This Friday, like every year, the festival site in Bidinghuizen will transform into the largest Christian campsite in the Netherlands. The Opwekking Pentecost Conference expects about 70,000 visitors this weekend, of whom 27,000 will stay overnight.
The festival expects an increase in the number of visitors compared to last year, but the provincial roads in the province are not very crowded yet. Only at the camping site itself do the biggest traffic jams begin to appear on Friday morning. “I’ve been trying to get to my place for an hour,” says one visitor, who doesn’t let that spoil the fun.
In the heavily trafficked stadium, many people are already busy setting up their camping ground. Many of them have a caravan, often with a children’s tent next to it, and the real fanatics only bring a tent.
“We can always see if we can fit more people,” joked a man building a tent much too big for two people. Later, there is also a joke about sleeping together: a group of friends have already built one tent, but their second tent is still flat on the ground despite their best efforts.
Controversy and trouble
Meeting fellow believers and singing together, but outside the walls of the church. This is what visitors from all over the world came for. “To be together without arguments or troubles,” says one of the men who came to Opwekking.
He admits that it is not that there is much controversy in the church. “But I come from Leerdam, and there are a lot of churches with a lot of opinions.” Here at Opwekking, these differences are a little less important.
Generation vs Defqon.1
Traditionally, the commemoration takes place during Pentecost, but in 2025 and 2028, the planning of the festival site in Bidinghuizen will be hindered. Then, Pentecost comes so late that Opwekking occurs at the same time as Defqon.1.
This means that the Pentecost Conference will be postponed by a few weeks and will be temporarily renamed the Ascension Conference. No problem, visitors say. “Then we’ll have a party like this!”
