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Europe's Largest Conference Event - Holland
01 October 1999
Opwekking, Holland - 25,000 Dutch People Celebrate Life in Christ
The Opwekking conference is now the largest Christian conference in continental Europe, with between 25,000 and 30,000 people coming together from across Holland for 3 days of teaching, fun and all kinds of activities - youth, children, adult etc.
The vision, which was born years ago in the heart of Peter Vlug Snr., is having a powerful impact on churches of many denominations.
Mal Fletcher was invited as one of the evening speakers, for the second year, and said afterwards, 'Two things really impressed me this year: the obvious growth in the hnumbers at the event - the main tent where we were was packed with around 8,000 people - and the number of young adults in the meetings!'
In years gone by, Holland has not been known for being at the cutting edge of what God is doing in Europe, but it seems that the seeds sown over many years by churches, international ministries (such as that of T.L. Osborne), and other ministries (eg. YWAM in Amsterdam) is now bearing fruit.
Please pray for Peter Vlug Snr., who is now something of a 'patriarch' to a new generation of national leaders. He is stepping aside from leadership soon and God's wisdom is needed in terms of where this great event goes from here.
Earlier in the year, over 250 key pastors from around Holland gathered to hear about "Reaching and Releasing a New Generation" in the annual "Agape" leadership conference, this year featuring Mal Fletcher. The Holy Spirit backed up the teaching with prophetic signs following and it was very moving to watch as the Lord broke through in the lives of so many pastors, elders and leaders.
The Netherlands has been a country which has not always been kind to its church leadership (most pastors are not paid by their congregations, which makes it difficult to go for a vision), but it is opening up to new things, and many leaders are embracing a large vision for their cities.
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