After the Secession and the Doleantie, Aalten had several Protestant denominations alongside one another for many years. During the twentieth century, the Dutch Reformed congregation and the Reformed Church gradually moved closer together. In June 2006, they continued together as the Protestant Congregation of Aalten.
One Reformed Church from 1909
The two Reformed traditions that had emerged in Aalten from the nineteenth-century Secession and Doleantie were united on 1 January 1909 to form a single Reformed Church. The former Church A and Church B thereby joined together locally.
The new Reformed Church initially had the old Oosterkerk and Westerkerk at its disposal. A larger Oosterkerk opened in 1913. In 1965, the Zuiderkerk was added.
Dutch Reformed and Reformed
Alongside the Reformed Church, the Dutch Reformed congregation of Aalten continued to exist, with the Old St Helen’s Church as its principal church building. For a long time, the division between Dutch Reformed and Reformed was not merely ecclesiastical; it also affected associations, education and wider social life.
From the 1970s onwards, the two denominations began to draw closer. This reflected the national Together on the Way process, in which Dutch Reformed and Reformed churches in the Netherlands increasingly co-operated. In Aalten, this led to closer contacts, joint activities and eventually discussions about full union.
Protestant Congregation of Aalten
In 2004, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church merged nationally to form the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. In Aalten, the local union followed two years later.
In June 2006, the Dutch Reformed congregation of Aalten and the Reformed Church of Aalten merged to form the Protestant Congregation of Aalten. Two ecclesiastical traditions that had diverged in the nineteenth century were thus reunited within a single local congregation.
The new congregation continued to use several church buildings, including the Old St Helen’s Church, Oosterkerk and Zuiderkerk. The individual histories and later uses of those buildings are described in their own Place profiles.