Oude Kerk, Delft

The Oude Kerk in the attractive Dutch town of Delft is a rather fine medieval parish church which has all the proportions of a cathedral. There is a ‘new church’ down the road, which is barely younger, but certainly grander. Although one has to pay to gain entry, I was pleased to learn that it still belongs to the Dutch Reformed Church rather than the local municipality, and that a tract table was placed in a prominent position, with evangelistic literature available in dozens of languages. Deans of English Cathedrals, take note: a great and ancient church need not be just a museum Monday to Saturday, and can be a base from which the gospel can be shared.

What struck me most, apart from the overall elegance and scale of the place, was the gigantic sounding board placed over the pulpit. These I have seen before, but not of this size. A sounding board allows the preacher’s voice to ‘bounce’ off it and magnify its volume in the direction of the congregation. In the age before microphones, giant congregations in enormous buildings might struggle to hear the sermon. This board was the only amplification a preacher had that was outside his own throat.

The Christian message, which we call the gospel, is meant to be heard. It cannot be understood and pondered, much less believed, if the preacher mumbles, mutters and murmurs. Sound systems allow weaker voices to be enlivened, but they also created a generation of preacher which entered the pulpit and spoke at conversational volume. One must speak to the farthest corner of the room, and to the auditor with the hardest hearing. The availability of soundboards is not to be relied upon, nor the sensitivity of soundmen, so preachers must speak up. If you have something worth hearing, say it loud and clear. If you have a message worth missing, then mumble, mutter and murmur away.

“Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." Isaiah 58:1