Season’s Greetings from Amsterdam!  God has been so good to us, hasn’t he?  It’s hard to talk about the deep spiritual significance of Christmas without sounding like a holiday greeting card—but I do wish and hope for you at this time of the year that you could experience some sense of wonder at the miracle of our transcendent, omnipotent, eternal God choosing to take on the flesh-and-blood, mucous-and-sweat, frail-and-finite form of a human baby, able to catch colds and get fussy when hungry.  And He did it all to serve and save us!  The miracle of the Incarnation is indeed great…

Lately, our church has been trying to celebrate the Incarnation by really seeking to live out our role as the modern-day “Body of Christ” here in Amsterdam.  It's been over a year now, actually, that we’ve been focusing our attention on not just bringing people to our church (though of course we’re still doing this!)—but also bringing the church to the people, reaching out to friends, neighbors, and family members on their turf, in their various subcultures throughout the city.  It's been an encouraging year, but also a challenging one.  It feels like we've been doing a lot of tilling the soil, fertilizing the ground, sowing the seed—but not nearly as much harvesting of the crops (to borrow the analogy from Jesus from Mark 4 and Luke 10).  However, after much watching an waiting, it seems that several new initiatives have been springing up recently, in response to this past season of prayer and challenging each other to think creatively about how we incarnate ourselves (i.e. become the Body of Christ) within various segments of the population here in Amsterdam.

One guy from our home group has been sharing the gospel in internet chat rooms lately.  I know, I know… I would totally understand if you were skeptical about this kind of “cyber-evangelism” (I’ve had my own skepticism at times)—but it seems like it’s genuinely effective!  Our home group has prayed for some of the “regulars” in the various chat rooms, and a number have actually come to faith over the course of the last year!  It was particularly encouraging to read one e-mail report from awhile back when the guy from our home group proudly shared:  “One of the worst mockers I know online has come to faith! For over a year we have been discussing faith and the Bible with him and it seems that he has turned around. I was a bit skeptical and told him that, and he said he could understand that. God is good, prayers do work!”  I guess we could praise God for an ability to experience “digital incarnation!”  Please continue to pray and trust God for what He can do in these spheres of influence…

Another member of our home group has recently felt God’s leading and is actively praying and planning to launch a new fellowship of Spanish- and Portuguese-speakers.  As a native of Venezuela, he knows the language(s) and the culture(s)—and he knows dozens and dozens of Latinos living here in the city who would not naturally fit into the context of a Dutch church (or even a Dutch-and-English-speaking international community like Zolder50).  So he’s hoping to start using our church’s ministry facilities in the city center on Saturday nights and enjoy simple times of studying the Bible, worshipping, and praying together in Spanish and Portuguese.  Again, we don’t really know what God might do through an initiative like this, but we’re excited to consider the possibilities…

In one of the other home groups within Zolder50, there’s another guy who works in a youth hostel right in the heart of the city (which happens to be known for being one of the crazier establishments of Amsterdam)—and he’s recently been energized to share his faith more and more with the guests who pass through the hostel’s doors.  Over the past couple of weeks, especially, he’s been having some amazing spiritual conversations with people—and he’s recently felt compelled to spend the 23rd through the 26th of December fasting and praying for the city.  Again, there’s this sense of mystery and craziness about the ways that God has been leading in this particular environment—but again, we find ourselves praising God for His plans to allow the Gospel to be “made flesh” for young, traveling hippies passing through Amsterdam, and we’d greatly appreciate your prayers for this ministry opportunity…

And then there’s a young student at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), who’s recently felt burdened to pray for his university.  He recently sent an e-mail saying: “Lately God has been speaking to me about the University of Amsterdam, the school I attend as a student. He has been drawing me near to Him to start to pray for the school and its students and staff… The UvA it a spiritually dark place. I find its atmosphere oppressive and uncomfortable. There are no Christian initiatives I know of on campus… I take this call to pray serious. So I decided to start as He has asked me, but I realize I cannot do this alone. That's why I need your help… I would like to pray together with them and see what God wants to do…”  Specifically, this student has asked for us to pray for ”an opening at the UvA for the Gospel to come in; for people who are willing to pray; for (the University’s) spiritual walls of resistance and darkness to come crumbling down; for a spiritual revival amongst students, teachers and staff; for a complete change in the very atmosphere on the campus grounds; and for Truth in Jesus Christ to take a central place at the UvA again.”  So again, if you feel compelled to do so, please pray with us.

Your partnership with us in prayer and in financial support is a critical part of this whole work of practicing “incarnation” and demonstrating the Body of Christ to people in Amsterdam.  The needs in this city are great—but so is the God we serve.  Indeed, at this time of year, it is good to remember that He is the One who thought up this whole “incarnation” concept and demonstrated it for us.  All the best to “you and yours…”

Eric

P.S. – I always feel kind of awkward considering the idea of a “year-end appeal” to raise extra support for our ministry.  You guys already do so much, and we are so appreciative.  But since there are some incentives to give at this time of the year (tax deductions for 2008, Christmas bonuses, etc.), I will mention that if you’d like to help us out in any way, we’d truly appreciate it.  And if this is something you’d be interested in, you could just send in extra funds with your regular giving—or if you’ve never given before, you could find all the practical information that you would need at our Get Involved page.  In any event: Merry Christmas and thanks for everything!