Nijmegen - Autumn walks and fruit crumble - The Story so far

The Parkers

In June of this year, we sent our dear friends Ben, Mikka and Jasper to be part of Plant Nijmegen, in Nijmegen Holland. Plant Nijmegen is part of the Relational Mission family of Churches of which we are part.

It’s such a privilege to send some of our key members to support and strengthen other Churches and something we feel we have been called to as a Church.

Recently Mikka sent us an update letting us know how things are going and how we could support them in prayer.

It’s November, autumn season - we’re enjoying the beautiful coloured leaves on or off the trees, long walks in the woods (covering short distances with a toddler), lots of homemade soups and fruit crumbles. Life can be busy and hectic but we’re still trying to give ourselves quite a lot of grace and space as we continue to settle in and adjust to Dutch life, whilst also anticipating another big change that takes us from a family of three to four!

Just to recap about our chaotic, multi-step move (it’s not necessarily how most people would choose to move!) - Ben and I both started our jobs in the Netherlands remotely on 1st June. We left Colchester, our home for the last 7 years at the end of June 2022. We jumped on the overnight ferry from Harwich and arrived the following morning with just a carload of our stuff. We stayed in two airbnbs - one right by Nijmegen Centrum, the other in Loosbroek, on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

In mid-July we finally got to our house (miraculous provision during the Dutch housing crisis) but with hardly anything - it was like camping. I found this week the hardest so far, Ben was drowning in admin, particularly the stressful customs paperwork. On 22nd July we celebrated Ben’s 30th birthday with friends at the Vierdaagsefeesten (Google it) in town think festival vibes with 40 music stages and food trucks all over the city. The following night he went back to the UK to fill up a van with our stuff with the help of friends and then he drove back via Calais with the legend that is James Mulholland.

“Be encouraged, he can meet your every need and he is with you too!”

We’re so thankful to so many people who helped us get here - we honestly couldn’t have done it without them. From people housing us, to helping pack up and clean our old house, to going to our Colchester house and helping arrange stuff with our new tenant as well as a wonderful send off from Redeemer Church Colchester. There were also very generous financial gifts - it cost about £10,000 to move and we definitely didn’t have that in our savings so we’re very grateful for the help to set up home here and deal with all the initial upfront costs. We’re so thankful to God for getting us here and the evidence we’ve seen and experienced of his grace and provision for us - I’m reminded of how he’s been with us every step of the way! Be encouraged, he can meet your every need and he is with you too!

So now we’re here - fast forward and I can’t believe it’s November! Ben is doing well in his job at the Eindhoven University of Technology, enjoying commuting twice a week, Dutch language lessons as well as additional European travel for work. He’s done super well and already passed his first Dutch exam with a great result! Jasper is enjoying what we call ‘Kindy-Nursery-House’ for 2 ½ days a week - it’s just over the road so super convenient and nice that he gets to be with other kids, his Dutch is coming along too - he has the essential toddler words ‘nee’ (no), ‘ijsje’ (ice cream) and ‘meer kaas’ (more cheese).

I’m working for a Christian charity called ‘Navigators’, particularly looking out for International

Students here in the city - it’s a self-funded role so I’m currently doing Ministry Partner Development (MPD) to raise my salary and build a team of partners to pray and support me in this work. At times, I’ve found it hard to be motivated but relationally it’s been a very rich time for me - I’ve loved all of my conversations with potential partners and getting to share my story and the stories of others, that they might catch the vision and join in this ministry with us. It’s been such a joy to know that they believe in and see such value in investing in the lives of these international students.

We’re feeling a bit more settled here in our home and in the city - we love living a 2, 4 and 10 minute bike ride from the other families in the church plant team and are enjoying getting to know each other better. We meet every other week as a team on Zoom so all 8 of us can be there as well as gathering a wider group of people who are interested in joining us. We’ve done a mixture of socials and prayer/ worship times together - we’re a real mix of Dutch/ Internationals/ you’ll often hear at least 3 different languages! We’re looking at starting to meet on Sundays from February/ March 2023 so watch this space.

• Highlights: Holiday with friends in Zeeland, NL // Family time and exploring the city // Core Church Plant Team Family weekend away // Visits from friends & family from the UK

• Challenges: Admin for life in NL and navigating that with our level of Dutch // Inconsistent capacity and energy levels // Missing people

• Prayer points: Safe delivery of baby #2 // Continued progress with Dutch language // Wisdom for us as a church plant team as we continue to gather people and work towards Sunday morning meetings

A short history of Relational Mission

Below is a re-post blog from our dear friends at PLANT NIJMEGEN outlining the key values our network of churches (Relational Mission) holds dear. We recently sent a wonderful couple called Ben and Mikka Parker to be part of the core team that is pioneering the church plant. Ben served as an elder at Redeemer, and Mikka was on staff. They helped plant Redeemer in 2015 and are going again. Head to the PLANT NIJMEGEN website to find out more.

When talking about our family of churches I am often asked the question what is Relational Mission?

In short, the answer is that Relational Mission is a family of churches that was birthed out of a network of churches called New Frontiers.

Relational Mission is a family of churches that work together through mutual relationships and combined mission. It’s a family of churches of around 70+ churches working together across the UK, Europe and increasingly worldwide.

The longer version of the story goes like this.

In the 1960 and 70’s a charismatic renewal took place around the world.  This renewal was called ‘the Charismatic movement’ which was marked by unprecedented outpourings of the Holy Spirit among Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Catholics and Methodists. God used leaders such as John Wimber, Benny Hinn, Billy Graham etc. to bring the church into motion.  This Charismatic movement was marked by large numbers of people being filled for the very first time in the Holy Spirit and through this receiving the gifts of the Spirit such as speaking in tongues, prophesying etc.  

Some churches embraced this change and it transformed the way they did church whilst remaining part of their traditional church denominational structures. Churches such as Holy Trinity Brompton, that later became well known for pioneering Alpha, an evangelistic course used all around the world. 

At the same time, many traditional churches resisted such change and banned believers from speaking of baptism in the Spirit or using their new-found spiritual gifts in the life of the church. Such believers were confined to using such gifts in personal or home group contexts whilst slowly growing dissatisfied with the lack of charismatic expression in the church. There where local churches remained closed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, believers over time were compelled to start new churches according to New Testament patterns.

As such, many new church movements started such as Sovereign Grace ministries, Vineyard, New Wine, Ichtus, Salt and Light etc. In this season New Frontiers was birthed too.

It started with Terry Virgo, the founder of Newfrontiers, being baptized in the Spirit himself as a young believer. After attending London Bible College and taking up church ministry he soon began to travel and help others to learn and grow in the gifts of the Spirit. He started to gather these people yearly at Downs Bible Week and later Stoneleigh Bible Week. Over time he gathered a team to help him serve the churches he connected with and in 1986 they became officially known as Newfrontiers. Over time Newfrontiers grew out to be a family of around 800 churches in 70 nations.

In 2011 Terry rather than handing over to a successor felt led to multiply the movement into 15 new families of churches across the globe each with their own leadership teams. Relational Mission was one of these families of churches. New frontiers became the name under which the leaders of these new families of churches continue to work together. Between them there are now around 2000 churches connected world wide.

Relational Mission was originally founded by Mike Betts and recently Maurice Nightingale and Steff Liston were added to together form a team of apostles.

Hopefully this gives a quick impression of our history so far. If you are interested to find out more, feel free to use the links below.

Find out more about Relational Mission HERE
Find out more aout Newfrontiers HERE

Wouter Vertegaal
Teamleader Plant Nijmegen

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Value 8- Local, Global and Holistic Mission

Below is a re-post blog from our dear friends at PLANT NIJMEGEN outlining the key values our network of churches (Relational Mission) holds dear. We recently sent a wonderful couple called Ben and Mikka Parker to be part of the core team that is pioneering the church plant. Ben served as an elder at Redeemer, and Mikka was on staff. They helped plant Redeemer in 2015 and are going again. Head to the PLANT NIJMEGEN website to find out more.

In our previous posts we’ve been looking at 3 doctrinal and 3 leadership values .In the coming 3 posts we will be looking at 3 missional values. We seek to build churches with:

1. Local Church Focus
2. Local, Global and Holistic Mission
3. Contextual Freedom in Application of Values

In this blogpost we will look at what it means to be a people on Local, Global and Holistic Mission.

It would be hard to find the actual word mission in the Bible, as it is a Latin word for “sending” invented in the 1600s. It has become such a big part of Christian vocabulary, and in particular with missionary work. Sending people to a far away destination to share the good news of Christ. While that is one aspect of mission, mission is intended to permeate every fabric of society both near (local) and far (global) and every aspect of our lives (holistic)

So while this word is not found in the Bible itself, one cannot read it and miss that local, global and holistic mission is integral to the whole story of the Bible. From the first book in the Bible to the last, we see an incredible story unfold of how God begins and works out His rescue mission of humanity through Jesus, and one day restoring all of creation to Himself. 

One particular story that comes to mind is when God called Abraham. He asks Abraham to move away from his own country into the land of Canaan. With that, God promised to make Abraham into a great nation, that he would be a blessing and that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him and his descendants. From that moment, we see how this worked itself out in Abraham’s life and of his family, the subsequent generations of Israel. Their legacy is one of struggling to be a blessing. Often failing as the ones sent by God to represent Him to those around them. However, despite their failure, God raised one up from the line of Abraham, who was THE blessing and through whom all peoples of the earth are blessed. Jesus reconciled in His death and resurrection the world to God.

The New Testament writers expressed this on numerous occasions in their letters to different churches, that those who follow Jesus are now in Him. Signaling an astounding truth that has happened, God has created a new people through Christ. Resulting in these people being the true descendants of Abraham, able to be a blessing through Christ. No matter their background; Jew or gentile, rich or poor, from every nation, tribe and tongue, they are God’s chosen people. 

As God’s chosen people, we carry the privilege to be ambassadors to the world. We are on mission to be a blessing as Abraham’s true descendants by God’s grace and by His Spirit. To be a blessing doesn’t require someone to be a missionary to another nation. It signifies a broad meaning and can be applied to everyone and every situation. This is not just for the few preachers, leaders, church-planters or just for the mature believers. To be a blessing has endless possibilities and applications in local and global settings. In either way it is meant to affect every fabric of society and every aspect of life. Every believer is sent to be a blessing whether they are a stay at home parent, business leader, artist or care worker, living out the gospel in every area of life.

We (my family and I) were not sure where to live in Nijmegen. At first it sounded nice to live somewhere favored and go for the “upgrade”, but that was our personal preference. But then we felt challenged by God to allow for a change of that perspective. We felt that we should ask God where He wanted us to move. This could mean moving to an area that is less favored, where there might be more needs, less people who are like us and maybe a house that doesn’t fit our perfect picture. However that might exactly be the place where God wants us to be a blessing. We place our faith and trust in our Father who will provide and care for us, but He also sent us into the world to be a blessing. Sometimes that might mean we go where no one else wants to go. For our family this has been scary at times, yet very exciting and life giving. 

We want to be a church where mission affects every area of our lives, including where we work, play sports and live. But this can also sometimes look like cooking a meal for your neighbor who is going through a hard time, encouraging someone at work even if they wronged you, helping an immigrant, praying for healing and miracles in people’s lives, the possibilities and applications are endless.

In Nijmegen we want to be a church that is made up of people rooted in their communities and demonstrating the love of Christ to those around them. As a church we want to be engaged with the needs of our city and be a blessing. Jesus sent His disciples from Jerusalem into Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. We want to see Nijmegen as a start of that. As this blessing spills over from one community into another it will lead to many more churches starting in cities all over the Netherlands, Europe and the rest of the world. Churches built on the foundation of being a blessing locally and globally, where believers affect all areas of society with the love of Christ.

Mikka Parker
Part of the Plant Nijmegen team

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Value 7- Local Churches

Below is a re-post blog from our dear friends at PLANT NIJMEGEN outlining the key values our network of churches (Relational Mission) holds dear. We recently sent a wonderful couple called Ben and Mikka Parker to be part of the core team that is pioneering the church plant. Ben served as an elder at Redeemer, and Mikka was on staff. They helped plant Redeemer in 2015 and are going again. Head to the PLANT NIJMEGEN website to find out more.

In our previous posts we’ve been looking at 3 doctrinal and 3 leadership values .In the coming 3 posts we will be looking at 3 missional values. We seek to build churches with:

1. Local Church Focus
2. Local, Global and Holistic Mission
3. Contextual Freedom in Application of Values

In this blogpost we will look at what it means to build a local church.

There are a lot of people in the world. 7.87 billion to be precise, 746 million of these people live in Europe, of which 17 million in the Netherlands and 179,000 of those live in Nijmegen. If you were to stand each Nijmegen resident one on top of another, they would make a tower 36 times the height of Mt Everest. That seems like a good way of imagining a lot of people to me! My brain can just about handle the scale of Nijmegen, but struggles beyond that.

God makes himself known to people across the whole world, that’s why churches exist everywhere. But what should we expect these churches to look like? One mega-mega-mega church that can house everyone? Or one global franchise of identical churches? Should a church community in Bangalore look the same as one in Lisbon?

That’s not the sense we get from early churches in the Bible. Instead we see local churches emerge in local cultures, with local customs but shared values. Local churches are the blue print for mission. Churches that reach people in their area and help them to grow as followers of Jesus, who together make up the local church and transform the wider community. Churches are not defined by buildings, or events, though those may well be part of it in some places. The aim is to see communities of believers, worshipping together being apart of their wider culture.

In the Old Testament, God gives the prophet Isaiah an insight into what the church will be - ‘In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.’ (Isaiah 2:2) There is a promise here that God’s church will be one big thing, but will consist of individuals from the whole world. I’m eager to see people of all nations ‘stream’ into our churches!

When we look at the early church in the bible, we already see examples of different local churches starting and growing. We get a sense of how they each look different depending on the culture that surrounds them, but also of consistency in core beliefs and values, and a significant focus on well-maintained relationships between churches.

As such, we are looking to establish churches of people rooted in the cities, towns and villages where they live. We see in Acts that the early church had a clear focus on teaching the gospel, unity among themselves, serving the poor, seeing justice done and supporting those who struggled in society - all done locally to glorify and honour God.

As a church plant, we want to take this picture and all it encapsulates to remind us of how we are to serve one The impact of the local church comes from this: having followers of Jesus properly stuck into the place where they live. Workplaces, schools, hospitals, universities, sports clubs, nightclubs, and so on; are all settings where the local church can and should be at work.

The church, the global, multicultural, people of God is a beautiful thing and is God’s first plan for seeing people saved, through those who already know and love Him sharing the good news. Having a big picture understanding of the global church helps us see how essential it is to have thriving local churches, expressed in ways that are relevant to the cultures in which they find themselves.

I like to garden, know a fair amount about gardening, and could relate to other gardeners across the planet. But my knowledge of flowers, vegetables, pests, sunshine, drizzle, and soil would be different to someone halfway around the world who lives in a different climate, with different plants, pests and so on. In the same way although we are apart of the global church, we outwork our faith by getting our hands into the local soil where God has planted us. It is absolutely essential to be ‘hands on’ in our local communities - geographically and culturally relevant - through the local church. Without the local church, the global church does not exist.

Nijmegen forms just a tiny slice of the population of Europe. Churches are needed in cities, towns and villages across all nations to ensure that people can encounter a living God through Jesus, seeing their lives changed, grow to know him more closely, and live out fruitful lives. Together with our family of churches Relational Mission, we intend to do just that, in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, across Europe and beyond.

Mikka Parker
Part of the Plant Nijmegen team

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Value 6-Servant-hearted leadership

Below is a re-post blog from our dear friends at PLANT NIJMEGEN outlining the key values our network of churches (Relational Mission) holds dear. We recently sent a wonderful couple called Ben and Mikka Parker to be part of the core team that is pioneering the church plant. Ben served as an elder at Redeemer, and Mikka was on staff. They helped plant Redeemer in 2015 and are going again. Head to the PLANT NIJMEGEN website to find out more.

As we pursue our mission to plant churches, it is absolutely vital to clarify on which foundations we seek to build these churches.  We identify 3 main leadership values. We seek to build churches with

1. Elders in each local church
2. Ephesians 4 ministries
3. Servant-hearted leadership.

Elders in each local church because this is the structure for leadership we see in the New Testament churches, Ephesians 4 ministries because they are God-given gifts within the church to bring itself to maturity and Servant-hearted because this is the culture of leadership Jesus modelled to us.

In this blog post we will look at what it means to be a church with Servant-hearted leadership.

There are lots of passages in the Bible about qualifications for leaders including things like being sober-minded, hospitable and gentle (1 Timothy 3:1-7). These are great qualities for everyone to pursue with the help of the Holy Spirit. Leading other people starts with, leading ourselves well. Luckily these qualifications aren’t a list to mark ourselves against, but they give us something to aspire to with lots of grace and the acknowledgement that none of us is perfect, trusting God to make us more like Jesus if we allow him.

Jesus is our great example in everything, but particularly in leadership. He had equal status with God yet didn’t cling to the advantages of that status. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a servant. (Philippians 2:6-7) Jesus was as senior and high up as you can get, the most privileged and powerful one yet he humbled himself, to serve and lay his life down for us. 

One of the clearest images we have of this from the Bible is Jesus washing his disciples’ feet (John 13:1-20). One of the disciples called Simon Peter, thinks foot-washing is beneath Jesus and he refuses until Jesus says “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Then he changes his tune and wants to be completely washed all over! Jesus explains this is his example to us and we should do as he does - washing one another’s feet; a humble job that requires you to kneel, to be in close proximity with people, with their dirt and smells, a task that no one else wants to do.

As a church plant we want to take this picture and all it encapsulates to remind us of how we are to serve one another - from the youngest to the oldest, from those who are first encountering the church community to those who regularly give their time, energy and effort in a particular role; the goal is not to be served but to serve. Practically we don’t see ourselves as too important to spend time with the kids, but are happy to offer to muck in with washing up or taking the bins out. Especially for people in visible leadership roles (eg. on a stage) it’s just as important that we’re servant-hearted in the unseen, because first and foremost we serve our God, an audience of one.  

For Christians, this works not just in the church but in every area of our lives from family life to school, University, the workplace, hockey club and everywhere in between - we seek not to be served but to serve. This is a proactive thing, in particular roles and in everyday life and conversation. How can we show the people around us something of who Jesus is by choosing to lay down our preferences and serve them? It is so countercultural to choose to serve rather than choose to push our own agenda of what we want! We follow Jesus’ example and want to lead by example - to demonstrate this same character and servant-heart consistently in all the different circles we move in is powerful.

There’s a promise at the end of the verses about Jesus washing his disciples’ feet - ‘If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.’ (John 13:17) We want that, not just that God would bless us individually, in our families or as a church but that he would bless the city of Nijmegen through us and beyond, all across the Netherlands and Europe. As we seek to see 20 churches planted in each European nation, may each of them be filled with servant-hearted leaders from the youngest to the oldest, in public and in private, in set roles and in everyday life.

Mikka Parker
Part of the Plant Nijmegen team

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