I’ve just finished reading Genesis. The last quarter of the book is dominated by the story of Joseph, the dreamer come prophet, who rose from being a shepherd boy (despised by Egyptians) to the man who changed a nation, and saved thousands of lives from famine. The whole of the rest of the Bible is summarised by Joseph’s final words:

‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afriad. I will provide for you and your children.’ Gen 50:20-21.

In the battles of life we are often hurt and harmed like Joseph was by his brothers. But God knows you and loves you, and intends all that happens to lead to salvation: the saving of many lives. When we try to play God, in control, grasping at power, making judgements, and inflicting revenge, we will hurt ourselves, other people, and live in fear. Jesus could have said Joseph’s last words on the cross. He was dying there in the place of God, taking the punishment for all the world’s wrongs.  If we let Jesus be our God, and seek his face in all things, he will bring his blessing to us, and through us, to all nations. Pick up on the opportunities below to be a blessing to the nations as we seek to grow as disciples of Christ in Amsterdam.

Immigrants’ Attitudes to Amsterdam: Last Sunday we found out that only one person present in our congregation was born in Amsterdam. We are all immigrants to this city. How do we connect with the city we live and work in? How do we seek its welfare? Do we have a short- or long-term vision of how as Christians we fulfil God’s vision for this city? Listen to this sermon here, as it is the foundation of our whole series this term on Mission in Amsterdam. We will be looking at how we connect with the DNA of Amsterdam: its ethnic diversity, creativity, entrepreneurism and business, how we build civic virtue as immigrants (with guest speaker Joel Voerdewind, Tweede Kamer lid), and what to make of Freedom of Thought.  Throughout this term we will be hearing from local Mission Partners explaining some of the ways Christ Church is involved in God’s mission in the city.

Leadership Team Day of Teaching and Worship: You are invited to join the South Leadership Team for a day’s worship and teaching this Saturday 4th February from 10:00 – 16:00 at Groenburgwal 42. We will have extended times of praise and worship and a safe place to learn and exercise what we understand by prophetic prayer ministry. The teaching will explain why we choose the music styles we have, what it means to encounter the Lord Jesus as we praise him, and why New Wine ministries are such an important aspect of our church life. You don’t have to be a potential church ‘elder’ to join in, but it will give you an insight into where we think the Lord is leading us as a church community. The more people who are involved in ministry in church who grasp this the better. We will have lunch in a nearby restaurant (about €15), and there are no further costs related to the day. Email me back now if you’re interested in coming.

Celebration Lunch this Sunday: Join us this Sunday after the service for food and fellowship. Sunday morning over a cup of coffee doesn’t give us much opportunity to get to know each other. Eating a meal together allows us to get to know one another as a large family. As it will be FREEZING next Sunday bring food that is hot! We can heat up stuff in the oven or gas hob. Give your food to Faustina as you arrive in church….and why not invite a friend who doesn’t normally go to church to join you?

Women’s Retreat Application Forms: will be available from next Sunday. The speaker is Julia Pickerill, leader of Vineyard Amsterdam, and the retreat takes place 23-24 March. If you want to receive an email version of the form contact Ruth Paans.

Blessing at Work: My parents-in-law recently went to the Memorial Service for John Stott in St Paul’s Cathedral – it is moving just to read the tributes to his life & witness. He was a world leader in relevant bible teaching and evangelism. One of his legacies is the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity which produces resources to support Christians in the workplace. Amanda, who works for Vodafone, recommends these PrayerWorks prayer prompts. You will receive a daily email prompt for 40 days encouraging you to pray for God’s blessing on a particular aspect of your working life and relationships. It’s a brilliant way of having just a five second connection with God at work….and I’d love to hear from you how God is answering your prayers. Sign up here and join over 1,000 other people who are praying for their work. It starts tomorrow!

Yours in Christ,

Mark

Revd Mark Collinson

Chaplain, Christ Church Amsterdam

Eight guys from Amsterdam South congregation (including our guest from Maastricht) travelled down to the French Alps near Chamonix. A couple travelled by plane to Geneva and the rest piled into a large car for the overnight drive. We arrived at about 6am, just in time to get an hour and half’s sleep before breakfast.

We were down at the ski rental shop by 9:00 and Gilles kitted us out. Then off to the telecabine to buy a ski pass and get on the slopes. Les Houches has everything: we had two beginners, one who hadn’t been on skis for a while, two intermediates and two accomplished skiers, with one daredevil snowboarder.

It was great fun! On the second night it snowed constantly, so in the morning there was over 60cm of powder snow – more in the drifts. They said it was the most snow they’d had for years in one night.

Kind neighbours cleared the drive in front of the house, so we could get out. Sadly the rest of the Chamonix resorts were closed so everyone in the whole valley piled into Les Houches.  The queues were staggering. On the mountain it was exhausting. When you pile into the snow you’re completely stuck. It takes all your energy to get out.

Great fun. Great food. Lots of laughter… where’s the ‘retreat’ element?
Well, it was great as guys to share time together with God. We shared a Psalm at breakfast with a prayer, and in the evening we had a time of worship & praise, bible study and discussion. We used Tim Keller’s ‘Gospel in Life: Grace changes everything’. It was great for us to connect our working lives with God’s plan for cities.

What spoke to me the most was Romans 1:21: ‘For although they knew God, they neither honoured him nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.’ It is so hard for us to avoid taking on the values & norms of the people we work with, who neither give thanks to God, nor honour God with their lives. As Christians in our workplaces we want to give God the glory for our achievements and thank Him for whatever he gives us. It’s a radically different way of living.

Thank you Mark N. for making this happen and organising us!

Join us for next year’s men’s retreat.

Kort bericht naar aanleiding van het afgaan van het brandalarm op 26 december jl.

Maatregelen tot nu toe

• Uitbreiding van de contactgegevens in Mededelingenbord buiten (4 bereikbare contactpersonen)
• Afspraak met bureau IJ-tunnel in februari over protocol bij calamiteiten
• Check van het brandalarm door Ansul Brandbeveiliging
• Aanpassing van het interne protocol en de beschikbaarheid daarvan

Heeft u behoefte aan contact, vul dan onderstaand formulier in (aan Church Office). Dank u.

Matthijs van Engelen
church warden

=== English summary ===

Dear neighbours,

Short message regarding the fire alarm on December 26th.

Measurements so far

• New list of contact persons on Notice Board outside the church (4 reachable people)
• Meeting with police of the IJ-tunnel office in Februari about the emergency protocol
• Check of the fire alarm system by Ansul Brandbeveiliging
• Amendments of the internal protocol and its wide accessibility

If you would like to contact us, please use the form below (addressed to the Church Office). Thank you.

Matthijs van Engelen
church warden

Your name (required):

Your email (not required):

This is is a remark/request for (not required)

Church office

Christ Church City / Alastair MacDonald

Christ Church South / Mark Collinson

Churchwardens

Webmaster

Your remark/request (required):

Copy this code to prevent spam (required)

I am writing to let you know that from January 30th to 1 February 2012, I will be attending the Bishop’s selection conference in Ely in England, this is the last stage of discerning my vocation. The events starts at 5 pm on Monday and closes at 4pm on Wednesday.

As you always do, please would you pray for me on the following:

• Praise and thank God that the good work He began in me, He is able to bring it to completion
• Let the Holy Spirit guide and lead the conference
• To keep myself focused
• That this stage will open door for ordination training for me and other candidates by God’s  will
• Safe journey
• Protection for my family.
• Wisdom and blessing to all the Bishop’s advisers
• Joy and blessing for Pearl, Annemarie and Joy as they takes turn to look after the kids.

Thank you for all your support and prayers. May dear God richly bless you all.

Love & prayers,

Austin Uzoigwe

The theme is about listening to God and deepening our relationship with God.

Read the first sermon, preached by Jim Mellis: Name giving of Samuel and Jesus (PDF)

The rest of the sermons in this series will be recorded and be available as podcast.

Dedication

The service today focussed on dedication in a lot of ways:

• In de sermon: Dedication of Jesus, by His circumcision (8 days after his birth)
• Also in the sermon: Dedication of Samuel, by his mother Hannah
• Dedication of Emily Charis, one of our newest young members
• Dedication of ourselves for this new year

Prayer of the New Covenant

This is the prayer that we’ve prayed together:

Eternal God,
I am no longer my own but yours.
Your will, not mine, be done in all things,
wherever you may place me,
in all that I do and in all that I may endure;
when there is work for me and when there is none;
when I am troubled and when I am at peace.

Your will be done
when I am valued and when I am disregarded;
when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking;
when I have all things and when I have nothing.
I willingly offer all that I have and am
to serve you, as and where you choose.

Glorious and blessed God,
Father,Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
May it be so for ever.

Let this covenant now made on earth
be fulfilled in heaven.

Amen.

It is part of the Anglican liturgy for New Year, the part called The Renewal of the Covenant, page 108 (PDF).

- English summary below -

Geachte buren,

Gisteravond is het brandalarm afgegaan in ons kerkgebouw. Pas na enkele uren kon het worden uitgeschakeld door tussenkomst van de politie.

Onze excuses voor de overlast, de irritatie en het lang uitblijven van een oplossing.

Oorzaak niet bekend

De oorzaak van het afgaan van het alarm is nog niet bekend. Het gebouw werd die dag niet gebruikt en er was geen brand of rookontwikkeling. Wij hebben vanmiddag een onderzoek ingesteld om de oorzaak te achterhalen en herhaling te voorkomen.

Regelmatige keuring

Het brandalarm en alle installaties worden ieder jaar door Brandweer Amsterdam en Ansul Brandbeveiliging gekeurd. Bij ons weten is een spontaan afgaan van het brandalarm nog niet eerder voorgekomen.

Maatregelen en verbeteringen

Uit de eerste evaluatie met de politie blijkt dat er wel contactgegevens beschikbaar zijn, maar deze te summier zijn.

In januari zullen we met bureau IJ-tunnel, de nieuwe buurtregisseur en onze naaste buren afspraken maken over contactgegevens en een protocol hoe te handelen in geval van calamiteiten.

Informatie op deze website

Afspraken met officiele organen zullen we via deze website (en mogelijk op andere wijze) bekend maken.

Brief

Onze naast (over)buren aan Groenburgwal, Staalstraat en Kloveniersburgwal hebben vanmiddag een brief ontvangen met verontschuldigingen en een telefoonnummer. Dit is geadresseerd als ‘Aan de bewoners op dit adres’, ook op adressen met een NEE-sticker.

Contact

Mocht u naar aanleiding van deze gebeurtenis, of om andere redenen, contact met Christ Church willen, dan kunt u onderstaand contactformulier gebruiken.

Met vriendelijke groet, namens Christ Church,

Matthijs van Engelen
church warden

=== English summary ===

Dear neighbours,

Last night the fire alarm in our building was set off. It took some time to switch it off.

We apologise for the nuisance, irritation and the long time it took to come up with a solution.

Cause unknown

We don’t know yet what caused the fire alarm to go off. There was no fire or smoke in the building. We have started an investigation this to prevent that this will happen again.

Improvements and measures

The fire alarm and fire prevention systems are checked annually by certified professionals. However, we could improve the knowledge of our contact details with legal bodies in the neighbourhood and a protocol how to handle in cases of calamities of emergencies. We will do so in January, when the new ‘buurtregisseur’ is installed, and inform you about it via this website.

Contact

Today we have sent out a letter to our direct neighbours. If you would like to contact us for whatever reason, please use the contact form below.

On behalf of Christ Church, Kind regards,

Matthijs van Engelen
church warden

Your name (required):

Your email (not required):

This is is a remark/request for (not required)

Church office

Christ Church City / Alastair MacDonald

Christ Church South / Mark Collinson

Churchwardens

Webmaster

Your remark/request (required):

Copy this code to prevent spam (required)

The Chaplain of Christ Church, Amsterdam, wishes to appoint an

ASSISTANT  CHAPLAIN

with responsibility for

Christ Church, Heiloo, North Holland

We  are  looking  for  a  priest  who  is:

• Enthusiastic about personal faith in Jesus Christ.
• Able to lead us through a process of vision and growth.
• Willing to adapt to the necessary cultural changes of living in the Netherlands.

Christ Church Heiloo  is:

• A small enthusiastic Anglican congregation near the holiday coastline of North Holland.
• Evangelical in belief, catering for all ages, with a lively ministry to families, youth and home groups, working in partnership with ICS.
• Multicultural, embracing members from a wide variety of international and denominational backgrounds

The appointment is full-time stipendiary including a five-bedroom house with separate study.

School fees negotiable.

Contact: Chris Helder, Churchwarden,  chelder@ziggo.nl or +31 72 5338519 for more information.

Closing date: 18^th February 2012. Interviews in London on:  7^th March.

There is a commitment to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults.  Safeguarding Policies (vetting and screening) will apply to this post.

Further information is available here.

Here’s there first newsletter: useful info about Access and skiing safety!

Connect Continental Newsletter

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