Rev. Leonard Hofman Had a Pastor’s ‘Heart and Soul’

Funeral services took place on April 16, 2025, at Shawnee Park Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., for Rev. Leonard Hofman, former general secretary of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

A respected churchman with a genial smile and approachable manner, Hofman passed away peacefully on April 11, 2025, at the age of 97. 

Hofman will be missed not only by his family but also by the scores of people who knew and worked with him in church life over the years, said Rev. Kathy Smith, one of his daughters.

“My dad truly loved serving the church and the people in it. In his heart and soul he was a pastor,” said Smith, senior associate director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. “Those who worked with him have always said he was a kind, thoughtful person – and we loved him as a dad and grandpa and great-grandpa.”

Although he stayed upbeat and busy, added Smith, her father deeply missed his wife, Elaine, who died some 20 years ago. “They were always a team. She was right there with him in ministry,” said Smith.

In a 2021 CRC News story, Hofman spoke about his call to ministry. “I was working in a grocery store in Burton Heights [a Grand Rapids neighborhood] when the pastor at Burton Heights CRC, who happened to be shopping in the store, stopped. As we were talking, he asked if I ever thought of becoming a pastor,” Hofman said.

After graduating from Calvin University in 1948, Hofman had planned to be an architect, he said. But the grocery store meeting proved pivotal, Hofman said, eventually leading him to scrap his earlier plans and enroll in Calvin Theological Seminary. 

Following seminary, Hofman was called to Wright CRC in Kanawha, Iowa, for three years. From there, he pastored a church in Kenosha, Wis., for five years before moving to West Michigan to serve three other churches over 18 years – and later to begin full-time work for the denomination.

“Early on, after serving two or three churches, I realized I was attracted to administrative work,” he said.

Even in the weeks before he passed away, Hofman was active and regularly attended church, also taking part in a regular Bible study and meeting with friends at the weekly men’s lunch at Shawnee Park CRC, said Smith.

“He was a longtime and faithful member of the church,” Smith added. “Even in the last few months when he couldn’t drive, someone always picked him up and took him home.”

Rev. Darrin Compagner, pastor at Shawnee Park, helped officiate at the funeral service along with Rev. William Vanden Bosch, Hofman’s longtime prayer partner.

A memory he holds dear, said Compagner, comes from when he was installed four years ago, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, at Shawnee Park. Because of the pandemic, only a few people were there – and Hofman was among them.

 “He was one of those who, at a distance [because of COVID restrictions], made a point of raising their hands, instead of laying hands on me, as part of the service,” said Compagner.

Once, added Compagner, Hofman said he had preached nearly 60 times at Shawnee Park, which he attended for 37 years. As his voice dimmed with age, though, Hofman gave up preaching. But Compagner said he especially recalled a time when Kathy Smith preached and her father joined her in officiating at the Lord’s Supper.

“He was well known and well loved. He had a lot of good friends here,” said Compagner. 

Rev. Joel Boot, former executive director of the CRCNA, served at several synods with Hofman and said, “I was always impressed by his command of the situation, his ready and cogent advice, his precision -- and the fact that even at a two-week synod [held many years ago] he didn’t wear the same outfit twice!”

Hofman, said Boot, was always ready and willing to help answer anyone's question. 

“Nothing seemed to frustrate him. Not a piece of paper was ever out of place; not a surprise amendment or an angry attitude from a delegate seemed to phase him – but was always met with the same calm and steady tone. He led well.”

Boot served as a pastor at Ridgewood CRC in Jenison, Mich., whose first pastor was Leonard Hofman. There, Boot said, he learned, among other things, that Hofman was a bit of a stickler. For example, Hofman conducted rehearsals on Saturdays for baptisms coming up on Sundays and, said Boot, was always precise as to what was to be placed on the communion table.

In the end, said Boot, “I see him as having the desire to do things as well as he could to honor and glorify God in everything he did.”

Rev. James De Jong, former president of Calvin Theological Seminary, said, “Len Hofman was the consummate churchman – discerning, balanced, respectful, approachable, dedicated.”

Hofman’s calm, considerate temperament, he said, was right for being the CRCNA general secretary and its denominational leader. 

“Always proper – I remember him only once without a necktie – then joshed him. He took it with a dignified smile and chuckle – in perfect Hofmanesque cadence. I admired and respected him deeply.”

Hofman served as the denominational stated clerk from 1982 to 1990 and as general secretary from 1990 to 1994. 

Friends said Hofman especially enjoyed his ecumenical work, serving as secretary of the CRC’s Interchurch Relations Committee for many years and as an officer and chair of the board of the National Association of Evangelicals. 

Wes Granberg-Michaelson, former general secretary of the Reformed Church in America, worked with Hofman in a number of those ecumenical settings.

“For Len Hofman, issues of Church Order and legality were matters of theology, not just practicality,” said Granberg-Michaelson. “He was one of those servants who understood that how the institutional church conducts its business and work should testify to who we are."

Hofman received the Outstanding Service Award from the Calvin College Alumni Association in 1978 and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Calvin Theological Seminary in 2007. 

“I was privileged to be in the presence of Rev. Hofman when he served at synod and when he met people in small group settings,” said Jul Medenblik, president of Calvin Seminary. “He was always gracious, encouraging, and thoughtful. He modeled what it was to be a leader and servant of the church. His precision in words and his desire to bless others in all his responses is missing from our current dialogues and conversations.” 

Andy Ryskamp, former director of World Renew, said he remembers that Hofman once asked him if he ever missed serving on the mission field, which Ryskamp had done for many years.

“When I told him I miss it every day, he told me, ‘Good – when you stop missing the work at the grassroots, you have become ineffective as an administrator,’” said Ryskamp. “His passion for the church to live out its incarnational and transformative calling was motivating.”

As a church leader, Hofman spoke often at events, marking one development or another in the church. When he did, he sought to include everyone in his audience in what he said. He also strove to make clear that the CRCNA was the church that had formed him, and that he loved serving it.

“I’ve always tried to be pastoral in my approach,” Hofman said in the 2021 CRC News story. “I’m not sure I always did a perfect job, but I tried to speak clearly and carefully.”

Hofman had a heart for all kinds of folks, said Reggie Smith, Thrive’s diversity leader for the CRCNA. “He was a pastor's pastor and had the kind of street cred that [invited] people . . . to listen to his perspective,” said Smith.

 Above all, it was Hofman’s steady, very approachable personality that Dee Recker, who retired as director of synodical services in 2023, remembers. She said she recalls how, even after he stepped down as general secretary, Hofman would attend the CRC’s annual synods. A wide smile would cross his face, and he would stand and wave every time synod officials took a moment to recognize him sitting in the stands.

“He was so special, and it was a delight to know him,” said Recker. “He always had a twinkle in his eye.”