A church in the Netherlands has kept a continuous service of worship going for over 12 weeks to protect a family of asylum seekers facing deportation.

The service at Bethel Church in the Hague began on October 26 and it was still going on as Life and Work went to press.

Under Dutch law, authorities cannot enter a place of worship while services are ongoing. The Armenian Tamrazyan family, who had a request for asylum initially granted and then overturned, has been sheltering in the church.

“The Protestant Church of The Hague respects court orders, but finds itself confronted with a dilemma: the choice between respecting the government and protecting the rights of a child,” says a statement on the church’s website. “The purpose of the church asylum is to create rest and safety for the family and to offer some respite to the family during which we invite politicians to discuss with us the family’s fate.”

The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) supported the action when two senior figures – Philip Vinod Peacock, executive secretary for justice and witness, and Hanns Lessing, executive secretary for communion and theology – worshipped with the church on Monday, December 17.

Lessing and Peacock offered “Our profound gratitude on behalf of the whole of the WCRC for the care that you give to the Tamrazyan family and the testimony that you give to the world. We are with you with our prayers and with our solidarity. Your witness is an encouragement for the many uprooted people in our Communion and for the many members of our churches that are working for a world in which migrants are safe and can live a life in dignity.” (WCRC)