Looking Back: We’ve been here ‘in Europe’ for 400 years

From June 1973

We’ve been here ‘In Europe' for 400 years

Says Colin RM Bell, minister of the Church of Scotland congregation in Amsterdam

When the phrase ’going into Europe’ is on everybody’s lips, the Church Of Scotland can claim to have been the advance party by about 400 years. A church set in the heart of the city of Amsterdam and in an enchanting old-world court is a charge both of the Church of Scotland and the Netherlands Reformed Church.

Ministers have been drawn mainly from the Church of Scotland and members have included pilgrim fathers, soldiers, seafarers, merchants and business-men. Today it is a thriving congregation with about two hundred members and two hundred regular adherents. In the summer it is packed to overflowing with visitors from all over the world. Coffee mornings are held in a very fine hall which is rented from the Corporation of Amsterdam; there is fulfillment of the Church’s motto “Within these walls let no-one be a stranger”.

Here is a charge of the Church of Scotland which is both inter-denominational and international. Certainly, St Andrew’s Night and Burn’s Suppers are held, but there is no hint of an exclusive religious “Caledonian Society” about it. The claim is made that it is ‘one of the most cosmopolitan congregations in the world’ – the justification being that in the list of communicant members there are seventeen nationalities, while the visitors’ book reads like a sederunt of the United Nations General Assembly.

Most surprising of all, perhaps, is the fact that the Dutch themselves play so important a part in the life and work of the congregation. Of the fourteen members of the Consistory (Kirk Session/Board) eight are Dutch. During its long history, many prominent citizens of Amsterdam have acted as office-bearers.

It was just after the Reformation that a lovely 14th-century chapel (formerly used by an Order of Nuns) was given over for use of the worshippers desiring services in the English language and according to the Reformed/Presbyterian rites. By 1662, the congregation had so increased that the church had to be enlarged; it was altered again in 1912. It retains its great character and charm (which attracted 126 couples to be married here in 1971).

ROYAL LINKS

As flags are being hoisted in Europe proclaiming our entry into the E.E.C., we recall that the Union Jack and the St Andrew’s Flag have already been hung here for many years. The other flags tell something of a historic place of worship. There is the Royal Scottish Standard, the Mackay flag (a replica of the battle standard of the Scot’s Brigade which fought for two centuries in the Netherlands in the Wars of Independence against Spain) and the Stars and Stripes of the USA.

Appropriately, there is also the flag of the House of Orange, which is linked with one of the most historically interesting possessions of the church – an elegant brass lectern on the pulpit, which was presented to the congregation by King William III (Prince of Orange and King of Great Britain) and Queen Mary II in 1689. It is reputed to be the oldest post-reformation brass Reader’s Desk in existence. Links with the Royal House continue, guests being present at the recent Christmas Day Service in the church.

To worship in this place, where Christians have gathered for nearly 600 years, and where Services in English have been held for nearly 400 years is an inspiring experience, which it is hoped many more will share as Scotland’s links with the Continent are strengthened.

Looking Back menu

Life and Work is the magazine of the Church of Scotland. Subscribe here.