Tomorrow I will teach on the national day of the Flemish prayer network in Belgium. Pray for a prophetic anointing for all that attend. May the Lord pour out His Spirit on the Church in Belgium to take her stand in the nation. I plan to have dinner with Albert Walsweer and Patrick & Angelina Scholman of DAWN Flanders.

The Dutch website netschaap.nl (netsheep) will be sued by Netscape. I wonder what sheep have to do with searching the web. BTW, check out this funny picture.

Shakings

Talked to my sister on the phone yesterday about the shakings that are going on in her life. In May 2000 her house was destroyed in the Enschede firework explosion. In January 2001 her former house (where she used to live before she moved) burnt down. Last week a heavy fire burnt down the university building where she works, causing a 50 million euro damage. One thing she discovered in all this is that God is in control and carries her through, preparing her for something better, a Kingdom purpose.

I had a good time in Prague. On Friday afternoon I met up with Martina Vrskova from Prague and Vit & Lucie Skala from the prayer house in Senozaty to talk about prayer developments in the Czech Republic. In the evening we had a pizza party in The Giant Peach, the Jones' place. Andrew, Debbie and their five kids live a lifestyle of hospitality, which is a blessing to many.

House church in Prague

On Saturday and Sunday the European House Church Consultation was held in a cosy restaurant with fireplace. The Church meets when it eats, so we ate and drank all day, enjoyed the fellowship with participants from 11 European nations (including Serbia and Albania), prayed and prophesied over each other, and rejoiced about what God is doing all over Europe. On the picture me, Bernard and Herman tasting the excellent Czech pivo. Cheers!

Wolf Simson (picture) started off with a speech about the NATO and the transformation of society. A few quotes:

"The NATO was founded to keep the Americans in, the Russians out and the Germans down. But a more powerful organisation is the KATO: the Kingdom Advance Treaty Organisation, whose purpose is to keep God in and the devil out."

"We spend more money than we have because we sin more than we should. Racism exists because we don't know our identity in God, hopelessness leads to all kinds of substitutions and addictions, individualism increases our costs of living, crime increases because governments don't deal with the root of the problem, etc. It would make a BIG difference if we would start hearing from God again. In the Bible good governments partnered with the prophets of the day. The Church has to earn its way back to the positions of influence. Changed hearts leads to changed people, leads to changed nations."

After that we heard several national reports. In the afternoon the Germans led us in an 'open space' session where severel relevant topics could be discussed. In the evening Henk Vink did a practical session on inner healing. According to Bernard Hardick we are moving from the information age to the age of health. Healing will be an important key for the Church to impact society. Like in Luke 10: first heal the people, then explain that the Kingdom has come.

Coffee, cheese and windmills

On Sunday we started again with several national reports. I suggested that Holland might be at the beginning of it's third reformation. The first reformation came in the 7th century when the Celtic missionaries brought us the gospel. The first two things they did was establish a house of prayer and start a training centre for young missionaries. So the prophetic and apostolic have been in the foundations of Christianity in our nation. The second reformation was the protestant Reformation of the 16th century, when the Dutchies cast off the Spanish catholic yoke. During this struggle many met in houses and gathered secretly for so called 'bush sermons'. Something George W. would have liked I guess, although the house church movement has more in common with Al-Q than with the NATO. We also have our own Bin-Simson. ;-) The third reformation, taking place in the 21st century, might be two-fold, like the birth of a twin: one is the prayer movement and the other the rise of organic (flexible and relational) Church.

In Holland the house church movement is still young. In the Spring of 2000 a network was launched to serve house churches in the Netherlands. The website is called 'In the Houses' and serves about 40 house churches and 300 interested people. The network organises seminars and conferences once or twice a year. The 'network team' of regional facilitators meets four times a year for encouragement and to pray and talk about development of the movement. In order to have a living community of Christians within the reach of every Dutchman, 500,000 churches would have to be planted, so there's still some work to be done...

What can Holland offer Europe? Three things: coffee, cheese and windmills.
a. Coffee: Holland has a coffee culture in which house churches can thrive. The stronger the coffee, the stronger the house church.
b. Cheese: if you make a picture of your house church, ask the people to say 'Dutch cheese' instead of just 'cheese'. You will get a better picture.
c. Windmills: they catch the wind of the Spirit and then start working. It's the Dutch version of 'hearing prophetically and acting apostolically'. The Dutch are prophetic people and can help other nations discover and develop a prophetic sense of identity and calling.

What does Holland need? In the first place: prayer that the young people in our nation will be freed from control in any form and run with the vision to disciple their generation. Secondly we need to be part of a European community of friends, and want to receive their input in our nation. For the occasion I borrowed Andrew's retro hat, how about that?

Changing a light bulb

Sunday afternoon Svend Matsen from Denmark gave a challenging testimony on house churches and sharing the gospel. Authenticity and a pro-active lifestyle are keys. Andrew Jones introduced a new code word for the house church movement: THIS. Say it while moving your hand upwards with your fingers close to each other, as if you want to change a light bulb.

BTW, how many house church people does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: between 3 and 20 people, dependent on the size of the living room. Because they are not an organisation or a program, they first build a relationship with the light bulb. If the light bulb turns out to be old and obsolete, they ask God to shake it and (if at all possible) reform it's structure. If the light bulb is relatively new, they take it out of the fitting for some time (one month for every year the bulb has been in the fitting), pray for inner healing, and then prophesy it in place, after which the bulb spontaneously starts to multiply. ;-)

In the evening and on Sunday I had a meeting with the DAWN Europe team (see picture below). The role of this team is to monitor and encourage churchplanting developments in Europe. Svend (left on the picture) announced that he will leave the team and Oivind Augland from Norway (right) will join. Svend is a journalist for an evangelical weekly called 'Udfordringen' (Challenge) and the facilitator of the Danish house church movement. Oivind is leading the DAWN network in Norway and helps the development of DAWN in the nordic nations.

The main things we talked about is a Europe-wide research on churchplanting that Andreas Wolff and Dominique Pfeiffer from Germany will work on, and the preparation of the upcoming DAWN Europe Consultation in Switzerland (planned for 1-5 February).

On Monday night we strolled through foggy and beautifully lit Prague. The atmosphere was like the fairy-tale drawings of Anton Pieck, combined with the spookiness of Kafka. We had dinner in Slavia, the cafe where Vaclav Havel and his group of intellectuals met in the communist times.

What Would Jesus Drive?

What Would Jesus Drive? The Evangelical Environmental Network & Creation Care Magazine started this national discussion in the USA, because they consider transportation a moral issue. At the same time Chevrolet, a division of General Motors, sponsors a worship tour with Steven Curtis Chapman. "Lord, we offer you our worship, sponsored by Chevrolet." Of course Jesus wouldn't drive a gas-guzzling Chevy. What then would he drive? You can't drive a donkey. And only in Acts 2 the car pool was invented, where the disciples apparently managed to get to the first Pentecost in one Accord. Personally I would prefer Air Philippus: God is moving His people around from one place to the other in just a few seconds. No cars, no pollution.

I'm back in town. Will report on Prague later.

Tomorrow until Tuesday morning I will be in Prague for three meetings:

- a small get-together with emerging prayer leaders in the Czech republic, a follow-up of the Herrnhut event;
- the European House Church Consultation, where we will bring together national facilitators and emerging fivefold ministry teams from several nations to learn from each other;
- a strategy meeting with the DAWN Europe team.

Because of the NATO Summit security will be high. Will keep you updated through my blog.

Gsus is the name of a Netherlands-based, internationally fast-hyping youth fashion brand, symbolizing global individuality with a religious and provocating touch. Their logo is Jesus' thorn crown. But there's more to it than just a pragmatic association with Jesus. The people who started Gsus launched their company on Friday the 13th and named it Gsus Sinindustries. The clothing line carries texts like 'Miss Wet T-shirt Contest', 'Pimp the Clown', 'Sextourist', 'Rock Slut' and 'Gsubelle' (Jezebel). Young Christians in the Netherlands started a counter offensive and spread provocative posters with texts like 'Will you help GsusSindustries make money out of someone's death?' and 'Can you carry His pain? I can't'

The Canadian Mennonites started a national initiative called 'Buy Nothing Christmas'. "This Christmas we'll be swamped with offers, ads and invitations to buy more stuff. But now there's a way to say enough and join a movement dedicated to reviving the original meaning of Christmas giving."

Also check out the funny story Jesus Shops for Sandals.

The European House Church Consultation in Prague (22-24 Nov) is preceded by the NATO Summit (21-22 Nov). "Our appreciation to the Nato security team who have done a spectacular job of making our city safe from terrorism for the duration of our European House Church Consultation," reports Andrew Jones, one of the facillitators. Because the NATO Summit website did not have a blog site, Andrew took the liberty of appointing himself blogmaster for the Praha NATO Summit 2002.

I renewed our page on churchplanting in youth culture and put up a temporary website for DAWN Netherlands. The Dutch DAWN Committee ceased to exist, but the vision for saturation churchplanting is still alive and even growing.

Paul and Coby Doth and Doug Norwood of Broken Jars paid me a visit. It was good to share hearts and discuss the process towards transformation in Suriname, the Netherlands and other places. I was interested to hear that they have a Moravian background and visited Herrnhut last year. Doug said: "The Moravian well is still there, but do we drink from the water of do we worship the well and build a shrine around it? Do we live out of our inheritance of do we preserve a heritage?" Well, that's good food for thought.

Also check out the 'Nickerie Experience': how Suriname's most demon-possessed city is impacted by a genuine outpouring of the Holy Spirit, resulting from prayer and unity, and leading to missions. That's the Moravian inheritance at work.

A cosy picture of the Van der Woude brothers, who didn't bother at all about the arrival of Santa Claus last Saturday. They went to bed without strategically positioning their shoes at the front door.

For the non-Dutchies: the Dutch Santa Claus is quite different from the American one. He arrives halfway November by steamship from Spain and doesn't stay till Christmas, but leaves on 6 December. Instead of a reindeer sleigh he rides a white horse and brings with him thousands of black slaves called 'Black Petes' (he's not politically correct, really). Another difference is that the Dutch Santa is catholic, more specifically a bishop, while the American one is... well, he could be late John Wimber's brother, only less charismatic because people don't get healed on his lap. The only thing the two Santa's have in common is that they bring PRESENTS. So the most pragmatic thing you can do is put you faith in TWO Santa's: believe in the Dutch one from half November until 6 December, and in the American one from 6 until 26 December.

Talked to Anneli Portman on the phone, who just returned from the International Prayer Leaders Consultation in South Africa. The vision behind this consultation is to form a worldwide prayer network linking six continents. Big Brother is praying for you. ;-)

Today I will publish two prophecies in the Dutch edition of Joel News. They come close to a story I read this morning in Charisma News Service:

Members of a small church in a Tennessee community are thanking God for sparing the congregation from a tornado that killed seven people this weekend. According to "The Nashville Tennessean," about 70 members of New Life Apostolic Church in Mossy Grove -- a hamlet 40 miles west of Knoxville -- were at a Sunday evening service when they heard the sound of a tornado rumbling straight for the 2-year-old church. In seconds, the steel roof of the church began to vibrate, ceiling tiles rippled, walls shook, and the lights went out. People wailed and screamed as they shoved their children under the newly installed pews. Pastor Anthony Pemberton recalls telling the congregation, "You better start worshiping the Lord now."

In the darkness, they praised Jesus, the "Tennessean" reported. "We were pleading and begging for God's mercy - loving Him, worshiping Him, begging for forgiveness," member Debbie Wyatt said. Even though the building was practically ruined from the twister, everyone in the church escaped unscathed. "That we had a tornado and nobody got hurt was amazing, a blessing," member Faith Steinmetz said. Pemberton added: "Time to give thanks." Within 100 yards of the church, five neighbors were killed. The tornado was one of 88 powerful storms that killed at least 36 in five states over the weekend.

The prophetic meaning of this is that God will shake the Church, and as a result man-made structures and religion will be ruined, while the real Church (the people who know Jesus and call on Him) will be saved. Are you ready?

A few pictures of churches ruined by tornado's: bigriversredcross | churchofthenazarene | oglalasd | episcopalchurch | unitedmethodistchurch | stbonifacecatholicchurch | stjohnlutheranchurch | stpetercatholicchurch

Jesus was dangerous for demons, religious people and systems, sickness and death. How dangerous are you? More provoking questions and Simsonian remarks at Ronald's weblog.

This afternoon I took part in a meeting on reaching muslims through the internet. Key aspects are prayer and churchplanting. Because it's a 'hidden project', I can't tell much more about it.

Andrew renewed our Kingdomspace group weblog.

God is using kitchens. 'Fellowship Bread' for the ladies in Australia and 'Kitchen Table Training' for men in Russia. More at Tallskinnykiwi.

Here's a sign of life after four intense days.

On Thursday I met with the Soul Survivor crew, as part of the Advisory Board. Together with Mike Pilavachi and Paul Donders my role is to help the movement reflect on itself. We had good fun. The main topic was churchplanting. A hot topic, because over the last few years both church leaders and young people have been hesitant to launch out in this area. But in the meantime more and more young people leave church and the church is becoming more and more irrelevant. So I believe it's time to release this generation. GO!

Friday to Sunday Wolfgang Simson was over for three seminar days on citychurch and housechurch. His input was inspiring and intense. Need some time to process it. His basic message was that we have to die to self and let Jesus build his Church (not: let us build Jesus' church or let Jesus build our church).

Mailed with André Rouvoet, the new political leader of the Christian Union. It's interesting that several people received assignments from the Lord to pray for him. Already before the May elections some received a clear prophetic word from God that he would be the new man. "Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." (Amos 3,7)

Talked with Marcel van der Mooren on the phone. He is the publisher of a lifestyle magazine called JOY! It's targeting people who don't know God with the joy of living and knowing God. And it works: people hunger for spirituality, and an authentic Christian lifestyle (with both legs in the world) is attractive. In one of the next editions of JOY! they will publish the transformation story of Almolonga (the village with the big carrots and cucumbers).

'Joris the Mouse' is a new prayer movement for (Dutch) kids. Already more than thousand kids receive the monthly prayer letter. A mouse has big ears, so probably he will hear a lot from God. ;-)

My sister sent me the first concept of a book she's writing on the firework disaster in Enschede of 13 May 2000. A firework plant exploded and destroyed a whole neighborhood. She lost her house and most of her belongings, and just managed to get out of the area in time.

TheOOZE has a new design. Need a pair of sunglasses to surf the site.

This morning during coffee time our office team (Arend, Rob and myself) brainstormed how a political party for the transformation of Holland would look like. We compiled a program that wouldn't do bad in the coming elections. Our 'government of 12' would of course have a Minister of Prayer. We will replace half of the police department with full time prayer evangelists that will be assigned to specific crime areas. We believe that if we target crime at the root level, the crime rate will decrease to 50% in four years time. The Hague, here we come!

With the core team of 'Luke 10', a training for house church planters, we evaluated last Spring's pilot course. The main improvement: it should be more practical. I guess this is true for most courses in Church... Jesus did it quite differently: no Greek-style theology and feeding your brains, but practical assignments and feeding your faith, character and experience. Like in Luke 10 (read the chapter), there's no need to reinvent the wheel. More about Luke 10 on the Swiss website (sorry, German only).

Taught on two prophetic words yesterday for intercessors in 'De Kandelaar' church in Rotterdam: "It's time to dig up old wells" and "it's time to restore the altars of prayer". There was a good flow and response.

If you like church history and soccer, and have a good sense of humor and understanding of German, then enjoy Prof.Dr. Joachim Staedtke's 'Report of an ecumenical soccer game between the catholic and protestant theology'. Of course the only guy fit to be the referee is good old Erasmus of Rotterdam.