Today we pray for The Netherlands, also known as Holland, and their people known as the Dutch. Confused yet? That's ok, one of the wonderful benefits of becoming a world Christian is learning about differences in formal, legal names and preferred names of countries and people groups. :) Please learn more by reading pages 624-629.
Today's prayer time features insights from a Dutch native living outside her home country. Please read her insights, and join her heart in praying for her country.
The Netherlands are a small country sharing their borders with
Belgium, Germany and, the North Sea. As one of the founding states of the
European Union, we have not known another war since World War II. Today, a
little over 16.5 million people are living within The Netherlands.
Ages of trade with
foreign nations has made knowledge of foreign languages an important asset and resulted
in Dutch people being very open towards
other cultures. However, this seems to change. Feelings of resentment against
foreigners are on the rise combined with a lack of trust in the government. People
seem confused and did not know what to vote for in the recent parliamentary
elections (September 12). Pray that these elections will result in a stable government with capable and
courageous people.
Pray for the church in
The Netherlands. In the past, heavy religion wars have been fought between
Protestants and Catholics. Nowadays the traditional church seems to lose its
relevance within society. However at the same time, migrant churches are fast
growing. Pray for the traditional churches and migrant churches to interact;
there’s so much we can learn from each other. Also, pray for the initiatives
that are currently ongoing between divisions of churches to re-unite again. The
Christian landscape/ body of Christ is marked by separatism due to several
split-ups in the past . Pray that old
wounds will be healed.
Last but not least, many
people from countries in war find a refugee within The Netherlands. Last year
only, more than 11 thousand people asked for asylum within The Netherlands. Afghans, Somalis and,
Iraqis are the main nationalities that arrive here. Awaiting a decision on an
asylum application is stressful, therefore, pray for the asylum seekers. Also, pray for the many civil
organizations, volunteers and churches that do work to support these people.
Pray also for the many foreign students that reside in our country for
educational purposes. Pray for the student work that is done to reach them.
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