Connect Europe team

The house of prayer in Amden is a peaceful place, with good beds, good food, snow, a clear sky and a great view on the Swiss Alps. A wonderful place to hang out with the Connect Europe team.

Yesterday we shared what God has been doing in our lives over the past three months and we were encouraged to see so many similarities, especially related to 'transition', a new season, a different level of revelation and ministry. In a way this is an expression of the 'corporate prophetic': we seem to hear the same kind of things from God, and as we journey together, God is laying a new foundation for community, worship and mission.

Talking about foundations, Tim Fellows said something that I believe is important: the revelation of Jesus shapes the Gospel, the Gospel shapes the Kingdom, and the Kingdom the Church. If we do it the other way around, we get a distorted church that doesn’t know how to bring the Kingdom, and so creates a powerless gospel, and - sadly - blocks the revelation of Christ.

In one of our prayer times the Lord showed us that storms will come suddenly over the church in Europe, and that we have to find and develop our rest and refuge in Jesus. Like Psalm 91,9 says: "Because You, O LORD, are My refuge; if you have made the Most High Your dwelling-place." And Is. 25,4: "For You are a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the fearful ones is like a storm against the wall." The storms are sent/allowed by God to shake our false securities. Also churches and ministries will be shaken. Man-made religion will be judged, so that the new life that really finds it's source in God will break through.

What I found intriguing are the parallels between the Netherlands and Switzerland that have to do with God leading us into a season of restoration of the prophetic and apostolic ministries. It would take too much space to go into all the details, but it's quite amazing.

The rest of our time we used to talk about different aspects of the Connect Europe network and team roles. We want to develop a new way forward, a rhythm of life and ministry that is in tune with the rhythm of God, rather than a goal and task oriented business-style. Later this year we hope to visit Wales with the core team, and in August we plan to have our main Connect Europe event in Switzerland.