'Every 14 days (until Christmas 2006) a meeting; and every week in between, people called asking why the church was closed.' Speaking is pastor Jurjen ten Brinke.
'15 years ago, on 10 September 2006, there was the first Hope for North meeting. There are no photos of that meeting; nobody had thought of that (what a time!) and smartphones with cameras didn't exist yet.
Nine months after our move from Kampen to Amsterdam, people literally asked for meetings. How much prayer, vision and mission were written down, and how many contacts were made in those first nine months. What a lot of street interviews were held; what work was done on the old church building.
After a sports week with Athletes in Action in the summer of 2006, there was a call for Sunday meetings. I will never forget it. Together with people we met during the sports week, and with a group of Christians from the neighbourhood, we started. One meeting every 14 days (until Christmas 2006); and every week in between, people called asking why the church was closed. And so we started offering weekly meetings in January 2007.
What I hardly realised at the time (but which has since become dna of Hope for North) was that we were not so much doing something 'for' the neighbourhood, but emphatically 'with' the neighbourhood. Everyone was allowed to participate, whatever you believed: you could be given a task and get to work. Though it was always clear that we wanted you to have a life-changing encounter with Jesus. Some brought their dog to church and played with some children, parents who spontaneously poured lemonade during sports week for children, did the coffee on Sundays, others played a guitar and yet someone else could make a powerpoint presentation. I myself took care of the sermon.
In those years, the district changed from a large slum (with the telling slogan 'Noord gestoord') into a hip urban neighbourhood. With all the attendant problems: old and new residents rarely meeting each other and, of course, the power of big money... manifesting itself, among other things, in a housing crisis (both in terms of renting and buying). A painful situation. Actually, North is more disturbed now than it was then....
In those 15 years, Hope for North (www.hoopvoornoord.nl) has grown into a wonderful place where hundreds of people, young and old (0-92 years old), rich and poor, black and white (30 cultures), low and highly educated (and if you like: Pentecostal to Old Reformed) meet and be church together. Church mídden in society. With everything an 'ordinary' church has, but also with community groups, house churches in various languages and a diaconal foundation (www.hartvoornoord.nl) .
What a lot of highlights we experienced. And what disappointments and sorrows (including illness and death) there have been. In other words: life was and is celebrated there. And all under God's command, His protection and His guidance. The Bible promises that God the Father remains the same and does not change. That gives guidance, even for the future. Hallelujah.'
