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| Pastors - van der Meijdens and the Sisks |
Jointly participating in this special event, organized by the NDIC Pastorial team of John and Joy Sisk, were also the founders of the NDIC church, Pastors Peter and Nancy van der Meijden.
Unfortunately, Pastors Melvin and Louise, who came after Pastors Peter and Nancy van der Meijden had left, and before Pastors John and Joy Sisk.became the present pastors for NDIC, could not be there to join in the celebration, as they were away on a new assignment.
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| Pastor Peter "back home" |
It was a great event, which included an introduction by Pastor Sisk of the van der Meijdens, an outline of the day's program, and a brief history of NDIC.
This was followed by a touching sermon of Peter van der Meijden, entitled - "How Great Thou Art" - highlighted by Joy Sisk singing the beautiful Christian song from which the title of the Sermon was derived at the end of the sermon
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| New Day Cafe: an international culinary delight |
It was a blessed event of friendship, fellowship and a great opportunity for "the old timers" to reflect on the years gone by.
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| NDIC anniversary:A blessed event of friendship and fellowship |
NDIC opened its doors in Almere at the beginning of September 2007, all because of a vision its first Pastor Peter van der Meijden had to start an international church in Holland, while he and his American wife Nancy were living in the US
A vision which eventually led them back to the Netherlands
So when the couple returned to the
Netherlands and settled in Almere, one of Europe's most modern, functional and multi-cultural cities, "it was obvious", says Peter, "the vision God gave me in America was becoming a reality".
"Yes indeed", said Peter: "In Gods plan all things always fit together for the good".
Almere, situated east of Amsterdam, was created only about 40 years ago as part of a major Dutch land reclamation project, which eventually resulted in a new Dutch Province called Flevoland
This huge land reclamation project certainly has been a successful venture so far. In those 40 years Almere has attracted over 200,000 residents and 15,600 businesses, with new residents moving in daily..
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| In God's plan all things always fit together for the good |
Paster Peter noted "What made Almere particularly interesting for us to start an international English language church was the fact that more than 27% of Almere's citizens come from non-western cultures, in addition to a large contingent of "Expats" , who work in and around Amsterdam, known as the industrial Randstad".
A megalopolis in the central-western Netherlands, consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities and their surrounding areas
"One of our primary goals has always been to be sensitive to multi-national cultures and provide a spiritual home for people from all around the globe living in this city and surrounding areas".
"Obviously we also have our doors wide open for Dutch folks who prefer to listen to sermons in English", said Pastor John Sisk.
Over the past years NDIC has become the Church home to many people from all over the world, with or without a previous church background.
As one father with two young children, who moved from Poland to Holland said "we like it here at NDIC because it feels like family, and we find the International environment to be very inspiring to exploring your faith, whereby God can be encountered in new and creative ways. It is very refreshing and stimulating."
Everyone is welcome to attend the Sunday meetings of NDIC, which start at 10.30 a.m. If you are a first time visitor please come a little earlier so you can be welcomed properly. NDIC is located at the Walt Disney Plantsoen 76/78, in the Almere Filmwijk Center, and faces a Vomar supermarket
