As i spent last week in Holland I got a glimpse, albeit small, of the ecclesiastical state of the city of Amsterdam.  It was interesting to enter a city in need of much missionary work from America, which in many ways is a spiritual daughter of Dutch Protestantism.  In the 16th century Amsterdam joined the rest of Holland in what turned out to be the 80 Years War with Spain.  In response to the religious intolerance had for its occupants, Amsterdam became a haven o frefuge for various sects of Prostestants escaping persecution from the Spanish Roman Catholic Church.

Our sister church, Zolder 50, has a mission to reach this post-Christian city.  There are now over 200 people attending the church, which now is mostly made of Dutch people.  There are Dutch leaders rising to the top under the leadership of Eric and Todd.  God is doing a very cool thing.

I also met a young guy named Henrick (who by the way got saved via the internet, a story for a later post)  who attends a new church called God’s Embassy which was started in Amsterdam a year ago and now has about 200 attenders.

I also met a guys who trains church planters in Holland while I was wheeling elderly people around Dam Square.

We also worked near the Red-Light District with YWAM at a place called The Cleft which reaches the homless, the druggies and the dealers who live in the area.

In combination we were told and we experenced the openness to spirtuality that the Dutch people have.  Conversations often lasted hours and involved specific details of our faith including doctrine of salvation and political outworkings of our beliefs.
All in all I really feel that Holland is in a position where God could really reinvent the spiritual climate of the city.  Workers are needed though because it is a place that spiritually has been dry for a long time.

In the meantime, pray for our friends at the Zolder that they would passionatly be on mission and that they would not sink into too much comfort of daily living.  Pray that they would be encouraged depsite the fact that with many, it will take a long time for spiritual seeds to grow.  Pray that more missionaries would rise up who have a passion for the city and patience for God to work there.

-By the way the church in the picture is Westerkirk which we walked to from the Zolder on our first day in Amsterdam.