Marc's Messages

On the road to Bethsetera

Peter has his own way of combining Bible stories, and it's always hard to tell whether he didn't listen properly or just wants to make fun of it. Today I told him the well-known story of Joseph and Mary on their way to... "Jerusalem", Peter says. "No, it's not Jerusalem. It's the town where Jesus was born. Do you remember?" He thinks for while and answers: "Jericho!" "No, that was the story of Joshua. Try again." Peter: "Babel?" "No, Peter, but you're right that it starts with a B." "Ah, I know," says Peter. "It's Beseret!" "No, let me help you. It starts with Beth..." Grinning all over his face: "You mean Bethsetera!"

First SHIFT training

We just finished the first episode of our SHIFT training in the Egberts farmhouse in Westbroek, outside Utrecht. It's cool to journey with a group of 12 (wannabee) pioneers. Evert-Jan facilitated the talks, and the focus was 'renewal of thinking', shifting our paradigms from church-as-we-know-it to following Jesus wherever He leads and let church happen on the way.

Meetings this week

Had several interesting meetings this week. Last Wednesday we caught up with Gijs & Geralda Rohaan, who duo-pastor a Protestant church in the Betuwe. In the nineties we were involved in a group of theology students in Utrecht that experienced a move of the Holy Spirit, and they're now applying some of that experience in a quite traditional church context. On Thursday we met with Christine de Groot in Rhenen, to hear about developments of a (still embryonic) leaders retreat center. And today I interviewed blogger Mark de Boer in his new role as national director of Agape. The topic: what shifts are taking place in leadership when a new generation emerges? If you're interested in the answers, sign up for the Dutch edition of Joel News.

Moving to the country

So many people are moving to the country... Why? To start Jesus-centered communities. Like Markus Laegel and the band of brothers of 24-7prayer. They moved into an old school building in Ramsdorf, a village near Leipzig, Germany, to start a modern-day monastery called 'Convers'. Fast Freddi Felson, one of their team members, made a small, groovy movie. More information on this community here.

Simsons new book

Wolfgang Simson mailed me the concept version of his new book 'Prophetic Intelligence for Apostolic Architecture. Towards a Reformation of Life on the Planet'. Quite a mouthful, but he said he quoted me, so let's have a look... hm... here it is: "My Dutch friend Marc van der Woude once told about an experience he had in Holland..." and then he quotes my blog post of Dec. 2, 2005. This is going to get me in trouble with the religious establishment in my nation. The final book will come out as an e-book by Nov. 10., so I still have 30 days to move out of the country. ;-)

Our great leader

In the run-up to the elections, GeenStijl weblog published a photoshopped picture of our Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende as a Mao-style 'great leader', while youthful Christian-Democrats printed T-shirts with their hero Che Balkenende. Does this express a latent longing for revolutionaries?

A seed of prayer

This afternoon I met two brothers from another part of the world who started a prayer house in Istanbul, as part of a vision to see intercession raised up in 12 different power centers of the world. The coordinator of the initiative told me that every time they pray for the M. world, God leads them to repent for the Constaninian legacy first. He said he believed that in order for the church to be effective in reaching M. people, we have to 'clean house' first and turn away from Constantinian models of church. Interesting.

Btw, I uploaded some pictures of the Connect gathering in Istanbul.

Writing or making history?

This morning I expressed what we felt as a team during the weekend: Istanbul 2006 was our last Connect Europe gathering in this format. Over the past two years we've provided 'vital space' for reformation-wired people across the continent to build friendship and learn from each other. Now it's time to move on in a different mode. It's like the drummer in the Sigur Ros movie - there was a time to beat the drum and mobilize the tribes, but now it's time to cast the drum aside, run uphill and jump off the cliff. If we're not careful, the good can become the enemy of the best.

It's scarf Sunday

J. took us on an excursion to Aya Sofia and Yedikule, a fortress were the ambassadors of European nations were emprisoned and tortured by the sultan, and where we prayed for boldness for the church in Europe to proclaim Jesus instead of being intimidated by the forces of isl*misation. We finished at the impressive F*tih mosque, named after Mehmed the Conqueror. Of course the ladies had to wear scarfs here, and they look so cute...

Blaming Constantine

Fair enough, we can't blame Constantine for everything. Ben from the UK even thinks he was a pretty good chap and that it's unfair to judge him based on today's insights. However, the Constantinian legacy is a serious issue in today's church (see my earlier posting here), and this morning we introduced this topic on the terrace of our youth hostel, overlooking the Aya Sofia. We focused especially on the Council of Nicea of 325, that was presided by Constantine. It was the first synod of the early church, at which 300 of the 1800 bishops attended, and three things were decided upon for the whole church: