Thursday, July 23, 2009

Dutch Reformed Church

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I twice attended this Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) in the village of Nieuwoudtville. The panoramic shot shows virtually the entire congregation. Some things that stood out for me: 1. the dominee (minister) conducted the whole service himself – no other person spoke a single word (I'd be afraid to do that), 2. he had a strong emphasis on the human response to God, yet little emphasis on God Himself, and 3. in the midst of a multicultural village, the congregation was monocultural. OBSERVATION: I used my hymnbook as a “tripod”, swivelling the camera on the cover to obtain this panoramic shot. Not perfect, but ... not bad.

3 comments:

Steve Hayes said...

And here i was thinking that they were dropping the one-man-band style of ministry!

We went to such a service about 20 years ago, and my daughter, then 11, said "When's the worship? That wasn't worship!" The dominee even said Amen to his own prayers, because nobody else did.

Steve Hayes said...
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Thomas O. Scarborough said...

(I deleted a duplicate comment above). The dominee was seeking to be trendy -- yet in my view, little can happen until there is the priesthood of believers. A number of people in the village told me that he was being held back by older members.