The Volunteer Ministers’ Bright Yellow Tent in the Beautiful City of Antwerp

A center of trade and fashion, known as the diamond capital of the world, the city of Antwerp welcomed the Scientology Volunteer Ministers’ European Continental Cavalcade and the many services it offers to improve the quality of life.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers European Cavalcade set up its bright yellow pavilion in Antwerp in keeping with its mission to bring the unconditional help of the Volunteer Ministers to cultural capitals throughout its continental zone.

This city is a bustling port—as vibrant today as it was when its ornate baroque cathedrals were new. Explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries strolled down these streets as the works of Antwerp’s Peter Paul Rubens transformed what it meant to be an artist. 

Yet, as in any city in the 21st century, those living in Antwerp face new challenges to their happiness and peace of mind, making the skills of the Scientology Volunteer Minister as important here as they are anywhere else on Earth.

In the mid-1970s, in response to spiraling crime rates, corruption and other social ills, Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard launched the Volunteer Ministers movement with the motto that no matter how serious the problem, “something can be done about it.”

“If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it.” he wrote. “He can become a Volunteer Minister and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance.

“Briefly, a Volunteer Minister fulfills the definition of religion in this increasingly cynical and hopeless world.”

Inside the bright yellow tent, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers offer seminars and courses in the 19 subjects of The Scientology Handbook, including how to improve relationships, salvage marriages, free people from drug addiction, handle the ups and downs of life, improve one’s ability to study and to control his or her own destiny.

The tour was welcomed to the city by Dr. Chris Vonck, Founder and Secretary of World Congress of Faiths Belgium, Inc. (WCF) and rector of the Faculty for Comparative Study of Religions (FVG) in Wilrijk, Antwerp, explained that Scientology “stresses our own acts and the way to be ourselves.”

Professor Vonck then drew the parallel between the Scientology Volunteer Ministers and the beliefs of Christian theologian Emanuel Swedenborg who said, “Love is the center of our life. It delivers warmth and when it is not present we experience cold. When love is completely absent we die spiritually.”

He welcomed everyone to step into the bright yellow tent and witness for themselves how Scientology helps enrich life by providing the spiritual technology whereby one may transform his or her life.

The Church of Scientology Volunteers Minister program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s. Anyone of any culture or creed may train as a Volunteer Minister and use these tools to help their families and communities. The Church provides free online training on the Volunteer Ministers website.

Watch films based on the tools of the Volunteer Minister on the Scientology Network.