Marc's Short Messages

A black day for the Netherlands. A failed attack on the royal family on Queen's Day, leaving five dead. Kinda 9-11 moment for our nation. More news here.

Sasha, who translated the Bible into modern-day Czech, reports that in just 28 days the full first print of 50,000 bibles has been sold out! Quite remarkable for an atheist nation. A second print of 50,000 copies will arrive in five weeks.

Tomas wrote an article on Evian and Geneva for the Jerusalem Post. Gives good background to the issue.

We skipped our planned family break to the bright blue sea, so Peter is now dry-swimming with his snorkel in the kitchen.

Caught up with Johan who coordinates 24-7prayer in the Netherlands and now also takes on the Global Day of Prayer.

It was good to catch up with Gaby, Anne, Tomas and a few others in Brussels. Rick Ridings offered a 'prophetic perspective' on Israel and the Middle East.

I'm engaged in an interesting discussion on new monasticism and the role postmodern monastic communities could play for the Kingdom. Karel Smouter pointed to this article on the Facebook Generation and how a generation that grows up with online social networking will shape the workplace (and could I add: the church).

Barbara's rural community Mount of Oaks in Portugal is drawing a lot of attention from the press these days. The're amazed that Christians move from the city to the countryside to redevelop the land and form an international hub for pilgrims. "We seem to be good news," says Barbara. Full story here.

Talked to a friend from England on the phone who was spontaneously healed last week. She was in a wheelchair and could not walk for more than ten meters, leaving her exhausted. One night, God woke her up and she felt different. Two days later, after getting up, she walked the stairs, realizing: "Hey, I can walk the stairs! Let's try that another twenty times, and also walk the dog and bring a letter to the postbox." Now, one week later, she's still up and running, completely healed.

This sign says: "The Loo royal grounds. NO TRESPASSING. Rest area for wild animals." So what are these emerging pioneers doing there? They don't seem to care about borders and limitations and freely step out into open and yet unexplored territory. Perhaps they consider themselves royal wild animals for whom this retreat area was designated after all. Or they though the field belonged to simple church researcher Nico Dirk van Loo, who just published his book on pioneering in the Dutch polder...

Rogier made some pictures of the Emerging Network retreat. More here.

Teamwork is always a challenge, and European teamwork can be extra challenging. I'm engaged in an interesting conversation with the DEN team (six personalities, six nations), and just offered this old blog post on the Dutch leadership values and sociologist Geert Hofstede's 'cultural dimensions', to explain some of our differences.

Joined an evening with the core group of the Overvecht network in which we evaluated where we are and what is needed for further development. We'd love to see more Christians get involved in their neighborhood.

Karolien and I are on a retreat of the Dutch Emerging Network with 27 church planters and missional pioneers. Inspiring, relational and creative, with good weather, good food and good ideas.

We spent a day in the dunes and beach area of Egmond. Very nice Spring weather, an enjoyable day.

Tomas is preparing a Holocaust Commemoration day in Evian-les-Bains on 21 April with political representatives from various nations. A follow-up on our trip last year.

Gave input into a global prayer, missions, business, transformation and emerging generation conference next year in Capetown. I brought up quite BIG question: what are the five most critical issues for the future of the world in the next 15-20 years? How could a Kingdom-minded generation pro-actively shape this future in fields like the economy, web technology, church reformation & missions, strategic learning communities, and also become more prepared for persecution? If you have the answer, or just a good idea, drop me a line.

There are now nine 'simple church' planting initiatives in the Utrecht region. Herman of Jesus Freaks Netherlands is facilitating a 'learning community' (kinda intervision group), which is quite timely.

This week I focused the Dutch edition of Joel News on pioneering for the Kingdom, with encouraging stories of people with a heart for their city, who are pioneering new expressions of church in difficult (unchurched) areas. Thanks to Rogier Bos for the inspiring interviews. Emerging church authors and church planting researchers Nico Dirk van Loo and Martijn Vellekoop published their first book 'Struggling and Pioneering for the Kingdom', which carries five real-life stories/cases of people who started new communities or missional initiatives. They describe the struggle as well as the underlying principles and lessons learnt. Daniël de Wolf, who planted a church among rough Antillian youth in Rotterdam, published his second book, 'The discovery of the Kingdom', which is more of a personal journey, rediscovering a more holistic Gospel than just 'Jesus died for your sins'. Yesterday Otto de Bruijne and his team presented their study (also in book form) 'Once Evangelical', on why people are leaving Evangelical-Charismatic churches. Both set-up and outcomes are very similar to Alan Jamieson's 'A Churchless Faith'. So in many ways this was a productive week for simple/emerging church planting in the Netherlands!