About Us
Christ Church Amsterdam; Young at heart, with long history
We aspire to be a growing, welcoming, vibrant chaplaincy that is integrated in the local community and provides strong preaching and committed pastoral care to all, with the vibrancy of worship and fellowship that entailed, while embracing our newly-found depth of relationship and opportunities for prayer ministry
Who We Are
We are people of:
- Hospitality and Welcome. With our many differences, we will welcome those who are not like us so that we can learn and grow together as people who bear God’s name. Because we have been welcomed into God’s family, we will open our hearts, homes and worship spaces. As we are fed at his Table, we will embrace all who come and we go to those in need..
- Fellowship and Community. We believe that it is not possible to thrive and grow alone. We need each other. As we serve one another and with one another, we grow closer to God and each other. Christ Church is continually developing home groups, fellowship times and nurturing activities for all ages and life situations.
- Worship and Word. God calls us into his presence as individuals and in community. Every week we invite one another to meet with him through sung worship, instrumental music, prayer, and the public reading, study, preaching and teaching of the Bible. Responding to God’s invitation, we find true hope and peace together in experiencing our union with Christ.
- Witness and Mercy. Jesus sent his followers to share the good news about his love to all people in all conditions for the good of all. We are “in the city, for the city” in work, school, and neighbourhoods. Whether on our street or across the globe, we are people sent by Jesus to the last, the least and the lost with a living hope.
We do all this from our 3 locations in Amsterdam: In the City, for the City!
Our Team
The Chaplaincy wardens and clergy work closely with one another and other members of Council to ensure stability, forward vision and the working out of a common purpose in line with God’s gracious gifts. They see that Paul’s command to “encourage…and build up one another” (1 Thes. 5:11) is meant to characterize every Christian, something which can only be lived through the sustenance of God’s life-giving Spirit continually at work in us.
Get to know Christ Church
Christ Church Amsterdam was featured on National Television
The Dutch National RTL 4 program “Into the Region” (Onderweg naar de Regio) visits all regions of the Netherlands, covering fun facts and trivia of unique locations and the people, organizations or business that reside there.
Christ Church Amsterdam was featured in their episode of July 31, 2022
(subtitles in English for Spoken Dutch, and in Dutch for Spoken English)
What We Believe
We are a community energized by faith, first and foremost. As an English-speaking international church, we welcome all people to visit and worship with us. Our belief in one triune God is the core of our belief system. We believe in a loving God, the creator of all things seen and unseen, who wants to be in deep relationship with us, intricately involved in our lives. We seek to explore what God wants. We believe in Jesus Christ, the son of God and resurrected Messiah, who wants us to connect to each other, with God as the centre of this universe. Through Jesus our relationship with God is restored. We equally believe in the Holy Spirit, who brings unity and wildness while connecting us to creation, so that we comfort and care for each other. Together, Christ Church Amsterdam shares a common heritage of practicing the rituals of Anglican tradition in a localised version, with an inviting and inclusive approach where all Christian faiths are welcome to worship with us.
In the Bible we meet a loving Father who makes himself known to prophets, slave girls, shepherds, poets, orphans, rulers, farmers, vulnerable women, refugees, outcasts, tax collectors and fishermen. On its pages we encounter One who hears the cries of enslaved people and comes down to rescue them. We see a Creator who is not distant, who enters our world as both God and human in one person, Jesus, transforming human relationships. Our desire is to be a family where people of diverse cultural, economic, educational, and ethnic backgrounds will find welcome and unity through Jesus Christ. Out of this community, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we aim to speak prophetically, live authentically, and be a healing presence to all
In our worship tradition, we believe that we are forgiven, we are freed to worship together through prayer, praise and song. We seek to guide each other on our individual spiritual journeys, and we welcome all questions and discussions, from both those at the beginning of their faith journey and those who are mature Christians. We invite God into our thinking, understanding and hearts.
We believe in a full life of faith. We have teaching, baptisms, confirmations and ongoing life teaching. It is important to reflect on God’s input into our births, lives, and deaths, and into our meaning and purpose. We believe in offering something for the entire family of faith. We encourage children to play, for us all to eat and laugh together, for us to go out into the community to serve others and to be examples of the Gospel in the world.
Lastly, one of the core pillars of our faith is all humans are worthy of respect and honor. We believe we are all made in the image of God, and so are free to love, create, and think, but also to make mistakes, fall down, fall short; free to seek forgiveness and redemption. We are all wonderfully human. We are a welcoming Church, rooted and grown over 400 years in the “Dutch tolerance” that shaped Amsterdam to be one of the most liberal international cities in the world. We seek to bring God’s love, peace and justice to all; and so seek to be truly inclusive of anyone without judgement.
Regardless of an individual’s beliefs or faith commitments, Christ Church Amsterdam provide for pastoral and spiritual care. Because of this focus, we aim to be active members of wider local and international communities as well within our own neighbourhood, reaching out and helping those around us. In the City, for the City!
