The English Reformed Church
Share Our Page
Our Congregation
The English Reformed Church is home to people from 25 nations and 20 denominations who wish to worship in English in Amsterdam.
Our 15th century building is well known, as is the congregation. There is a weekly mid-week service in Dutch for office workers and visitors.
We have a broad range of worshippers, from many countries and backgrounds, business-men, professors and lawyers, refugees and students, professional musicians. Some people have been in the congregation all their lives, others came as adults to study or work.
We welcome children to our services, and provide facilities for babies during the service.
Our congregation has flourished over the years, keeping English worship in the heart of Amsterdam since 1607, except for a short period during the Second World War. We are the oldest English language congregation outside the Great Britain.
.
The English Reformed Church was set up under Reformed Church in the Netherlands, always with English and Scottish ministers. In the middle of the 18th century the congregation established strong ties with Scotland, and since then the Minister of the English Reformed Church has always come from Scotland.
The congregation is now fully a part of the Church of Scotland and worship in the Church follows the patterns of the Church of Scotland, Presbyterian.
Music is important in our worship. As well as our own Choir we often have the participation of singers and instrumentalists contributing to our worship. There are approximately 100 concerts a year in the church by amateur and professional musicians.
Mission is always part of the life of the Church, and we encourage our members to see that their life and work can be part of their share in mission.
The History of our Church Building
The first Church building in the Begijnhof, a courtyard of houses surrounding a garden, provided a Chapel and place of worship for the lay community of Beguines which lay on the edge of Amsterdam in the 14th century, before 1392.
This Church, along with most of the Begijnhof and a significant proportion of Amsterdam, was burnt down in the fire of 1421.
The stone tower from the original church was incorporated into a new stone building erected at the end of the 15th century.
During the Reformation the Begijnhof Church was closed when only Reformed worship was permitted by the Town Council.
The building lay unused for some time, except as a storehouse and washplace for the Begijnhof. In 1607 English-speaking worshippers in Amsterdam petitioned for a place in which to worship and the Town Council decided to give them use of the redundant building in the Begijnhof.
The building was extended in the latter part of the seventeenth century, officially became the property of the congregation in 1812, and was extensively restored by the congregation and the Association of Friends in the 1970's.
Update This Web Page
Take control of the web page by creating a user account now and using the CHURCH ID and PASSWORD assigned to you at the time the website was created to associate your web page with your new user account. If you have an existing user account, sign in and add the site to your account dashboard.
I Don't Remember Our ID/Password?
If you don't have the ID/Password combination for this page, please type the code '' below to have it sent to the e-mail address on file.
Map & Directions
Page Seen: 6,950 times