King, Queen celebrate church anniversary

Celebrations for the tenth anniversary of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands were celebrated by Koning Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima at the Fountain Church in Nijkerk on Monday. The church was first formed in 2004 from the Dutch Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The theme of the celebration was “Celebrate and Connect”, and marked by a service which treated the audience to two Biblical texts, a short film and music by Anita Meijer, musical star René van Kooten and Ernst Daniël Smid with his daughter Coosje. Although the Fountain Church is only three years old, Reverend Plaisier explained that it was deliberately chosen saying "the new building radiates out...we want to celebrate ten years of the Protestant Church rather than looking back to the past." In recent months the Protestant Church has aired criticism of King Willem-Alexander, saying that he talks little of God and religion. In a 1997 interview, King Willem-Alexander said, "I'm not very religious, but I am convinced believer."