From
Movement to Organization
In 1930 at Arnhem the thirty-year old movement became
a permanent organization and was renamed "The International
Association for Liberal Christianity and Religious Freedom." A secretariat was established and staffed by the Dutch
Central Committee for Liberal Protestantism. The first
secretary was L. J. van Holk. In 1931 the Independent
Church of Filipino Christians in the Philippines joined
the Association, and a year later the 1932 Congress in
St Gallen, Switzerland approved the new constitution and
name.
In
1934 the International Association for Liberal Christianity
and Religious Freedom held the "11th International
Congress of Religious Liberals" at Copenhagen.
Materials from this Congress use the acronym "I.A.R.F."
and note that 350 members attended. An annual International
Sunday was promoted in 1935 and the Bulletin was published
again. In 1936 the Secretariat published the Bulletin
in German as well English and also printed a Handbook
on the I.A.R.F.
The
12th IARF Congress was held in 1937 at Oxford with the
theme, "Liberal Christianity: The World's Need." A report on the activities of the IARF between 1934 and
1937 was presented to the Congress by three secretaries:
W. R. M. Noordhoff, H. Faber and C. J. Bleeker. The annual
subscription for individual members was set at 2 1/2 Dutch
Guilders and 41 persons from 6 countries paid it. Contributions
were also received from 15 affiliated organizations in
the United States of America, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia,
Denmark, Estonia, France, Holland, Romania, South Africa
and Switzerland. A small theological conference was held
in 1938 in Holland, but this was followed in 1939 by war
in Europe and the occupation of Holland in May 1940, which
led to the closing of the Secretariat for five years.
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