“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence

of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will

also be qualified to teach others.”

(1 Corinthians 11:1 and 2 Timothy 2:2)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  It's been longer than I would have liked since our last prayer letter (back in early December)... But please know that my lack of communication is certainly not for a lack of things to write about!  The past three weekends, in particular, have been filled with strategic ministry opportunities -- opportunities to think, talk, listen, and pray about the mission that God has given us to “make disciples” here in Amsterdam.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of traveling to the Dutch countryside with a group of 24 of the home group leaders from Zolder50 for our semi-annual Home Group Leaders Retreat.  Over the weekend, we focused on equipping our home group leaders for effective conflict management -- which proved to be both intellectually-stimulating and instantly-applicable to our personal lives and our various home groups... not to mention the fact that it was just plain fun to be able to learn together with a quality group of people!  I got some great pictures over the weekend, too, that you can view here.

Two weekends ago, our Servant Leadership Council (basically our church's expression of the “deacons/deaconesses” we read about in 1 Timothy 3) spent two days together critically evaluating the past, present, and future of our ministry in Amsterdam.  We tried to stimulate ourselves to “think outside the box” and brainstorm creative solutions to the challenges that face our church as we continually seek to know Jesus, become like Jesus, and make Jesus known throughout Amsterdam.  Though the dialogue is still ongoing (to be continued in our regular monthly get-togethers), it's so encouraging to have a group of other mature, committed, international Christian leaders who can help to make decisions and carry the practical burdens for day-to-day leadership of the church.  If you would, please pray for God to continue speaking to the members of our Servant Leadership Council -- Linda, Jannie, Jen, Jurren, Marc, Michaël, Neil, Patricia, and Will -- as we continue this conversation over the coming months.

And then three weekends ago, we had our monthly Soul Gathering (“members” meeting), and we spent the evening reflecting on everything that God had done in 2008 and then also looking ahead to 2009 and setting some goals for ourselves.  As we thought about it, we realized that God has done a lot over the course of the last year!  In 2008:

• We celebrated the 5-year anniversary of our church, Zolder50.
• We fostered the growth, development, and establishment of two church communities here in the center of Amsterdam.  Though we didn't know exactly what to expect when we took this step at the end of 2007, the transition ended up being remarkably smooth and encouraging, and it seems to have accomplished much of what we hoped for— deeper relationships and room for growth in each of the church communities as well as more focus on home groups and outreach.
• More Europeans took on roles such as Home Group Leaders and members of our Servant-Leadership Council.  It's a dream-come-true to see increased (and continually-increasing) ownership among these young people…
• The church grew in enthusiasm and ability to share our faith in Christ with our friends and neighbors.  We celebrated seven baptisms.  And in November, we hosted a conference that further equipped and inspired many in our church to commit their lives to following Christ and making disciples.
• We expanded to nine Home Groups (“spiritual families” of 5-15 people), and our network of Life Groups (small groups of 2-4 people who meet weekly to read the Bible, confess sin, and pray together for their friends and neighbors) has grown to at least 23 groups (though we're starting to lose count!)!
• We offered six seminars focused on establishing greater health and wholeness among the church. Topics covered included Listening, Speaking the Truth in Love, Renewing the Mind (in God’s Truth), Embracing God’s Grace (Healing Prayer), Outflow (Evangelism), and Finding Your Gift Path.

Indeed, God has done a lot in us and through us over the course of the last year!  For the coming year, we're keeping our focus very basic—making our goal to simply multiply through discipleship.  We want to deliberately live according to the verses listed at the beginning of this letter:  1 Corinthians 11:1 (1C11:1) and 2 Timothy 2:2 (2T2:2).  Thus, as a church and as individuals, we’re striving to live out our faith in a way that will set an example for the city, in effect saying, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”  You see, not only do we want to “make disciples” -- but we want to allow for the “disciples” to also become “disciple-makers!”  We're praying for God to move powerfully through this simple everyday, every-person commitment to 1C11:1 and 2T2:2... And if you could pray with us in this regard, we would be very grateful for the support.

On the more personal level, our family was just reflecting on the fact that as of January 2009, we have been involved in full-time, support-based ministry for ten whole years!  And if that wasn't crazy enough, January of 2009 also marked the six-year anniversary of our move to Amsterdam!  It's still hard for me to believe that I've been doing any kind of career (post-college) for a whole decade -- but especially a career in ministry.  And to think that over half of that has been in Europe!  Amazing... If you're interested, you could read my reflections here.  But more than anything else, I just wanted to thank you for your part in making it all possible!  So many of you have been so incredibly faithful to our family and our ministry for so long… We really see your partnership as a gift from God!  We hope that you are as encouraged by everything going on here in Amsterdam as we are, and we pray that God will bless you for everything that you’ve done to bless us and our ministry here in the Netherlands… Tot volgende keer…

Eric