Many Reformed churches do not yet know whether they will allow Sunday services to continue in the coming weeks, and how many people will be welcome. This is evident from a tour of NU.nl along a large number of almshouses. These have come under fire in recent weeks when, despite the rising number of infections, hundreds of people kept coming together.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced new strict corona rules on Tuesday evening for, among others, the hospitality industry and the cultural sector. But where thirty people is a rule for theaters or music venues, it remains only one with churches advice.
Almshouses have a separate status in the constitution, but also within the corona guidelines. Freedom of religion is an unshakable right guaranteed in the constitution.
Not a single Reformed or Reformed church in the congregations that have been under attack in recent weeks, such as Urk, Staphorst or Barneveld, could already say on Wednesday whether services will continue on Sunday, and how many people are welcome.
Some churches have welcomed hundreds of people in recent weeks
In the Reformed Congregation Center in Barneveld, three services took place on Sunday, attended by 400 people per service. In the Reformed Eben-Haëzerkerk on Urk almost three hundred churchgoers came together, just as many as in the Jachin Boazkerk in the same place. Measures had been taken and there was less singing.
The churches on Urk were not available for comment on Wednesday. “As a congregation, we are in constant dialogue with our churches to make the urgency of the corona restrictions clear,” said a spokesman for the congregation. “They are also aware of that. But the maximum number of visitors of thirty remains an advice for churches. Ultimately, the churches themselves can decide what to do. We assume that they make a sensible decision.”
‘Most believers consider going to church to be secondary to risks’
“The vast majority of believers now consider going to church to be secondary to the health risk,” said Danielle Woestenberg of the Interdenominational Contact in Government Affairs (CIO). Many churches have made extensive adjustments to comply with all corona guidelines.
The vast majority of almshouses have provided most services digitally since mid-March, so that churchgoers can practice their faith at home. “In the Netherlands we have believers in various dosages. The extent to which people feel obliged to go to church varies.”
Three services of the Restored Reformed Church in Staphorst in the first weekend of October, where six hundred believers gathered at each service, prompted Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus to have an emergency meeting with the CIO church umbrella. This resulted in urgent advice for a maximum of thirty visitors per service. The church in Staphorst was unable to say on Wednesday whether a different policy is being pursued after the new partial lockdown that Rutte announced on Tuesday.
Kerk Staphorst: Peak infections are not caused by services
The church “is aware” that Staphorst is a negative outlier in the current infection figures. “A number of church members have been infected,” confirms a spokesman. But he does not see a causal link with the busy services. “But we are in close contact with them. And we have not been able to trace any of the cases back to any of our church services.”
The Christian Reformed Church in Barendrecht, where nearly three hundred visitors gathered last weekend, has not yet taken a decision. “We closed our church for months in the first lockdown,” explains a spokesman.
“That was after consultation with the safety region. But we currently operate well within the guidelines of the RIVM. Everyone keeps their distance and wears mouth masks, the singing has scaled down considerably. Inside the church it is safer than the average. convenience store.”
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