There is very special news for the prayer movement in our country, actually a miracle from God: we got a chapel in Schaerbeek! Completely free of charge! A bit of explanation: ‘we’ is the house church ‘Ammi Brussels’ of which I myself may be part. The chapel is at 35 rue Cologne, 800 metres from the North Station. The generous donor is the ‘Catholic Apostolic Church’, a 19th-century Protestant denomination that had stopped holding its own services. It is in good condition, can hold 80-90 people, and also has a small and semi-large auxiliary room (25-30 people). We want to use it first and foremost as a house of prayer and worship, open to other churches or prayer groups. So that it may be a place where we can come into God’s presence and peace and be refreshed, but also a place of meeting other Christians. Should you be interested, contact us to agree when you would schedule something and to collect the key.
The second 24h prayer meeting for the elections will be held in Brussels on 7-8 June (7pm – 7pm), led by various churches, organisations and prayer leaders: from Friday 7 June 7pm, to Saturday 8 June 7pm – at Grand-Place 28, Brussels
Pray4belgium, as always in elections, has compiled a list of 25 very varied prayer topics: these are provided to pray through for eight days, from 2-9 June (3 per day) in prayer groups or in your personal prayer time. But you can of course pray through these on other days and at other times, even now! Feel free to forward them or share them on social media wherever you like. Please download them here. They are also available in Dutch and French.
These months there are quite a few important prayer initiatives taking place, and that is of course good: there are also very important things at stake. We are living in turbulent times and it seems that no one knows yet who is controlling or directing the evolutions of our world. Fortunately, we may know that our God is above all this earthly upheaval, even above world powers, international power blocs and elections. Can we influence global events? Never underestimate the power of faithful prayer!
International ministers and prophetic leaders worldwide and also leaders from Belgium, are calling with great urgency to a more intense level of prayer and fasting: we live in a time of unprecedented crises, even a war in our backyard. The world – and the Church – is being shaken violently: the spiritual battle for God’s Kingdom is intensifying. God wants in this season to bring revival to Belgium. And Belgium has been given an important role in the plan for revival and reformation in Europe. That is why it is crucial that Christians stand in unity, surpass the walls of our denominations and together take our prayer to a new level. Unity is incredibly important in the church as Jesus also prayed in John 17:20-23. This unity comes through our communion with the Father himself and is centered around Jesus as His only begotten son and the only way to God.
Main goals of our prayer mission:
That the war in Ukraine would not escalate, that God’s plans will overrule in and through this war.
Pray for unity in the body of Christ in our land
Revival and reformation in Belgium – and from here to all of Europe!
There is a long term strategy and a short term action plan due to the urgency:
Long term strategic plan
We believe that God has spoken that a 24/7 prayer chain should be set up and that each participating church should take one hour a week (multiple hours are also possible:
The day that the church has the hour of prayer, they should also fast (recommended but not required)
Throughout Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders and the German speaking territory we will need 168 churches to begin and ultimately 336 (2 per hour = 48 per day)
When a new emergency or crisis arises; this 24/7 network of praying churches can react immediately
A prayer time with leaders via Zoom will also be set up
As of September 1st, this should be fully operational until the end of 2022, after that an evaluation will follow in order to continue.
Short term action plan (urgent)
Plan as of now an hour of prayer and worship in your church or prayer group so that the atmosphere will change over Belgium and Europe and also for the war situation and its consequences. If your heart is burning and your reaction is ‘Yes! I commit to this’ — let us know what time you are willing to pray so that we can give you a slot in the 24/7 prayer chain. We will send you more details, ideas and practical instructions later.
To the glory of the King and for a breakthrough of His Kingdom,
the leadership team:
Jan Bruyneel, Gent Ignace Demaerel, Brussels Frank Ernst, Antwerp Daniël Hakelbracht, Averbode Paul Immanuel Rooda, Genk David Vandeput, Brussels (A.net) Rik Van Neste, Izegem
Endorsed by:
Bishop Jean Tshiteya, Church of God/Eglise de Dieu David Buntinx, chairman VEG (Free evangelical churches Flanders), Koen Celis, chairman VVP (Pentecostal churches Flanders), Frans Meyfroodt, chairman OAEG (Independent churches), Other denominational leaders will be added
Consecration of the EU and its institutions to the Lord Jesus
We are happy, as members of the prayer groups meeting within the institutions of the European Union, to invite you – and all those who have the European Union at heart – to join us for a trilingual (French/English/Deutsch) ecumenical celebration during which the European Union and its institutions will be consecrated to the Lord Jesus.
Consecrating the European Union and its institutions, that’s a novel idea!
If you want to learn more about it, please see the attached document (presentation of the initiative and text of the prayer of consecration).
The celebration will take place on Saturday 14 May 2022 at 3 p.m. in Eglise du Saint-Sacrement, chaussée de Wavre 203, 1050 Brussels
Access : Train: station “Bruxelles-Luxembourg” ; Metro: “Trône” or “Porte de Namur” ; Bus: no 34, 38, 80 and 95, stop “Idalie” or “Museum” ;
(no need to have a Facebook account to follow the livestream!)
Scheme of the celebration: Hymn/music; welcome/presentation; readings from the Bible on consecration; commentary on the readings; intercessory prayers; hymn/music; prayer of Consecration (French/English/German); moment of silence; the Lord’s Prayer (each in their own language); closing words; hymn/music
You are also welcome to participate in the small reception (‘verre de l’amitié’) that will follow the celebration! Let us know whether you will join by completing the following form:
On 7 May at 2.30 pm with Ensemble pour l’Europe let’s celebrate Europe Day on the theme: “Europe: Artisans of Peace” Reconciliation and Solidarity.
Four approaches to solidarity will be presented through short videos made by our movements.
We will be privileged to welcome Pastor Walter Kriechbaum from Munich and his wife Anne-Marie from the international YMCA movement who will share with us some years of experiences of reconciliation undertaken in Germany, Poland, and Ukraine, with a view to healing the wounds of the Second World War. They will also give short teaching based on Scripture and faith in Christ, followed by a time of prayer. You are all welcome to attend the event organised jointly with Together for Europe at the Chapel for Europe (Rue Van Maerlant, 22-24 – 1040 Brussels). A live webinar will give the opportunity to intervene remotely during the exchange time that will follow. Information and pre-registration for the webinar
ENSEMBLE POUR L’EUROPE… …is a free convergence of Christian Communities and Movements from different Churches, currently more than 300 across the continent. While maintaining their autonomy, they work together towards common goals, contributing their own charisma. This reality is born of strong experiences lived together..
20 years of euthanasia in Belgium In May it will be 20 years ago that euthanasia was allowed in Belgium. Since then, 24,522 declarations of euthanasia have been registered. Euthanasia has been legalized for minors and some politicians want to allow it for people who cannot express their will. This way, the dignity of the elderly, people with dementia or who suffer from depression, disabled or sick people is systematically violated. It has also become clear in recent years that the Euthanasia Evaluation Committee doesn’t function properly and that the concept of psychological suffering is becoming increasingly vague. That is why some psychiatrists advocate a ban on euthanasia for psychological suffering.
Since the summer of 2021, together with a friend (Danny), we have been planning to organize a ministerial event that includes sports. We want to cycle from Ypres to Eupen over three days with stops in the Ronse and Tienen areas. We will start from the center of Ypres and we want to finish in the Eupen/lac d’Eupen area. The whole trip will go along the linguistic border between Flanders and Wallonia with the intention of praying along the way. We will pass through key locations and towns that ultimately will provide us with the necessary subjects to challenge the borders that we want to expose and bring attention to. We are planning to bike through the border points between Flanders, Wallonia and France in the west. We’ll go through the ‘Drielandenpunt’ (DE/NL/BE) in the east before finishing at lac d’Eupen. The reason for finishing there is linked with our desire to do a fundraiser for the flood victims. We’re looking into details in how we could support excisiting works that could benefit from this support.
Our broader vision is to find ways to use sports, to collectively bring the current borders to people’s attention. We intend to use the current and former physical borders as a platform, through informing of the past, creating an understanding of the present, to challenge people to review their worldview in a way that allows them to reconsider their position in certain matters in life. We believe in the kingdom principle of recognition and building together, despite what the past might hold. It can be a painful process to revisit the very beliefs and ways of thinking that we have allowed to shape us. But in these days we see the need of a renewal of the mind. Valuing and celebrating the kingdom values within our culture, yet challenge the areas that keeps separation and walls in place are necessary to go through in order to prepare the table for what the Lord wants to bring to our nation.
We intend to make the event open for both Christians and non-Christians, as we recognize that people whom do not belong to a church, also seeks to see reconciliation happen between the two regions. The ‘religious’ language of the tour will need to be adapted in a way that brings inclusion beyond religious beliefs. However, it will be made very clear that it is going to be a prayerful event that longs to minister reconciliation through prayers, intercession as well as acts of service. As long as this is made clear beforehand, the participants would know, to a certain level what they can expect. I personally intend to invite family members that aren’t Christians to participate.
Language is another important factor. Among our team members for the tour we have people who can speak and translate French, Dutch/Flemish, German and English. As the tour will go through various language borders, we will facilitate for the regional spoken language to be made available for translation where necessary.
We want to make part of this event public in the sense that we are planning daily video sessions of history lessons, to bring awareness to the people following the tour online. These will be filmed in the very place that the events take place, and we will use the history to ask one or two questions that could challenge the mindset of our followers. We will upload them on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. We have a team of videographers and photographers who will be part of the journey.
We are just about to make this event public, and we want to spread the word to churches and organisations in Belgium. If this would be something you would be interested in being part of, or know of someone who could have interest in this tour. Please don’t hesitate to let us know should you need any further information.
We are trying to make the costs for this as affordable as possible. We’re currently looking for housing opportunities for Friday and Saturday night. There will be a possibility of coming along for just one or two of the days, as we recognise not everyone would be able to set apart three days to join the full event.
It will start in Ypres at 11am on Friday 22nd of April and it will last until the evening of Sunday 24th of April. If necessary, we can arrange housing in the Eupen area on Sunday night.
We intend to bike roughly 100-130km per day. We will provide food and some snacks, but sport drinks and ‘fuel’ are to be arranged by each participant after personal need.
We will have a follow car with us for the whole tour that will bring about the basics of equipment.
It is possible to join for 1, 2 or 3 days, and the start and finish of each stage would be in the immediate proximity of train stations to facilitate connections.
A provisional routeplanning for the three days in the links below;
Nathalie and Henning Schikora, leaders of YWAM Cevennes in the South of France. They have been praying and working since 1995 to see the restoration of the prophetic well of the Huguenots there. And now the prophetic well is running! Since 2016 they have had prophetic schools. Now God is about building the prophetic highways to the 7 main nations where the Huguenots fled 300 – 340 years ago: South Africa, USA, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland.
