The Kloosterkerk, The Hague

One of the oldest churches in The Hague is the Kloosterkerk, a former monastic church. The Reformation and Counter Reformation weave into its history and it attracted further attention in the 1980s and 1990s when Queen Beatrix was known for worshipping here.

It was also the base for Simon van Dorp (1880–1963) in the 1930s who belonged to the Reformed Association within the Dutch Reformed Church. He opposed the emerging modernist compromise in the Dutch state church, which tolerated one of its own ministers who claimed that Christianity had 'much to learn' from Buddhism. Von Dorp may not have had the international acclaim of Luther or Melanchthon, but the Church in all times needs men and women who will make a stand for truth. Like a car driven along a straight road, there will always be an inclination to veer and deviate. If this is not quickly and firmly arrested, the car will go off road and crash.

The first-century church was to guard against legalism and gnosticism; in the sixteenth century, against saint-worship and popery. In the twentieth century, it was called to oppose Bible-denial and interfaith worship. In our own times, the foes are many and varied, but one of the most potent in the West is the temptation to compromise on marriage and sexual ethics. To keep the Church in the twenty-second century, we must guard it in the twenty-first.

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Acts 20:29