Celebrating God's Extravagant Grace
A common practice in scripture finds the people of God taking time to pause, reflect on God's grace in our lives, and respond with worship to the things He's doing in our midst. Often we read stories in the Old Testiment where God's people build alters of stones to comemerate miracles of God so that they would remind generation after generation of what God had done in the lives of His people.
In the same way, it's good for us as a church to pause, reflect and celebrate what God is doing in our midst. Over the past two and a half years, we've been able to enjoy God's provision for this new church in many ways:
1. Cross-cultural team: Two and a half years ago God brough together a small team of American church planters with a small group of Dutch Christians. This diverse group of folks decided to work together to plant a new Vineyard church community in the city of Amsterdam. It's not always common to see cross-cultural relatinships work well, but over the past two and a half years we've seen deep relationships develop, as well as an integrated leadership team, church council, and preaching team for the church.
2. Intern program: We've really enjoyed the chance to have some young Dutch folks as interns... they get the chance to have real leadership and responsibility (and fun!) in the midst of a growing church plant, and we get the chance to learn from them, to listen to their ideas and experiences, and to gain from their cultural insights into how to best become a church for the city of Amsterdam. You can find out more about Huub, our current intern, in the column to the left... Mark Hage was an intern last year, and currently serves on our Church Council as he's finishing up school.
3. Church as family: It's been a great experience to be able to see things like baptisms and baby dedications in our church community! We're also enjoying taking time to build relationships with eachother - which is why we're having lunch together this Sunday morning (May 1) instead of our normal Meeting Point Sunday service. We come together on Sundays to worship God and to get to know Him better through teaching and prayer, but we also want to build up relationships in the church by providing a chance to discover community with one another. If you haven't checked out on of our small groups that meet around the city - this is a great way to meet folks in a smaller setting than on Sunday mornings.
4. VLI! Vineyard Leadership Institute started this past winter and we're thrilled that the first class ever in Holland is moving right along: studying theology, scripture, practical and pastoral ministry. It's a great opportunity for us to invest in the discipleship and development of folks in our midst with a heart for servant leadership, or who just have a desire to become more trained for an integrated life of ministry.
5. Alpha: Our very first Alpha Course just ended a month ago. We partnered with three other churches in the city and had a great time together over dinner and conversation about Jesus. We want to celebrate being a church where folks can feel comfortable wherever they are in their spiritual journey. We're also excited that folks feel comfortable being at Vineyard while they're still considering Christ and His place in their lives. We can celebrate being a welcoming community!
As you can see, there is lots to celebrate together! Each of us also has our own personal stories of friendship, growing friendships and communty, spiritual growth and healing to add to these above reasons to be thankful for God bringing us together in Vineyard Amsterdam. Let's be a community who never forgets to stop, refelct and worship in response to God's extravagant grace!
Warmly,
Julia Pickerill
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