Jan Willem Vink reports on the Christian music scene of The Netherlands

Evert continued: "Many bands lack vision, their only vision being their own family. When we receive demos from bands we try to be constructive with our advice, but a lot of it is simply trash. We sometimes get material from a person who can sing perfectly, but who could do a lot more musically. I would rather have him sing out of tune. It's nice, but dead. It's simply not ready for CD or tape. People want to record much too early."

The Netherlands has grown a lot concerning infrastructure and may take pride in programmes like Highlight, Spoor 7, a magazine like Bottomline, proper distribution and a concert circuit supporting a high number of visiting American artists. On the other hand, much attention should be paid to nurturing and guiding new talent; otherwise this small country's contribution to CCM will remain insignificant.
Jan Willem Vink

THE NETHERLANDS
Fact File
Geographic location: Western Europe
Land use: largely arable, 30% below sea level
Population: 14,500,000
Growth rate: 0.4%
Density: 354 people per sq mile
Capital city: the Hague Largest city: Amsterdam. Trend setting city for Europe.
Over half the population claim no religious affiliation.
Large 'drop out' population. Urbanisation - 88%
Ethnic groups: Dutch 87.1%, Frisian 4.1%, Ex-colonial 4.1%, Immigrants 4.6%
Official language: Dutch
Economy: strong industrial and trading economy. Member of EC.
Religion: Secular State
Christians 69% (39.2% Catholic, 28.7%
Protestant)
Non-religious 28%
Muslim 2.1%
Others 0.9%

There is complete freedom of religion, but there is also a strong and steady secularisation of society. Evangelical outreach is increasing.