Marc's Messages

Intercessory missionaries

Went to Rhijnauwen for a beer with Ron Becker, who leads Youth Alpha in the Netherlands, and just returned from training young leaders in Wladiwostock, Siberia. It was good to catch up. We were part of the same Ichthus small group back in 1988, and have been in irregular contact since then. One of the things we talked about is how prayer and missions go together for impact. Like in 24-7prayer and the IHOP, where intercessory missionaries are raised up 'to prepare the spiritual atmosphere in nations for a deeper move of God' (see video).

A manic nation

Our government fell over the Hirsi Ali affair, just before the Summer holidays. What a bad timing, and quite embarrassing to see the various political cards being played out now. In my view Verdonk, the Minster of Immigration and Integration, should have stepped down already over the issue of the Iranian Christians, but certainly after her miscalculations in the Hirsi Ali affair. The Liberal Conservatives didn't want to let go of their 'Iron Rita', and so the Liberal Democrats blew up the coalition, while our Christian Democratic PM didn't show leadership when he needed to. Meanwhile the parties on the Left are calling for elections, taking full advantage of the situation.

This week Intermediair ran an article calling the Netherlands a 'manic nation', because we're in some sort of corporate identity crisis that's causing emotional ups and downs, often out of proportion. I'm afraid they might be right.

Connect Europe 2006

It's official: the next Connect Europe gathering will be in Istanbul, 6 to 9 October 2006. This gathering is for dreamers, pioneers and innovators, for those who are called to break open new ground for the Gospel in Europe, for church reformers and movement starters, for those who desperately long to see the Kingdom come to their city, region and nation, and want to grow in participative leadership and organic, multiplying church movements. Pray about joining, to connect with old and new friends! The invitation will not be available on the web. If you're interested to join, then please contact me by e-mail.

My excavating anointing

I think I might have a special excavating anointing. One and half year ago, just one week after I visited Wittenberg, German archaeologists discovered Martin Luther's toilet seat (yes, that's where the Reformation started). This week, just after I visited the catacombes in Rome, Italian archaeologists discovered more than 1,000 first-century skeletons dressed in elegant togas, probably the first 'mass burial' of its kind. What do you think: should I pay a visit to Mount Ararat?

What are we shifting about?

Chinese food with six reformation-wired friends, talking about the paradigm shift we all go through. You may recall that a few months ago I mentioned Feitse Boerwinkel's book 'End or New Beginning', that describes this cultural-historic megashift and how it is influencing the church. Lucas Vos was so kind to make a pre-/post-shift overview, so that at least we know what we are shifting about. I reworked it a bit into English for your convenience.

Download theshift.doc

Baptisms at Soul Survivor (2)

On May 8 I posted on the novelty of baptisms at the Soul Survivor festival. As a response, Mark Zellenrath, whom I met in The Hague last Saturday, kick-started an interesting discussion on disciple-making that's worth checking out. When I asked Martijn Moens, Soul Survivor's press officer (who just took on a new job) how people responded to the baptisms, he said there was only one negative newspaper article, but that's it. Not even a phone call from the EA to call them heretic.

The game is over

So the game is over for the Dutchies, who lost with 0-1 from the Portuguese. I can live with it, as the Orange lions were not in topform anyway. But with a historic 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards the match looked more like a battle field than real soccer, and it makes one wonder where this degeneration started. Gabi calls it 'footboxing' in her latest post.

Sunday morning walk (2)

One of the blessings of not attending church meetings is that we can enjoy Sunday morning walks in Gods own cathedral, and glean some wisdom from the ants and flowers. This morning we continued our track in the water and meadow area of Tull en 't Waal.

Chinese food with heretics

Matthijs and Lindsey invited 25 missional pioneers for a network night with Chinese food in their community in The Hague. I thoroughly enjoyed the various inputs and conversations, and Gijs was so kind to write an extensive blog report in Dutch.

Chosen Generation in Bari

This morning I spent some time with Mirko and Sara, who were at the first Connect Europe gathering in Herrnhut back in 2002. They started a youth movement called Generazione Scelta (Chosen Generation), that links around 400 young people in the Puglia region in prayer and missions.