Gerbrand Vissering was born on June 1, 1813.. He studied
at the University of Groningen and the Baptist Seminary in
Amsterdam. He became a Baptist preacher. First in 1837, in
Zuid-Zijpe, then in 1842 in Wormer-en-Jisp, where he remained
until his death in 1869.
The Baptistes are also named Mennists. They are followers
of Menno Simons who, in addition to the familiar church reformers
as Luther, Calvin and Zwingli, in a sense the only reformer
of the Netherlands was. This movement was, also by the Lutheran
Church, at the time, sharp persecuted and oppressed. The name
Baptists has to do with their specific view of baptism. Rather
than children to be baptized, they know only the baptism (adults)
on a voluntary basis.
