Missionaries to the Netherlands

"Holland our soul concern"

August - September 2006

Every Dutch person has an opinion over America. It's no wonder: the Dutch eat American hamburgers, drink American cola, listen to American music and watch American films and TV series. If there is something wrong with American culture then there is also something wrong with the Dutch culture.

Europeans view over weight Americans with abomination, yet they are on their way to being just like us. The Dutch believe that Americans are always thinking and talking about money, yet there is no country like the United States in the world where so much money is given to charity and churches. The Dutch willingly protest the death sentence in the States, yet half of all Dutch are not against it.

Why are churches in Europe emptying with lightening speed while in America they are overflowing? For example, in the Netherlands of 1991, 67% of the population went to church; in 2004 that was only 38% according to the Social and Cultural Plan Bureau of the Dutch government; 24% never went to church in 1958 with 64% not going to church in 2004. According to the study "Religious changes in the Netherlands" in the year 2020, 72% of the population will not be found in any church whatsoever. If we just look at their statistics for Bible Churches, Baptist Churches, and Charismatic Churches all lumped together in one column, we discover that in 1958, 3% of the Dutch population claimed they were Bible, Baptist or Charismatic increasing to 5% in 2004. The expectation is that the Bible, Baptist and Charismatic churches will increase to 7% of the population in the year 2020. Although it must be noted that many of these new church members are coming from the official State Reformed Church where 23% of the population attended in 1958, just 6% in 2004 with only 2% expected to attend in 2020.

Europe and the Netherlands are in great spiritual need. I will be writing more on the spiritual needs of the Dutch in my next newsletter. Our desire as missionaries is to enlarge our church planting, beyond the four churches we have started and turned over to the Dutch, through our college ministries to impact an ever needy Europe.

Home address
Bijvaerdeweg 33
3660 Opglabbeek
Belgium
Phone (32) 89 51 58 68

www.corkalbright.com
email: corkalbright@euphonynet.be or ruthalbright@euphonynet.be

Mission Address:
Baptist Bible Fellowship, Int.
P.O. Box 191
Springfield, Mo. 65801
Phone: (417) 862-5001

Sending Church:
Sauk Trail Baptist Temple
Rev. Bruce M. Humbert
P.O. Box 347
Richton Park, Illinois 60471
Phone: (708) 481-1490

If you would like to make an offering specifically to The Albrights' ministry in The Netherlands, you may submit your Love Offering through a PayPal contribution. Click on the amount which will take you to the signified amount on the PayPal site.

Or you may mail your check or money order to

Friendship Baptist Church
2209 E Pawnee St
Wichita, KS 67211

Please put on your check, "Cork Albright - Netherlands"