What is God doing in Rotterdam?07-03-2018

We are excited to see what God is doing in Rotterdam among Turkish speakers! We would like to share one story with you about what God is doing!

We started the BridgeMakers International church in 2016 by taking a leap of faith believing that the Lord was beginning a new church among Turks. We have been amazed at how the Lord has brought believers into our lives that we didn't know existed! One such story is the story of Derya. She came out of a Sunni Islam background and grew up in the Netherlands. Her entire life she sought Islam and wanted to know God better. After a series of tragic events like the loss of a child and the subsequent divorce of her husband, heartbroken and hurting, she began to seek and cry out to God. She begged Him to show Himself to her. At first she thought going to the mosque or doing the namaz (Islamic prayers) in her home more often would help but she only felt more isolated and empty. An answer to a knock on her door seemed like the answer to her prayers when a Jehovah’s Witness came and asked her what she believed and if she had been born in another country would she still believe in Islam?

That question haunted her. Already doubting her structure of belief, she began meeting with the Jehovah’s Witness representative weekly and in essence became a Jehovah’s Witness. For two years she attended every bible study and church service and was taught how to go door to door and share her faith. After two years and her own study into the real Holy Bible she walked away from it. She says that it felt like she went from one rule following strict religion in Islam to another one in the name of Christianity. She was excommunicated from the “church” and was yet alone and hurting.

This time she began searching online for truth and found several Turkish pastors and apologists who were able to answer her questions and this time she says she really understood salvation, Christ’s redemption and knows what grace really means. When we met her she was a new believer and we had the privilege of seeing her baptized, watching her grow exponentially in her faith, and quickly become a leader in the church. We praise God to see her faith and example and look forward to what God will do in the future in her life! To God be the glory for the great things He has done!