De kerk in een seculiere maatschappij

Abstract

This article deals with the church (esp the Dutch Reformed Church) in the very secularised society in the Netherlands. While the church in the decades after World War Two aimed to transform the whole society it is now only a small minority that sometimes tries to live from past glory, but actually finds its way only with difficulty. The latter is especially the case because the impact of secularisation is in the hearts and heads of church members as well. They try to cope with this problem in several ways (liturgy, rationalism, fundamentalism, praise, organisation, customer relations) that finally do not help. The only way to cope with secularisation is to view the problems it evokes and in an attitude of prayer to return to “Scripture alone” – though this implies to be a community of aliens in the world. In the last paragraph tendencies in South-African society and churches are selected which promote secularisation.