Derke P. Bergsma

Dr. Bergsma joined the Westminster Seminary California faculty in 1982. He previously taught at Calvin College and pastored in South Dakota, Illinois, and Michigan. He served in the U.S. Navy as an enlisted sailor (WWII) and, after seminary, as a Chaplain, retiring with the rank of captain. For many years, he was Professor of Theology at Trinity Christian College in Palos Height, IL (during which he also served as the college’s acting president).

A minister emeritus of the United Reformed Churches in North America, Dr. Bergsma is a sought-after preacher and Bible conference speaker. Among his writings are The Idea of Predestination in Sunni Islam and Classical Calvinism Compared; Biblical Theological Reader; Redemption: The Triumph of God’s Great Plan; Voices; Intermission; Practical Theology and the Ministry of the Church, 1952-1984 (contributor); and The Compromised Church (contributor). He has also contributed to professional journals including Calvin Theological Journal, The Christian Scholar’s Review, Antithesis, and Insight.

He and his wife, Doris, live in the Chicago area.

What I Want to Instill in My Students
“Westminster Seminary California’s motivational pulse is identified in its determination to be faithful to the full revelation of God in the sacred Scripture. Its institutional logo identifies this commitment in the words of Acts 20:27 ‘the whole counsel of God’. Committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and convinced that in Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells, Westminster Seminary California seeks the preeminence of Christ in all things.”