I am not really qualified to write a biography on the life of this remarkable man, but I do wish to make a start, hoping that someone qualified will be stimulated to pick up the pen and give us an authoritative biographical sketch on the life and times of Nico van der Walt.
He must assuredly not be forgotten.
Rex Jeffries did that for us in 2020 when he wrote a biography on the life of Martin Holdt. This biography was published almost ten years following Martin’s death on 31 December 2011. Nico and Martin were good friends and frequently ministered together on various platforms. In fact, together they were a truly formidable pair. Both were Reformed, confessional, covenantal Baptists. Both subscribed to the historic 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. Both loved the Lord Jesus and his finished work on the cross. Both loved the work of proclaiming his glory. And both did it so well, not boasting in themselves, but in Jesus alone.
I realise that I actually knew Nico far too little. But I do know enough to say this: Nico has touched the lives of many, including my own. He was a remarkable man.
My life in Namibia and his very busy life in South Africa only really intersected when we met at various pastors’conferences and prayer fraternals in South Africa, and sometimes he would visit us in Namibia.
I came to know him best in the founding of Sola 5. Nico and I, among many others, were founding members. I would call Nico van der Walt the visionary voice behind the Sola 5 movement. Sola 5 was born out of the Spurgeon prayer fraternal. This is what happens when pastors unite in prayer, and so it was that, in 2004, this movement was conceptualised and solemnised. Nico was passionate about such a body and, as such, wrote the introduction to the Sola 5 handbook. This handbook contains the association’s Constitution, Core Values,and Confession, and was put together with the efforts of a number of esteemed brothers. This association gave an identity to a group of essentially Reformed Baptist churches in Southern Africa, embracing Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and Botswana.
A few weeks before Nico went home to his Maker, knowing that he had only a very short time to live, he sent a moving farewell message, which many of you may have seen. As I watched his ten-minute farewell, I saw an essentially contented man, filled with hope and assurance. Christ was clearly in possession of his heart.
Nico’s biography is best contained in his own words, which I found on his blog. Here follows a translation of his own autobiographical information from that site:
I believe (with a broken heart), that a shockingly large part of the institutional church of our day has largely lost her course. In certain cases, she has even forsaken the concept of saving faith. The church, without delay, desperately needs to return to the fundamentals of the Reformation: Scripture alone, grace alone, Christ alone, faith alone, and all to the glory of God alone.
I subscribe to the historically respected 1689 Baptist Confession as well as to the Confession and Core Values of Sola 5, an association of God-centered evangelical churches, found in more than half a dozen Southern African countries. In addition, I am an active member of the Spurgeon Fraternal, a nationwide prayer circle of Reformed Baptist brothers.
I was born on 28 September 1945 in Middelburg, in the Cape Province. From the age of eight we lived in Aliwal North, in the North Eastern Cape. I matriculated in 1963 at the local high school. After military service, I studied at the University of Stellenbosch, where I obtained a degree in civil engineering. I was involved in several major water projects, including the Boland Project, the Orange River Project, and the Kunene Project.
At the age of twenty-eight, my life was changed as I experienced Christ-centered repentance. Nothing was the same after that. Soon thereafter, I undertook some theological studies at the Potchefstroom University for Higher Christian Education. Whilst studying, I also lectured for 4½ years in the field of engineering. From 1983 onward, I have been permanently engaged in a pastoral and teaching, gospel ministry. After years in the Vaal Triangle, I was founding pastor of the Antipas Reformed Baptist Congregation in Pretoria, and from 1998 onwards I served there for ten years.
For about a decade-and-a-half, I have been a permanent lecturer at the Lynnwood Ridge Bible School in Pretoria.
I remain amazed at seeing the fruit of the written text of my sermons (sent out by e-mail) in Afrikaans and English.
I am married to Soniah du Toit, a university sweetheart. She grew up on a farm near Hartswater in the Northern Cape. We have four grown daughters, two wonderful sons-in-law, and seven grandchildren. Currently, Soniah and I live in Randburg.
But that’s not all that’s true of my life. My curriculum vitae obscures my real struggles with sin. It obscures my countless failures whilst negotiating that narrow road. I have experienced long dark tunnels of depression. I have regrets with respect to a number of poor interpersonal relationships. I have regrets with respect to my reluctance in the fulfilling of my calling. In short, the poverty of my discipleship has made me groan countless times before this thrice-holy God. But, the most significant fact remains this: I have fled to Jesus Christ and I still continue to hide in him. I have appropriated God’s promises to myself. They have been given to me by Christ my great Prophet. I have entrusted myself to him as my great High Priest. I have dedicated myself to him as my great King. But despite this, my faith is often characterised by stammering and stumbling, rather than by victory. Therefore, I know, that the fruit that may be there is due to the fact that it Christ who works in me to will as well as to work after his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12–13).
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’
“‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them!’”
(Revelation 14:13)