A perpetual church service to protect 5 immigrants from the Dutch police

Patrick Kingsley, The New York Times, 12.10.18:

Under an obscure Dutch law, the police may not disrupt a church service to make an arrest. And so for the past six weeks, immigration officials have been unable to enter Bethel Church to seize the five members of the Tamrazyan family, Armenian refugees who fled to the sanctuary to escape a deportation order.

The service, which began in late October as a little-noticed, last-gasp measure by a small group of local ministers, is now a national movement, attracting clergy members and congregants from villages and cities across the Netherlands. More than 550 pastors from about 20 denominations have rotated through Bethel Church, a nonstop service all in the name of protecting one vulnerable family.

“It’s about practicing what we preach,” said Ms. van der Vaart, as she and Ms. Israel sped down Holland’s A4 highway toward the church.

At a moment when Christianity’s relevance in Europe is waning — and when xenophobia and nationalism are rising — the Bethel service has also been a reminder of the influence that religious institutions can still exert in a largely secular Western Europe. The pastors have given protection to the Tamrazyan family; the family has given them a cause to show the power of their faith. [...]

Initially, the nonstop services were run by a core group of around a dozen pastors. Some of them pulled all-nighters on their own, including Mr. Stegeman and his wife. But a few days into the process, the leadership of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands endorsed the service and used its newsletter to encourage other congregations to participate.

Soon it became hard to fit all the volunteers into the schedule.

“It’s amazing,” said Mr. Stegeman. “From all over our country people are coming, from the north to the very south, west and east.”

Some preachers simply reuse services and sermons they gave at other churches. But others have used the opportunity to try something new, turning the church into a kind of greenhouse for liturgical experiments.