The claims Young people
Does Go Church target children and minors, as the VRT documentary claims?
Go Church told VRT in writing that it does not specifically target minors, that a pastoral visit to a member under 18 needs the parents’ consent, and that every church activity is voluntary. VRT had that answer before the broadcast and aired none of it.
What the documentary said
they are breaking children
Ze maken kinderen kapot.
How did you come into contact with it? Through my students, actually. Some start as early as 12 or 13 years old, just new in secondary school. What exactly was being said in your classroom? Pushing to come to church every single time.
Hoe ben jij ermee in aanraking gekomen? - Door mijn leerlingen. Bij sommige begint het vanaf twaalf, dertien jaar. Net nieuw in het middelbaar. - Wat werd er verteld in jouw klas? Het pushen om elk keer naar de kerk te komen.
we see no parents
Ouders zien we niet.
a Bible-class leader teaches 14-16-year-olds; a girl “turning 14” came alone
Hoe oud zijn de gasten die bij jou zitten? Vijftien, zestien, veertien. … En hoe oud ben jij? - Ik word veertien.
At the end of the service came the message: many are called, but the youth are chosen. … We are young people, and they can also do their bit for the church.
Ik was als eindtwintiger veruit de oudste. Op het einde van de dienst kwam er de boodschap: Velen worden geroepen, maar de jeugd is uitverkoren. We zijn jonge mensen. En die kunnen ook hun steentje aan de kerk bijdragen.
taken to a separate room in the church. They have to enter their address and phone number on a smartphone. Including minors.
Hij en andere nieuwkomers worden in de kerk naar een aparte kamer gebracht. Op een smartphone moeten ze hun adres en telefoonnummer intikken, ook de minderjarigen.
Watch VRT at this point · VRT NWS Pano2:49 (opens the recording on YouTube at 2:49)
Go Church’s written answer
“No. Go Church Belgium is open to people of all ages and does not specifically target minors in its outreach.” “Members’ addresses are requested to allow pastoral visits, which take place with their consent. Where a member is a minor, parental consent is required for such visits.” “All church activities are voluntary … There is no obligation to attend every activity. Participation must take account of personal circumstances such as age, education, rest and wellbeing.” “Our approach to parental involvement and the protection of minors is governed by the attached safeguarding policy.”
Go Church written reply to VRT, published on vrtnws.be, 21 Oct 2026 (English translation of the Dutch). VRT broadcast one sentence of the reply. Read the full reply in Dutch and English.
What the film left out
Teenagers do come to Go Church, some without their parents, and VRT filmed them. It could film them because a De Morgen reporter in his late twenties, by his own account “veruit de oudste” (by far the oldest), joined youth services in Merksem, Leuven and Ghent wearing a hidden camera. VRT blurred the faces of the people it filmed.
The film’s opening charge, “they are breaking children”, comes from a religion teacher who stays anonymous. VRT says the whole investigation began with her TikTok post asking Antwerp’s young people to send Pano anything they thought should be investigated. Asked how she knew about Go Church, she answered: “Door mijn leerlingen” (through my pupils). She gives no case, no date and no number.
“Many are called, but the youth are chosen” is a sign-off said after the blessing at the close of church services in Accra, a play on Jesus’ words in Matthew 22:14, “many are called, but few are chosen”. VRT’s own subtitle places it “op het einde van de dienst” (at the end of the service). It appears in none of the 105 of Bishop Dag Heward-Mills’s books searched for it, and no recording in the archive shows him saying it.
With its reply Go Church sent VRT its safeguarding policy and its standards for children’s and youth ministry, both dated January 2026. VRT noted they were “nergens publiek beschikbaar” (not publicly available anywhere) and linked both from its own site. The youth standards say private communication “must never involve encouraging secrecy from parents”, and that for camps and overnights “The lead organizer and parents must be informed beforehand.”
The record: his own words, across the years
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2025
Accra, Ghana, Teaching to young people on Ephesians 6
Teaching a young audience, he starts with the first lesson of Ephesians 6.
…for this is right. This is the right. If ever you are looking for the right thing, the right thing is to obey your parents. … So the first lesson from Ephesians is children obey your parents.
Watch · Accra, Ghana, 202511:40 to 12:35 (opens the recording on YouTube at 11:40)
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2025
Accra, Ghana, Teaching to young people on Ephesians 6
Then he gives his own wife as the example: her father chose her career, and she obeyed.
My wife wanted to be a secretary. That was her vision. … And her father told her that you will be a lawyer. You have to do law. … But the father said you will do law. And that is what she did.
Watch · Accra, Ghana, 202512:44 to 13:07 (opens the recording on YouTube at 12:44)
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2026
Singapore, Guest sermon at City Harvest Church
A doctor remembers what his own mother did for him as a sick child.
I was talking to my mother. I was working in a hospital then and I told her, “Mommy, this hospital I went to very dirty, horrible. I could I couldn’t stand the place. Terrible.” You know what my mother told me? She said, “Really? Really?” I said, “Yeah, really, really horrible.” She said, “I slept in that place. It was a pediatric ward for children.” She told me I slept there with you many nights. I slept in that particular hospital in that particular ward. I never knew that my mother did that. And I never even knew that I was sick. I thought I always I was always well. You see that’s why the Bible says honor your father. Honor your mother because you don’t know what your father has done. You don’t know the real things behind the scene. What your mother did, what your father did for you.
Watch · Singapore, 202659:32 to 1:00:26 (opens the recording on YouTube at 59:32)
The scripture
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
The disciples tried to keep children away from Jesus, and Jesus rebuked the disciples, not the children. Young people drawn to Christ are welcome.
in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions … And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them.
At twelve, Jesus stayed behind in the temple without his parents. The same Gospel says he then went home and obeyed them. A young person drawn to God’s house is no scandal, and honouring parents is part of the same faith.
The verdict
VRT filmed teenagers at church and told viewers they were being manipulated. The church’s written answer on minors, consent and parents reached VRT two days before the broadcast and never reached the screen.
Questions people ask
Why did Go Church ask newcomers for their address and phone number?
Go Church told VRT that members’ addresses are requested to allow pastoral visits, which take place only with consent. Where the member is a minor, the parents must consent to such visits.
What does “many are called, but the youth are chosen” mean?
It is a closing line said after the blessing at church services in Accra, a play on Matthew 22:14. VRT’s own subtitle says it came at the end of the service, and it appears in none of the 105 of his books searched for it.
Who is the religion teacher in the VRT documentary?
VRT keeps her anonymous and shows only her legs and back. She is not a member, and she says she knows about Go Church through her pupils.