World Renew expresses its sincere sympathy to the family of Dr. Edward Y. Postma, MD, who passed away on January 9, 2013, at 97 years of age.

Dr. Postma, who was a general practitioner and obstetrician in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for thirty years of his professional career, served in the U.S. army during World War II as a commanding officer in the infantry and medical corps. He graduated with degrees from Grand Rapids Christian High School, Calvin College, and the University of Michigan Medical School.

Dr. Postma volunteered his services as the first part-time director of World Renew (then the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee) from July through December, 1962. As such, he helped set the course of the World Renew’s ministry that today reaches more than 1.85 million people who live in poverty, injustice, and disaster in forty countries around the world.

Dr. Postma, who was a general practitioner and obstetrician in Grand Rapids, Mich., for thirty years of his professional career, served in the U.S. army during World War II as a commanding officer in the infantry and medical corps. He graduated with degrees from Grand Rapids Christian High School, Calvin College, and the University of Michigan Medical School.

Dr. Postma volunteered his services as the first part-time director of World Renew (then CRWRC) from July through December, 1962. As such, he helped set the course of the World Renew’s ministry that today reaches more than 1.85 million people who live in poverty, injustice, and disaster in 40 countries around the world.

World Renew expresses its sincere sympathy to the family of Dr. Edward Y. Postma, MD, who passed away on January 9, 2013, at 97 years of age.

Dr. Postma, who was a general practitioner and obstetrician in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for thirty years of his professional career, served in the U.S. army during World War II as a commanding officer in the infantry and medical corps. He graduated with degrees from Grand Rapids Christian High School, Calvin College, and the University of Michigan Medical School.

Dr. Postma volunteered his services as the first part-time director of World Renew (then the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee) from July through December, 1962. As such, he helped set the course of the World Renew’s ministry that today reaches more than 1.85 million people who live in poverty, injustice, and disaster in forty countries around the world.

“Over the last few years, I’ve had the privilege of visiting with Dr. Postma, benefitting from his wisdom, his inquisitive mind, and his passion for his Savior, Jesus Christ,” says Andrew Ryskamp, the agency’s fourth and current director.

As a result of Dr. Postma’s directorship, the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church approved the formation of CRWRC as the denomination’s diaconal agency, with the mandate of “minister(ing) in the name of our Lord to those distressed by reason of the violence of nature, the carnage of war, or other calamities of life, and to relieve the suffering of the needy in the world.”

To carry out this task, Christian Reformed congregations appointed one representative, usually a deacon, from each region of the U.S and Canada to serve on CRWRC’s board. In addition, there were six “members at large” that included a doctor, a businessperson, a sociologist, a lawyer, an accountant, and a minister. These appointees formed the “committee” of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee.  Dr. Postma led this first committee's efforts and coordinated their work.

“Thank you, Dr. Postma, for helping to set the work of World Renew on the solid foundation that is Jesus Christ.” 

In January 1963, the CRWRC board president sent Dr. Postma a letter to thank him for his service.

"The Executive Board has decided unanimously to express our sincere thanks to you for the invaluable service you have rendered as Director during the period of July through December of 1962,” the letter says. “It was during this period that guidance was so essential for our young organization.  Your leadership in every phase of the work has proven highly beneficial to those to whom Christian mercy was extended…. Yours will always be the thrill and satisfaction of having been the first Director of this new denominational venture.  As a Board, we wish you a rich measure of the Lord's blessing in your chosen work and covet your continued interest in this aspect of God's Kingdom…"

While Dr. Postma’s passion for medical practice drew him back to his chosen vocation full-time in 1962, he continued to participate in the life and leadership of the church he loved throughout his life. This included advocating on behalf of the organization that he helped to start.

“When I asked him what he thought World Renew’s focus should be for the next fifty years,” Ryskamp says, “he advised us to prioritize biblical justice and to act on the words of Christ. We intend to do just that.

“Thank you, Dr. Postma, for helping to set the work of World Renew on the solid foundation that is Jesus Christ.”