| Period |
Development |
| 1985-1990 |
| Members of an ethnic minority group attending the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Rotterdam North, predominantly from Antillean descent, sought to have their own Antillean congregation in the city of Rotterdam. |
Having this fervent desire for their own congregation, they managed to organize regular meetings in two neighborhoods within the city of Rotterdam, namely:
- Bolnes-Rotterdam where services were kept in English and Dutch
- And Tamboer-Rotterdam where services were kept in English and Papiamento.
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| 1990-1995 |
| Being consistent and having much potential, these groups were eventually joined together. |
| The fervent desire and devotion, eventually produced concrete results. The groups of Bolnes and Tamboer earned themselves national recognition and received the status of English-Papiamento speaking Seventh-day Adventist congregation within the Dutch Union-Conference. The name given to this congregation was the Rotterdam-Crooswijk SDA Church, with Pastor B. Smit as leader. The congregation consisted of an estimated 50-100 members at the time.
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| 1995-2000 |
| As enthusiastic as they were in the beginning, so Rotterdam-Crooswijk SDA Church persisted in its ministry. This resulted in the growth of its memberships, which was made up of believers of various ethnic-origins. While the majority was of Antillean descent (English and Papiamento speaking), there were also members of Guyanese, Surinamese, Indonesian, Ghanaian and Nigerian descent, just to mention a few. All of this occurred under the leadership of Pastor A.H.M. Stijnman and later on, Pastor H.D. Versteegh. The congregation at this time can be estimated at 100-200 members |
| Growth appeared to be a part of what Rotterdam-Crooswijk knew best. Along with an ever increasing membership, the result of consistent Bible Studies and baptisms, Rotterdam-Crooswijk continued to attract a variety of ethnic groups to its congregation. This was also due to its social-attractiveness. With growth in membership and growth in new circumstances, the SDA church of Rotterdam-Crooswijk developed new challenges and new concerns. A period that can be labeled as one of the most difficult in its history.
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| 2000-2005 |
| As circumstances persisted, some members felt the need for pursuing new ways of evangelizing. This amongst other things led to the establishment of cell-groups and groups interested in becoming involved in practical forms of ministry. The interest persisted, and certain groups became engaged in small group evangelization, under a concept called: “Church planting”. The efforts were especially geared towards the ‘un-churched’. The congregation at the time consisted of an estimated 200-250 members, under the leadership of Pastor H.G. van Rijn. |
| As this new wave of evangelism continued, birth was given to three new church plants, namely: Alivio (Spanish for Relief), Little Light and the Compas. Now under the leadership of Pastor D.W. van Ommeren.
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| At this point, the church was challenged to sustain its ministry under very trying and demanding circumstances. Amongst other things, members and leadership sought improvement and considered ways of enhancing the efficiency of the organization behind the ministry. A new organizational structure was developed and the ministry was now carried out by clustered departments.
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| 2005-2007 |
| While maintaining this new structure the church continued to seek suitable means for an effective ministry. Eventually, another effort was made for improvement. Rotterdam-Crooswijk formulated a new vision, mission and objective on which it would base it’s ministry and service. |
| As this was in effect, behind the scenes there was significant development taking place within one of the church plants. The growth and the establishment of once church plant, now full fledged congregation: The Seventh-day Adventist Church of Delft (also known as Alivio). This resulted in a decrease in membership (an estimation of 300 to 250) and a new configuration within the congregation of Rotterdam-Crooswijk.
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At the moment the church of Rotterdam-Crooswijk, under ever pressing circumstances still seeks to give direction to its members and to ways in which it may uphold its newly formulated mission:
To preach the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ, in love, tolerance and with the necessary care for its local environment. In so doing it intends to urge all to give honor to God and demonstrate loyalty to Him by keeping His commandments and by testifying of the soon return of His Son Jesus Christ.
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