American Protestant Church, The Hague

The American Protestant Church in The Hague, Holland, is just what one might expect from that kind of name. Its mid-twentieth-century style with its excessive glass, irregular lines and peculiar, stylised crosses, is just how I would imagine it. I led a wedding there this summer, and the large frontal panes transformed the sanctuary into a giant greenhouse, which is great for tomato plants but less good for ministers in black, three-piece suits. I spoke with the church’s pastor, a black Presbyterian from the States, to whom I instantly warmed.

I used to dismiss modern architecture as dreadful, or boring, but I now realise it has a place in the catalogue of historical styles. Yet that which is contemporary, cutting edge, modern and up-to-date is almost immediately dated and old fashioned. The Hague’s APC is very much of the 1950s-60s, just as Salem Chapel is very much a product of the early nineteenth-century. Building styles, worship styles and ecclesiastic preferences do not ultimately matter; what does, is fidelity to God’s word, which is both helplessly old fashioned and simultaneously timeless.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. Psalm 100:4-5