A little about our new church

It seems for the time being that we are able to bootleg a little of the wireless internet in the neighborhood, because it seems we can now log on every now and then. So I thought I would take advantage of it for a few moments and tell you a little about the church here in Alkmaar. It is called the Evangelische Kerk 'De Vriendschap'

This means evangelical church of friendship roughly translated. It was created about 10 years ago with 4 couples making 1 cell group and now has about 75 people with 7 cell groups. It was created as a cell church, which focuses on cell groups that meet together once a week and operate as mini churches with fellowship and discipleship taking place within the cell - but with all the cells coming together on Sunday's to worship together. It has been interesting to see this church continue and grow in the times that I've been here and it is exciting to work alongside them to further the kingdom. This last year the church, which began as a missionary church plant, was able to call it's own pastor (at least part-time to start.) Folko and his wife Esther came for the calling and it is wonderful to see his heart for the people and his passion for the Word of God. They are a young couple with a new baby, and Jeremy and I are looking forward to getting to know them better and help them in whatever ways we can.

We have become part of their International Cell, which is the only cell group that is in English. There are members from the United States, New Zealand, and Canada right now, as well as a few Dutch members. They meet on Tuesday nights, and so the kids thought it was funny because we are used to Tuesday night Bible study from back home. Here though they rotate at which house they meet, and the host provides koffee, thee, and cookies. Tonight is our turn. Right now in our cell group we are going through a study on how to correctly study the Bible and how to discern what is not true. 2 weeks ago we took John 1:1-5 and compared them in different versions of the Bible to show how even little differences in words can change the interpretation. Jeremy, being a strict King James only guy, thought this was great. It was very interesting to see the comparisons side by side, and though I usually compare versions when doing a study, it also pointed out how important it is to read with discernment and apply interpretation carefully. Last week, our leader printed out a well-known televangelist's doctrinal statement and the scriptures he used to support his claims. It was very interesting to see how he took scripture from the Bible and tweaked ir to support the claims he wanted to make, changing wording and adding interpretation that is not supported by the context of the passage and contradicts other parts of the Bible. This is a very important study because there is so much false doctrine out there - and yes - some of it even claims to be "Christian." Many out here are new Christians learning to navigate, and some others are searching and are being misled, so this is important information to go over again. Of course, this is true of people in America too :)