Our home group is coming to a close this week.  In preparation for our church's transition to Communities, we're disbanding this fellowship -- with the members of our group poised to play key roles in initiating, establishing, or reinforcing multiple other Communities within Amsterdam50.  For the most part, we're pretty excited for what lies ahead.  But I'd also say that we're going through something of a grieving process, remembering all that God has done through the years in developing this little spiritual family.

It's been a good group.

We started with a random group of strangers, meeting up for a drink in the cafe on the Rozengracht and awkwardly getting to know one another.  Me and Marci, Jen and Jurren (although they weren't Jen-and-Jurren back in those days), Shawn, Sherry... maybe one or two others that I can't remember.  We didn't know exactly what to talk about, but we knew we eventually wanted to become a home group.  A couple of weeks later, I remember sharing my 26th birthday on the 26th of February, 2003 with the home group with our first evening meeting -- in the Leidsekade apartment where our family was staying at the time.  And since that time, we've spent many evenings -- and mornings and afternoons -- together with each other...

Over the years, our group grew and developed.  We eventually multiplied, and then multiplied again, and again -- with a total of four groups having descended from that original home group (though one of the four groups died and reabsorbed back into one of the other branches of the family tree).  The names of the people who've been involved along the way are many:  Renske, Nathalie, Mariska, Sander, Marco, Kor, Gerard, Jetske, Jens, Luka, Elisa, Sokol, Alex, Samuel, Melanie, Bram, Linda, Leslie, William, Robert, Christel, Christian, Mirjam, Guy, Becky, Geert Jan, Anne, Mourad, Lukas, Vera, Neil, Maria, Rosa, Ben, Saskia, Suzy, Meghan, Rada, Jeroen, Tanya, Chenther, Amarys, Fons, Tobias, Piotr, Martijn, Steven, Marcus... and this is by no means an exhaustive list!  Not only have people gone from our group(s) to help start other groups in Amsterdam -- but we've even sent out "missionaries" to Brussels and Southeast Asia!

I'd like to think that future generations will be blessed by the legacy of our home group(s) as well.  Certainly our children have been blessed by all the surrogate uncles and aunts.  And in addition to Elliot and Olivia and Cor,  there's been Selina and Selina, Jaydee, Lise, Daisy, and Eron... plus a number of other couples who have hooked up in the context of our group and could easily become their own families someday.  It's crazy to think of what all can come out of a home group!

Along the way, we've had some hard times.  I remember bringing flowers to Linda after her cat, Bagheera, died.  I remember counseling Jen and Jurren through a break-up and temporary home group reassignment (though they're back together again now).  I remember the time that some creepy guy kept calling up Renske in the middle of the night.  I remember more good-bye parties than I care to count.  I remember the feeling of defeat when the home group I was leading two years ago had to fold.  I remember the conversations that our group had about a year ago, when we realized that we were doing a pretty crappy job of listening to each other and really loving each other.

But, of course, we've had some good times, too.  I remember when Chenther and Steven helped to carry the unbelievably heavy granite slab that now serves as our kitchen counter (they always say that you know your true friends by the ones who'll show up to help you move!).  I remember when Jurren, Renske, Sokol, Leslie, Nathalie, Jeroen, Vera, and Maria were baptized.  I remember winning the "50 Cup," an absurd aluminum-foil trophy handed out for the winner of our church's summer speurtocht, for three years in a row!  I remember our children performing for the group before weekly Bible studies.  I remember special dinners together.  I remember countless birthday parties and a handful of weddings...

It's been a good run.  Not perfect.  But good.  We really did succeed in what we set out to do.  We succeeded in becoming a spiritual family that could grow and develop together through the years.

And now it's coming to an end.  Several of our group members have already left town for the holidays, and when we all come back for the new year, we'll be moving onto Communities.  It'll be odd, in some ways.  But I'm hoping and praying that what's yet to come will be more of the same -- and perhaps even better stuff down the road...

[In case you're interested (especially for those who have been a part of the home group at one point or another), you can find a small, random, retrospective collection of photographs in the Zolder50 Pictures section of this website.]