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PRINCIPAL EDWARD SIDNEY
M.A., B.D.
KIEK,
Principal Kiek has received the appointment as
the head of Parkin College, Adelaide, and it is proposed
that he should be associated with tutors of
other Protestant denominations in the training of
students for the Christian ministry. We are indebted
for information to the Rev. J. C. Kirby,
who lias furnished the following article to the
Australian, Christian World:—
Mr. Kiek comes from Halifax, Yorkshire, and to
a remarkable degree bids fair to satisfy the great
and varied requirements of the position.
1. A man is required who has understanding in
the things of Christ, and who, as regards essentials
is sound in the life giving and marvellous faith
of the Gospel. Well Principal Kiek was trained in
tlie great doctrine by that master in Israel, Dr.
Fairba'irn, at Mansfield College. Therefore he holds
the mystery of the faith with a fulness and with
a delightful explicitness. He doe's not live in a fog.
This is expressed with great beauty and power by
the Peace Hymn he composed for the United
Scholars' Peace Celebration at Halifax. This hymn
is thoroughly Trinitarian and sets before us the
Father, the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit an their
united works of grace and providence.
2. A Principal is wanted who has experience of
Avhat life is apart from the schools. Principal Kiek
when he left his grammar school entered the English
Civil Service, and had four years' experience
as a cle'rk to the Admiralty. It broadens a man to
experience life as the majority have to meet it,
before being absorbed in a special vocation.
However, Principal Kiek made full and successful
use of the schools. In October, 1903, he matriculated
at Wadham College, Oxford, and graduated
B.A., with first-class honours in modern history,
political science, and economics July, 1906.
He then entered Mansfield College and took
second class honours in theology at. Oxford, July,
1908. He graduated B.D. at London University,
July, 1909. Principal Kiek had the use of one of
the greatest educational institutions of the Empire,
and utilized his opportunities. He became M.A. of
Oxford, July, 1910, and took B.D. Honours at London
University—second class in Biblical and historical
theology, July, 1911.
3. A Principal is wanted for Parkin who had
practical, personal experience of the Christian
ministry. The governors of the college very wisely
insisted on this in the instructions they sent to the
gentleman who acted for them in England.
Principal Kiek was ordained to the Christian
ministry at Newcastle under Lynne Congregational
Church, Staffordshire, and was there from September,
1900, to February, 1913. While there, Miss
Winifred Jackson, B.A.,- smiled on the young pastor,
and they were united in marriage. This lady is able
to conduct meetings and give lectures on her own
account, so in a special sense she has been a helpmeet
to lier husband, and may be counted on as a
great helper by the lady workers of the Congregational
churches of South Australia.
In 1912 Principal Kiek was elected minister of
the famous Square Church, Halifax, one of the
leading Congregational Churches of Great Britain.
The history of the church can be traced to 1762.
Under his ministry and active pastorate the church
has greatly prospered. His work has been of a
varied and energetic character. A great student,
yet he has not spent all his time dreaming among
his books. He has shown that he knows how-to deal
with the young men and stablish them in the faith
and, service of the Saviour, and how to speak with
the enemy at the gate and defend the faith, and
how to speak to matured Christians and encourage
them to fight the good fight, and how to cheer the
pilgrims when they come to the brink of the. dark
river with the exceeding great and precious promises
of Christ.
We gather that he has an inspiring spirit, which
puts go into those with whom he labours, in the
varied organisations of modern church work. If he
.imparts that spirit—that go—into his students,
Principal Kiek will prove himself to be the very man
we want for Parkin College.
4. It is a gain for Parkin College to. have a principal
who has taken a share in the tremendous
struggles of the British in the recent fearful war.
Mr. Kiek has a full measure of this heart-searching
experienoe. He has a good knowledge of French.
and can converse in that language, so when Belgian
refugees came to Halifax he made a point of meeting
them and giving them help and advice.
In October, 1916, Mr. Kiek went under the
Y.M.C.A. to France, and there preached and lectured
to the soldiers for three. months. He did
another three months from March, 1918. When he
returned to Halifax lie became Director of the religious
work of the Halifax Military Y.M.C.A.
5. Moreover he has won the confidence of his
brethren in the ministry, and was chosen a member
of the Free Church Council, and also made a member
of Council of the Congregational Union of England
and Wales, and held many offices connected
with Yorkshire religious institutions.
One of these deserves very extra special attention
because of the past woeful deficiency of the
Theological College in giving their students proper
and* thorough instructions about children and young
people. Principal Kiek was secretary of the committee
for work among the young. Let us all devoutly
pray that he will fill all his students wit'li
the skill and the love to work among the young.
This question of the young is no mere side issue;
the development of the young life of the church of
Christ is one of the weightiest duties and richest
privileges of a minister of Christ. If well done it
will bring a large reward.
Principal Kiek is the author of a booklet on "Siii
and Forgiveness," stupendous themes which bring
before us the guilty and lost condition of the
natural man and the amazing grace of the Divine
God in ordaining and putting to work means for the
eternal forgiveness of the sinner. May he teach
his students to preach t.hese things with power, then
shall the people sing—
Who is a pardoning God like Thee,
Or who has grace so rich and free,
6. Adding to his other qualifications, Principal
Kiek is -a young man under forty years of age, and
comes just because he thinks he ought to come, and
that is just the right reason for coming.
In a letter in the Square Church Monthly, Principal
Kiek says, "I have accepted the invitation to
Adelaide simply and solely because it offers opportunities
of service which I think it would be wrong
to refuse."
Truly Parkin Co;Jege offers great opportunities
for service. There can be no greater service to the
churches of Christ, than training the young men
God calls to the work, eo that they may be efficient
preachers of the word—shepherds of the. sheep, and
defenders of the faith once delivered to the saints.
May the Holy Ghost rest richly upon Principal Kiek
and make him very powerful in the training of young
men for the work of the ministry in vast and fair
Australia.
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