Fred Kaan
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Fred Kaan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 27 July 1929 |
| Died | 4 October 2009 (aged 80) |
| Occupation(s) | United Reformed Church minister; Council for World Mission |
| Known for | hymnwriter |
The Reverend Dr Frederik Hermanus Kaan (27 July 1929 – 4 October 2009) was a clergyman of Dutch origin who served in the Congregational Church in Britain (subsequently part of the United Reformed Church) and a prodigious hymnwriter.[1]
Kaan was born in Haarlem, Netherlands, and his teenage years coincided with the Nazi occupation. His parents were committed anti-Nazis who were active in the Dutch Resistance; guns and fugitives were hidden in the family home. The family were affected by the Nazi induced famine in early 1945, when three of Kaan's grandparents died.[1]
His experiences of wartime Netherlands had a lasting effect upon Kaan. His Christianity had previously been nominal; he had not entered a church until his late teens, despite his baptism in the Grote Kerk, Haarlem. He became a pacifist, attended church and was confirmed in 1947; subsequently, he studied theology and psychology at Utrecht University.[1][2]
Ministry
Kaan had become a pen-friend of an English Congregationalist and through this contact was attracted to the denomination. In 1952 he commenced studies at Western College, Bristol, and in 1955 he was ordained as a Congregational minister and took up his first pastorate at the Windsor Road Congregational Church in Barry, south Wales. In 1963, he was called to Pilgrim Church in Plymouth, where the congregation were particularly responsive to his writing talents.[1][2]
In 1968, Kaan was sent to Geneva as minister-secretary of the International Congregational Council, to help unite it with the Presbyterian Alliance to form the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. With the Alliance until 1978, his work centred on issues of human rights, inter-church relations, and communications, editing the Alliance's journal and co-producing the multilingual radio programme Intervox.[1]
During this time, Kaan served as chairman of the Council for World Mission, an offshoot of the overseas missionary work of the British Congregational churches. He claimed to have visited faith communities in 83 countries. He also gained an honorary Th.D. from Debrecen Theological Academy (Hungary) and a Ph.D. from Geneva Theological College.[1][2][3]
The nomadic life-style did not suit Kaan, however, and, wanting to be closer to people, he became Moderator of the West Midlands province of the United Reformed Church (URC), a post he held for seven years. This was followed in 1985 by a local Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and URC team ministry in Swindon; his final ministry.[1]
Kaan's formal ministry ended in 1989, but he continued work with a four-year term as honorary secretary of the Churches' Human Rights Forum in Britain and Ireland. His hymnwriting also continued.[1][2]
