entity in that country, and Rev. van Hattem became president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Belgium (ELKB). He continued in that role until his death.
President van Hattem was born on March 11, 1955, in Noordwolde, Netherlands, and baptized April 10 of that year. He emigrated to Brazil at the age of nine. He would go on to receive degrees in Civil Engineering from the Universidade de Ponta Grossa in 1978 and in Theology from Seminário Concórdia in Porto Alegre in 1983. His first call as a pastor was in Rio do Sul from 1984-1986, during which time he also served the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil – IELB) as Statistician from 1985-1986. In 1986, he accepted the call to Belgium.
President van Hattem married Verônica Ana Kuchenbecker in 1984, and the two had six children: Mattias Willem (1989), Tobias Johannes (1990), Jessica Anna (1992), Lucas Alexander (1994), Sofia Christine (1999), and Andreas Clemens (2001).
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Belgium is a small church, with one congregation each in Antwerp and Brussels. But President van Hattem had a lasting influence on confessional Lutheranism worldwide through his work on behalf of the International Lutheran Council.
President van Hattem was a fixture in the ILC, having participated in all but one ILC World Conference from 1995 to the present. In 2005, he led the ELKB into membership in the ILC. A few years later during the 2009 World Conference in Korea, he was elected to serve as Secretary of the International Lutheran Council—a position to which he was reelected in 2012, 2015, and 2018. He continued in that position until the 2022 World Conference in Kenya, following which he continued to serve the ILC as Assistant Secretary until his death.
In the leadup to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, President van Hattem worked with local authorities to have “Martin Luther Square” (Maarten Lutherplein) inaugurated in Antwerp. The square pays tribute to Antwerp’s Reformation history, and is situated near the location of a former Augustinian monastery which adopted Luther’s ideas early on. The monastery was subsequently razed to the ground by Catholic authorities, and two of the monks, Henrik Voes and Jan van Essen, were burned at the stake in Brussels in 1523—the first Lutheran martyrs of the Reformation. Their story, and the broader history of Lutheranism in Belgium, are recounted in President van Hattem’s 2018 book 450 Years—Lutheran Church in Antwerp: 1566-1585 and Beyond (450 Jaar—Lutherse Kerk in Antwerpen: 1566-1585 en daarna).
In early 2024, President van Hattem was diagnosed with a new occurrence of cancer. Despite his health challenges over the following months, he continued to faithfully serve the church in Antwerp and participate in online meetings of the ILC’s Board of Directors. He and his wife Verônica were also able to be present for the ILC’s 2024 assembly in Wittenberg, Germany in October. During that time, the assembly publicly acknowledged President van Hattem for his long service to the International Lutheran Council.
A funeral for President van Hattem will take place at 9:30 a.m. on December 21 at Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraa (Cathedral of Our Lady) in Antwerp, Belgium.
The International Lutheran Council is a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies and groups which proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to Holy Scripture and to the Lutheran Confessions.
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