My Experiences with the Church

During my time in The Netherlands I have had the chance to attend a total of 3 different churches thus far. The day after I arrived I wanted to go to a church so I went to a Reformed Church near my Tante Gree's house. The experience definitely was a good representation of my experiences of the churches here during my past visits. The building was beautiful in appearance but with many empty pews. The mood was rather somber and the hymns were so long and slow. The pastor's sermon felt long and dry, without many personal stories or application points. Now, I am probably being over-critical, especially considering the fact that many of the Dutch words concerning the Bible and faith are hard for me to understand (we mostly read from the English Bible while growing up at home) but I must say, I wasn't too surprised by what I encountered. The following Sunday I found myself in Amsterdam, heading to a church called the Zolder (the Attic, check out their website at www.amsterdam50.nl) with a group of staff members and guests from the hostel. As we stepped into the building we had to walk up a very long, steep, and narrow flight of stairs to get to the attic - this is where the church meets! Here I found a packed room of young people - ready and excited to worship the Lord:

Conveniently the service was held in English, with the hope of welcoming the widest group of people in Amsterdam as possible. How encouraging it was to see a thriving church in a city that is known to be so "dark". Currently the church is looking for a new building because with already 2 services on Sunday there is not enough space in the attic any longer! My third experience of a church here happened when I visited Jim and Dar, missionaries in the city. They are active members at the Hilversum International Christian Center (www.hicc.nl) - a church that was started not too long ago and is being richly blessed by the Lord. This budding church was full of very welcoming young families, students, and older folk. Once again, it was so exciting to personally witness that the Lord is alive and well and actively at work in the lives of many in Holland - as He is all over the world. This Sunday I will yet again visit another church and I look forward to adding another experience to the list. It is a blessing to experience a little more of the church universal - especially knowing that it is not the building that makes a good church (although there are MANY beautiful church buildings here), rather it's the presence of the Lord and His grace in the lives of the people who gather together.