Live from Nijmegen

I'm typing this post from the living room of our host, Henrita, here in Nijmegen. We're getting ready to have breakfast and head to the H. Maria Geboorte Kerk. After that, we'll eat lunch together and then head back to Amsterdam...

It's been a good weekend.

In many ways, you could say that we have spied the land and found it to be incredibly fruitful. Yesterday's conversations with other ministry leaders from around the city yielded very positive reports about the need for further ministry in Nijmegen -- at least 150,000 people, even in this more traditionally "religious" part of the Netherlands, who are outside the reach of one of the existing churches. One of the leaders (Diedrick Eikelboom, from the Evangelical Alliance of Nijmegen) said that there is especially a need in some large neighborhoods of the city and in populations such as the university students, the artistically-minded community, the nature lovers, and the sporters (which is cool, because Zolder50 seems to have a particular affinity for these areas of ministry). Our conversations with random strangers in the parks, pleins, and streets of Nijmegen were very interesting and provocative. Many people seem to want desperately to believe but find themselves shackled by doubt and dogma. And among those who choose to be open to spiritual things, there seems to be a definite hunger for the gospel.

But, to be sure, there are also some "giants" in the land and some fortified cities that could be challenging if a new church were to be started in Nijmegen. It sounds like New Age spirituality and Paganism have a very strong influence in the area; several individuals mentioned that Wicca is big here and that spiritual battle is a very real and present phenomenon. Entrenched models of ministry also seem to create challenges for reaching the average unbeliever, who assumes that church is something boring, hypocritical, and irrelevant. The area is definitely more Dutch-speaking than Amsterdam, and even Amsterdammers who would move to Nijmegen would be considered "allochtonen" (foreigners).

Nevertheless, the weekend has been very encouraging and stimulating. We want to continue to pray for God's guidance as we process our experiences from the last days. We want to hear God's voice clearly, and if God's voice is urging us to "take the land" then we want to respond not in fear but in faith -- like Caleb son of Jephunneh, who said, "we should go up and take posession of the land, for we can certainly do it" (Numbers 13:30).

We look forward to posting more reflections and photographs from the trip, as time goes on...