Looking for a new congregation and a new space for our coffee bar
I
n the meantime, there were two ministers who caused quite a stir in the ranks of the then Reformed Church, One did not believe that Jesus had really risen from the dead and the other did not want to think that someone else (Jesus) would pay for his sins.
It made no sense for us to stay in this church any longer.We heard from an evangelical congregation in the Doelen. We stayed there for several years and enjoyed every meeting. We were also baptized there. In the meantime we were also happy with a second son, we called him Andy. A wonderful little man who made our family complete!
We really wanted to continue building with the group of people who came to the coffebar by now. Together we prayed for, and looked for a new space. One that was larger than the youth room of the church where we gathered every Tuesday, but we also wanted a space that we could stay in permanently, because we had big plans.
We wanted to organize evenings for the youth at fixed times. Sunday evening evangelistic services with speakers. Bible study evenings and children's work on Wednesday afternoons. But finding a space was not easy. Yet we were sure that these plans had been placed in our hearts by the Lord Himself. For weeks we drove through IJsselmonde and the surrounding area to see if there was not a suitable space somewhere. When I came home from such a trip again quite desperately, I resolutely picked up our neighborhood guide and said to the Lord; Lord if You want our work to continue then I will now open the guide and point out something to You? I opened the guide, what did I expect? No idea. I looked at the two pages that were open to me.
My eyes fell on the Name of the old ice club Thialf, not so far from here, So it still existed! My brothers and sisters had still skated there. Could this be the Lord's answer? Boldly I picked up the phone and dialed the corresponding number. I asked if the building was for rent? The voice of the man on the other end of the line asked very surprised:, But how do you know that we are going to do it in the rental business, because we only decided this yesterday.
