It has been a big change. Not only did we move from a quiet hometown to a never-quiet metropolis, but also from a really conservative, Christian hometown to a city where everything is possible. Another thing that differs greatly is church culture.
The Netherlands used to be a very Christian country. In the 1970s more than 60% of the people were connected to a church. Nowadays, less than 10% go to church every Sunday and this is decreasing rapidly. Churches are being closed almost every week. In our hometown more than 90% of the people used to attend church, but this is also becoming less and less.
Why on earth…?
In 2014 we were part of a group that planted a Reformed Baptist Church in our hometown. It was a shock for the community. In a population of almost 21,000 people we have more than 20 churches. Almost all of them are Reformed and there is one Pentecostal Church. So why on earth plant a Reformed Baptist Church in this place?
Urk (the name of our hometown) can be described as the most religious town in the Netherlands. Churches in our hometown have a very closed character and are almost all solely focused on themselves. Thank God that we see a certain shift in openness towards other believers, but this is only in the last few years.
In 2010 we came to a different view on baptism. Little did we know that this was just like a snowball effect. Every church practised paedobaptism, except the Pentecostal Church of course. There was no room for honest questions and at that time there was a big movement going on in our town. A lot of people began to question things in the church, looking for answers. But answers were not provided and the effect was that people left the church. A lot of them just stayed at home on Sundays because there was no other place to go.
A burden on our hearts
To cut a long story short, in 2012 my wife and I got baptised in an Independent Baptist Church in a city about eight miles away from our town. But the Lord began a special work in us. He laid a burden on our hearts for the people in our hometown who left the church, but had nowhere else to go. In the next two years this burden became heavier and heavier. We had yet to discover that we were not the only ones going through this process.
At the end of 2013 we came into contact with three other families in this Independent Baptist Church. The Lord had worked in all of our hearts independently, giving us a longing to plant a Baptist Church in our hometown. The next Monday evening the men came together to pray and this ushered in a year of prayer and study.
But we were young and inexperienced. We didn’t realise that in a different part of the Netherlands a Reformed Baptist Church had just been planted. The Lord guided us to older, more experienced brothers in the Lord from different places in the Netherlands. They took us by the hand, gave advice and were persevering in prayer for us. This led to the formation of a Reformed Baptist Church in our hometown with a focus on expository preaching.
Full at the first meeting
At the end of November 2014 the first service was held in the canteen of a sports hall. More than 300 people came and people had to leave because there was no space. The next week we had to go downstairs to the sports hall itself because of the number of visitors. The Lord was really working in the hearts of people.
The past years were really turbulent, but we saw people coming to faith through the hearing of God’s word. Others were built up and became strong and mature in the Lord. Looking back we can only say that the Lord was and is working. Glory be to Him!
Studying at London Seminary means being physically away from the congregation. But we keep praying. Together with Roelof Weerstand (a fellow student, a dear friend and also one of the planters) we meet daily to pray for our congregation. It is our desire that God’s name will be glorified through the congregation and that many people will be rooted in His word.
