and never admitted trained and salaried ministers. In 1631 and again in 1646 its members were exempted from serving in government offices on paying a fee.
It maintained some contacts with the conservative congregation of Balk. In 1834 its membership numbered about 60. It possessed a small meetinghouse, which was damaged in 1825 by a flood of the Zuider Zee. The last elders were Hendrik Sijmens Bakker (?-1852) and Gerrit Sijmens Bos, elder from 1838 until his death 14 January 1875. From then on the pulpit was vacant, and the remaining members, only nine, joined the congregation of South Giethoorn in 1890. The meetinghouse, restored in 1854, was torn down in 1894.
The congregation of South Giethoorn always was the larger one. It belonged to the Flemish branch, and was sometimes, called the New Flem¬ish Church. It was less conservative than its sister congregation, but in the 18th and early 19th centuries more conservative than other Dutch congregations. Silent prayer was in use until about 1780, and in 1811 the congregation adopted the principle of strict nonresistance, asking absolute freedom from military service. The last unsalaried preacher was Harm W. Dam (1778-1873), who served ?-1850, assisted by K. Hovens Greve, preacher of Zuidveen, who served from 1826 to 1851. In this year Greve's son A. K. Hovens Greve became the first trained pastor of South Giethoorn. He was followed by W. Jesse 1858-1862, A. van Gulik 1863-1866, J. A. Oosterbaan 1866-1876, J. F. Bakker 1877-1881, H. Koekebakker 1881-1886, A. van der Goot 1889-1892, H. Schuurmans 1894-1910, T. O. M. H. Hylkema 1911-1929, M. J. Kosters Gz 1929-1933, A. J. van der Sluis 1936-1939, Abr. Mulder 1941-1946, and F. H. Sixma after 1948.
Concerning the meetinghouse not much is known. The old meetinghouse was remodeled in 1856. A new one, still standing in 1955, was built in 1871 and dedicated on Christmas Day of this year. Statistics of membership were not available before 1834, when the
