Peter Holtvlüwer
About me
Hi there. My name is Peter Holtvlüwer – welcome to my website! If you ask me who I am I might say that I’m a husband, father, grandfather, son, uncle, pastor and writer. Each of these is true and yet underneath all of that I’m just Pete, one of God’s children saved by grace. I’m an average guy trying to serve the Lord in these capacities. I make mistakes and mess up in all kinds of ways, all of which makes me so very grateful to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and renewed daily by his Spirit.
You might also like to know that I serve as a full-time minister of the Word in a Bible-believing, confessionally Reformed congregation in Canada. I am committed to the infallible Word of God and I uphold in every respect the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and Canons of Dort as accurate, faithful summaries of Scripture.
I write non-fiction stuff – mostly articles and editorials for Clarion, a magazine serving primarily the Canadian Reformed Churches – and many sermons, of course. Having completed the editing of a multi-volume work on the Psalms, I am currently preparing a Bible Study Workbook on the Psalms.
Things I Write About
Since 2010 I have been contributing to Clarion and currently serve as its editor-in-chief. My articles come mostly from my perspective as a pastor and my aim is to help Christians walk more closely with the Lord, for his glory. We believers all struggle in so many areas of life and our culture in twenty-first century Canada presents some particular challenges. If one of my pieces can provide some guidance and encouragement for God’s people then I am thankful to the Lord.
In my editorials I try to pick up “where the rub is” currently for believers – whether in morality, doctrine, life-style, education, church government issues or elsewhere. I like the variety of writing on a range of topics but try to stick to subjects I know reasonably well. If there is a debate, I will attempt to take a reasoned side; if no one is debating an issue that ought to be, I don’t mind to get the ball rolling. With different tacks, I aim to stimulate edifying discussion and improved Christian living among God’s people.
In 2010 I published a series of sermons on Genesis 1-3 called Foundations. These 13 messages set out to explain these key but often misinterpreted chapters in accordance with the plain sense of the passage. For more on Foundations click here.
Résumé Particulars
Growing up in Ottawa, I was given the opportunity to study history at Carleton University and completed a four-year Honours BA. Being interested in theology and drawn to pastoral ministry, I undertook language studies at McMaster University in Hamilton and went on to finish a four year Masters of Divinity degree at the Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary in the same city.
The Lord called me to the ministry of the Word in 1999 via the Aldergrove Canadian Reformed Church in British Columbia. My wife Erica and I moved from our home province of Ontario with one son. Before six years was up we moved to Carman, Manitoba with four sons so I could become the next pastor in the Carman East Canadian Reformed Church. After the Lord added to our family two daughters while on the prairies, in 2010 he led the eight of us to southern Ontario first to Spring Creek Canadian Reformed Church and since 2020 to where I currently serve as pastor in Ancaster Canadian Reformed Church.
Psalms, Psalms and More Psalms!
Aside from regular ministry work and the writing of articles, what’s keeping me extra busy these days is work on Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms. In God’s providence I was able to head-up a team of sixteen pastors to work on two things: first, a Christ-centred book of 365 meditations for daily use by individuals or families. This has since been published as Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms – Devotional. Second, a Christ-centred pastoral commentary on all 150 Psalms. This has since been published in four volumes as Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms – Study Resource.
I am currently working on the next phase of this project which is to produce a study workbook for use in personal or group Bible study. The first of these is called Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms – Bible Study Workbook. This guide walks the user through sixteen psalms using the theme Christ our Teacher. The Lord willing it will be published in the spring of 2025. Two more are being planned, one on the theme of Christ our King and the other on Christ our High Priest.