DUTCH CHURCH PROTECTS ARMENIAN REFUGEE FAMILY FROM DEPORTATION WITH 96-DAY-LONG SERVICE
People are known to get together at church services. They occasionally support a community member who needs assistance. However, few initiatives are as distinctive as the Netherlands' Bethelkerk (Bethel Church). A family of refugees sought sanctuary at the Protestant temple to avoid deportation. Furthermore, the church continued the service for ninety-six days in a row to ensure their safety because it is illegal for the police to interrupt a church service to make an arrest.
The endearing endeavour happened in January 2019 and December 2018. In 2010, the Tamrazyan family left Armenia due to political prosecution and relocated to the Netherlands. Following a protracted procedure, the government rejected their last asylum request. Moreover, they moved forward even though three children qualified for amnesty because they had been in the nation for longer than five years.
The family first sought sanctuary in a Katwijk church as a last resort. With great pleasure, Bethel Church intervened when the temple ran out of resources to assist them. Apart from the service, they furnished the family with housing, psychological support, and in-home education for the kids, as they were unable to attend school.
They needed the generosity of 650 clerics from 20 different denominations in the Netherlands and surrounding nations to make the project succeed. The clergy, both male and female, would journey to The Hague's Bethel Church to succeed retiring priests. They occasionally stayed up late singing hymns and praying to ward off immigration officials. The police could enter and take the five family members into custody if any of them decided to take a break.
Fortunately, all turned out well in the end. Not only was the family granted permission to stay in the Netherlands after 96 days, but the endeavour also benefited additional individuals. "The church shelter was established to offer safety to a family that had run out of legal options and to find a solution for other families facing similar circumstances. The desired outcome has been reached, as more than 600 rooted children and their parents are now permitted to remain in the Netherlands, the church stated in a statement.
“The church has become a home,” said Hayarpi, the eldest daughter, upon the end of the weeks-long mass. “We have had sad but also very beautiful moments. The Bethelkerk is for me now a special building, but I am glad that I can get out of it and can continue to build on my future.”