An overwhelming response by the wider Christian community in The Netherlands confirmed there is still a need for an evangelical alliance in the country, following a survey, and an appeal has been made for new members to join the organization.
The purpose of the MissieNederland (Dutch evangelical alliance) survey was to gauge the need for, and the future of, the national alliance.
The September (2024) survey sought the views of 309 respondents, 46 per cent of whom were not affiliated with the alliance. Results were decisive: 95 percent of those surveyed agreed that an evangelical alliance was still needed to advance the Great Commission.
Conversations between the evangelical body and 40 evangelical leaders, in time with the survey, revealed not only a prevalent need for the umbrella organization for evangelicals but also a refocus on MissieNederland’s core tasks, namely connecting, strengthening and representing its supporters.
Setkin Sies, chairman of the board of MissieNederland, saw the survey and conversations of the past few months as encouraging for the organization’s future.
"We look forward to building MissieNederland in solidarity with each other, “ said Sies, “so that the evangelical voice in the church, in the social debate and in the breadth of Dutch society continues to sound clear."
A joint appeal has now been launched inviting people to join the national alliance, with signatories headlined by Jan Hol, chairman of the Executive Board of the Christian University of Applied Sciences Ede; Bente S. Gundersen, Commander at the Salvation Army, and Carlino Bus, director of the Revival Foundation, amongst others.
"MissieNederland is an umbrella organization that connects Christians across church and organizational walls from a clear evangelical identity, in which Christ is central. MissieNederland is committed to the well-being of the evangelical movement and its missionary heart,” the group said.
“That is why we call on Christians, churches and organizations to become participants in MissieNederland. To make the unity in Christ visible and tangible again, so that the world can see who He is.”
The first iteration of an evangelical alliance in The Netherlands happened not long after the foundation of the British Evangelical Alliance in 1846. This prayer, Bible study and social action movement dissolved around the time of the Second World War, a representative of MissieNederland confirmed to Christian Daily International.
Meanwhile the Evangelical Missionary Alliance was founded in 1973, and represented missionaries in The Netherlands and abroad. Then the Dutch Evangelical Alliance, more focused on evangelistic efforts in The Netherlands itself, was reestablished in 1979. The two organizations later merged under the name “EA-EZA” in 2013.
MissieNederland, as the organization is now known, has struggled with declining support in recent years, according to a press release.
At the end of last year 2023, the organization repositioned itself with an enhanced profile as one of the 143 national evangelical alliances with the World Evangelical Alliance.
