What did Calvinists do overseas? First of all, they planted churches. Setting up congregations functioned as the primary way the Dutch Reformed Church spread its message and ministries. Ordained ministers preached the gospel and administered the two sacraments recognised by Reformed Protestants: baptism and holy communion (also the Lord’s Supper). Lay elders provided leadership and, in collaboration with ministers, imposed moral correction by visiting members and chastising those who fell short of the Church’s expectations. There are a lot of juicy stories in the records of these interactions by church folk who felt dissed and pissed! Cheating husbands, outraged wives, hopeless drunks, angry brawlers, petty thieves, conniving gossipers and others make appearances too. Alongside elders, lay deacons managed forms of social welfare, distributing alms, caring for orphans, and overseeing hospitals.
Since clergy were few and far between, not every congregation had an ordained minister. So, Calvinists set up satellite congregations in outlying areas, where a local lay member would read a sermon and lead the congregation in songs and prayers on Sundays. Every several months, a minister, sometimes along with an elder or deacon, would visit these communities, like a circuit rider, to examine affairs, give a sermon, baptise new converts, marry couples and do other pastoral stuff.
The most important activity, in terms of spreading the influence of Calvinism, was setting up schools. Schools sprang up most everywhere the Dutch established themselves. The governor Cornelis Matelief established the first Dutch school outside of Europe in Amboina in Indonesia shortly after the VOC put down roots there in 1605. Its first teacher was Johannes Wogma, who gave lessons to Amboinese children in the Dutch language, writing, arithmetic, and taught them several prayers. Ministers and chaplains set up schools in outlying areas not served by a resident minister. Dutch Calvinists organised hundreds of schools across the Molucca Islands, Jakarta, Banda (Indonesia), Melaka (Malaysia), Formosa (Taiwan), Sri Lanka, sites on the Coromandel and Malabar coasts of India, the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Brazil, New Netherland (New York), along the West African Coast and in the Caribbean. For example, by 1633, 32 schools across the East Indies offered instruction to 1,200 students – a number that grew to 54 schools with 5,190 studentsby 1700. In Ceylon, approximately 30 schools were in operation in the 1660s with 18,000 students.