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  Theo van Reijn was born in the Netherlands, where his parents served as missionaries for over 35 years. The Lord called him into the ministry as a teenager and gave him a burden for his home country.
The van Reijns are currently on deputation to return to the Netherlands, or Holland as it is also called. The Netherlands is a small country; in fact, it would fit exactly 20 times into the state of Texas. However, with its population of over 16 million people, the Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The country is well-known for its system of dykes and windmills that protect the 27% of the land that lies below sea level. The Dutch are also renowned flower harvesters, and each year millions of bulbs and flowers are shipped worldwide.
While the official religion is Dutch Reformed, the Roman Catholic Church has the greatest percentage of members with 28 percent. An even greater percentage (41%) of Dutch people claim no religious affiliation at all. Over the last 50 years, most churches have seen a decrease in attendance, as interest in organized religion has diminished.
The van Reijns arrived in The Netherlands as planned on 20 October 2010. Their main thrust is to plant churches in the southern province of Limburg, which is commonly recognized as one of the hardest areas of the Netherlands to reach with the Gospel. Strong family ties and unfamiliarity with non-Catholic religious groups keep people loyal to their Catholic traditions. The van Reijns are trusting in God's powerful Word, applied by the Spirit of God, to change the hearts of the Dutch people.
Theo and his family visited our Wednesday evening service, 24 March 2010, where he shared his missions presentation and then preached the evening message. Everyone had a great time of fellowship with the van Reijns and got to know them much better during their short stay with us.
| Birthday: |
Theo - 27 September, Sarah - 6 October, Peter - 19 April, Miriam - 24 September, Luke - 10 August |
Anniversary:
Ministry: |
13 July 2002
Minister in the Netherlands, planting churches in the Southern province of Limburg |
Home Church: |
Mount Calvary Baptist Church, 1430 Hampton Ave Ext, Greenville, SC 29601 |
Home Address: |
Vredestraat 1
6373EA Landgraaf
The Netherlands |
To Field: |
20 October 2010 |
Telephone: |
011-31-6-833 433 44 |
E-mail: |
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Website: |
www.hollandforchrist.com
www.gfamissions.org |
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Dear Friends,
We have much to be thankful for, not only as we look back over the last two months, but also as we look ahead! Our family celebrated Thanksgiving during the “Herftsvakantie” (fall vacation) since Peter had a week off from school. We made and decorated a “Thankful Tree” and each person had his own color of leaves to fill with praises. And, of course, we enjoyed turkey, dressing, and other yummy favorites!
Baptismal Service
On September 18, Theo had the privilege of baptizing a couple who faithfully attends our Bible study. It was a joy to hear their testimonies and see how the Lord is working in their lives! Please pray for their continued growth in grace, and that their faith would not fail. Unsaved people were in attendance and Theo was able to clearly give the Gospel in the service.
Bible Study
Last Thursday marked the end of our second Bible study course, but since everyone expressed interest in continuing, we will begin immediately with a new study. We desire that the Lord would grow this little group and that He will give us another like-minded family in this early phase of church planting.
Outreach
We are busily planning Christmas outreaches and are excited as we watch what the Lord is doing. We have been given (at very little cost) a beautiful wooden stall in the yearly Christmas market! We are also seeking permission for another outreach in a local hospital and hope to give unsaved neighbors and friends a small Christmas basket. Our prayer is that these outreaches will provide us with contacts to start another cycle of our evangelistic Bible study during the month of February.
Immigration
We finally received word from the immigration office that Sarah has been granted her residency permit for the first year of her stay. This also grants her permission to take on some private flute students. Our desire is to use it as an additional way to make contacts in our community.
On the Home Front
On the family side, Peter had a great school report, and his Dutch is now on the “sufficient” level! In the last few weeks, Miriam has made some exciting progress in learning to obey, and we are thankful that baby Luke is sleeping through the night, even before 3 months!!!
We all enjoyed fellowship with other GFA families at Camp Impact in Germany, as well as a visit from GFA director Alan Patterson and his wife.
Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention our thanks to the Lord for YOU who are reading this letter and praying for us! In fact, one of the leaves on our Thankful Tree says “for our supporters”! May the Lord give you a wonderful time of Thanksgiving!
Prayer Requests
Daily growth in grace
Fruit from our Christmas outreaches
Spiritual growth of those attending our study
A stable Christian family to help us in our church planting endeavor
Language mastery for Sarah and Peter
Serving Him joyfully,
Theo and Sarah van Reijn
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Dear Friends,
In the Dutch culture, the six-week summer vacation is an important time of rest and a slower pace. However in our family, the last six weeks have been quite eventful--including exciting answers to prayer, lifelong changes, and continued ministry opportunities.
Weekly Bible Study
After finishing our four-week evangelistic Bible study, we were overjoyed to see one man profess faith! We have now transitioned into a discipleship study covering basics for believers. It has been a joy to see people learn, grow, participate, and show Christian concern for one another. Another couple and a single lady have joined us in this study, and a third couple is planning to join us for a book study on Ephesians this fall. One lady expressed her gratitude that our studies are so Bible-centered.
Baptismal Service
On September 18, we are planning a baptismal service for a husband and wife from our Bible study. They will be inviting a number of lost friends and family members. We are praying that the service will be a moving testimony to God’s power and grace in this couple’s life.
A Church?
We are seeking God’s wisdom regarding the timing of beginning Sunday services. We are in the early stages of assessing possible locations and available facilities, although we want to move cautiously and prayerfully. Most of all, we are praying that the Lord will give us one more stable family who can help shoulder the load during these initial stages of church planting. Will you pray with us about this?
Luke Christian
Besides the miracle of spiritual birth, the summer also brought the blessing of physical birth! On August 10, the Lord gave us little Luke Christian! It was a specific answer to our prayers that Luke would arrive before Sarah’s parents had to return to the U.S. on August 12! Sarah and Luke are doing very well, and Peter and Miriam have both responded with love in welcoming their new brother into the family!
On the Home Front
After his six-week summer vacation, Peter is back in school and is excited to have swimming as a subject this year!
Miriam has really begun talking these last two months, and she is busy adjusting to her new role as “big sister!”
Sarah is continuing to grow more confident in the language. In September, she will begin another Dutch class one evening per week. This course is designed to prepare her for the Dutch state exam held in May.
Prayer Requests
1. Daily growth in grace
2. Spirit-led evangelistic opportunities
3. Good follow up with contacts from the ministry of the MMT
4. A stable Christian family to help us with our church plant
5. Language mastery for Sarah and Peter
Serving Him joyfully,
Theo and Sarah van Reijn
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Please view our latest prayer letter HERE, or read the text below. As you go into your prayer meetings tonight, will you please pray with us that the Musical Mission Team concert to be held tomorrow (Thu) will be used by the Lord to accomplish His purposes. You may read more details in our report.
Dear Friends,
It has been an exciting two months as we have begun the jump into more ministry! Theo has had his hands full with preparations on many different fronts, but it is exciting to watch how God is bringing it all together. Here are a few ongoing and upcoming highlights!
Evangelistic Bible Study
We have begun the first cycle of what we hope will prove to be a useful evangelistic tool for many years to come. This foundational study covers the message of the Bible in four lessons and includes time for questions and discussion. So far, we have completed two lessons. We have one main couple attending, with others attending both times. During the second lesson, one man suddenly asked: “Can we just keep going on with this study?” Of course, we were thrilled to say “YES!”
Musical Mission Team
We are excited to have the MMT visiting us June 29-30, and we are thankful for the Christian families the Lord has provided to help host them! The team’s main ministry will be a public concert, sharing the Gospel both in song and testimony, but leading up to that, they will also give some mini-street-concerts, hand out invitations, do some letterboxing, and hopefully even visit a Dutch windmill! We are asking the Lord to use this concert 1) to be an attractive and powerful Gospel witness, 2) to introduce our ministry to the community and 3) to connect us with believers who may be interested in our ministry.
Other Highlights
We are thankful to see the Lord working on a number of other fronts as well! Theo has had continued opportunities for spiritual discussions with two of our neighbors, both of whom we invited to the MMT concert. The Lord has also given Theo several upcoming opportunities to preach, both in Dutch and in English!
Finally, we are thankful that one lady has expressed commitment to join us when we begin our ongoing weekly Bible study. We know that all these things are direct answers to prayer.
On the Home Front
Peter’s latest trick is riding his bike with no hands! He is our big help at home and abroad. Miriam (21 mo.) is our monkey and just figured out how to escape from her crib! Their little brother is (supposedly) about 9 weeks from his arrival! Sarah is continuing to improve in Dutch, now able to understand most conversation and preaching, and even beginning to talk with people. We are hoping that, in the fall, she will be able to take an evening class to prepare for the Dutch state exam.
Prayer Requests
Daily growth in grace
Spirit-led evangelistic opportunities
Fruit from the ministry of the MMT
Fruit from the Evangelistic Bible Study
A stable Christian family to help us with our weekly Bible study
Continued language acquisition for Sarah and Peter
Serving Him joyfully,
Theo and Sarah van Reijn
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Dear Friends,
We trust you enjoyed an uplifting Easter as you celebrated the pivotal event in the history of mankind—the resurrection of our Lord. Through it we have hope, the certainty of eternal life!
A Happy Announcement
We are pleased to announce that Sarah is expecting our third child, due to make a mid-August appearance. We are rejoicing in God’s goodness in granting us another little life in our family to bring up for His glory. Of course, Peter is hoping for a boy(!) while Miriam has no clue about the drastic changes about to invade her little world.
House
A very exciting praise is that our house in the US has officially sold! It is yet another confirmation that God answers prayer and that we are in the place of His appointment.
Orientation
Our orientation phase, which we estimated would take about 6 months to a year, is coming to a close. Although there are still some administrative details to take care of (e.g. Sarah’s continued language study, her driver’s license, and her residency permit), we feel we have all settled quite nicely into our new culture. (Example: We were recently looking at news footage of the US and thought the US stoplights looked very foreign!). We are ready now to jump into ministry mode and have some exciting plans for the upcoming months.
Upcoming Events
Theo was able to get a Dutch website up that introduces our community to us and our ministry. We believe the name of the site communicates quite well what we are about: bijbelgericht.nl (that is: “Bible-focused”). The next step is to begin advertising the website.In this way, we hope to reach our first level of contacts--people who are looking for the truth as well as any believers who are looking for a Bible-focused ministry. Over the next few months we will offer four-week evangelistic Bible studies, twelve-week discipleship courses, as well as an ongoing home Bible study on the book of Ephesians. In June, we have the Musical Mission Team coming from BJU. They will help with some street outreach as well as give a formal concert where the gospel is preached.Starting this fall, we also hope to have a presence in various markets held throughout the year which are visited by thousands from the community.As with any ministry, “unless the Lord builds the house, our labor is in vain.” We earnestly desire to pursue these opportunities humbly and dependently. We ask your sincere prayers that God would choose to use these efforts for His glory!
Prayer Requests
1. Daily growth in grace
2. Spirit-led evangelistic opportunities
3. Prospects for our Bible Study
4. Continued language acquisition for Sarah and Peter
Serving Him joyfully,
Theo and Sarah van Reijn
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