Who are you? Where do you come from? What values did you get from your parents that remain today? We all have an origin story. My story takes me back to sunny California on the west coast of the United States. My parents met at church and from my earliest memories they instilled in my brothers and I a deep love and appreciation for the Bible, for God’s love and for ministry to others. My dad was a builder. My mom was a nurturer. I still carry these traits today.
I love God, the Bible, theology, ministry, the Church, building, and nurturing. I am who I am because of where I came from. My identity can be traced back to my beginnings.
Who is Trinity International Church? What do we believe? What do we represent? Where are we headed? When I arrived in the Netherlands in early January these were questions that needed to be answered. Somehow, along the way, Trinity Church lost connection with its identity. God’s people prayed and God provided. John Johnson, a prominent Pastor from Trinity’s past, who grew the church and secured the Leidschendam building, came back from America in the midst of a crisis of identity.
Through John God brought me back from the past as well. Our shared connection to Trinity’s past along with our passion for Trinity’s future guided us as we helped Trinity Church rediscover where it came from and chart a course for where we are going. Pastor John is coming back again. The work is not finished but the fog of uncertainty has lifted. Trinity International Church was established to be a safe place where the Nations gather to worship and serve God.
We are a place where solid biblical teaching is central and the Bible is held in high regard. Trinity was created to celebrate unity in diversity. We are better together; many denominations and nationalities under one roof. Our Church was established on the belief that God’s Word is practical and gives insight into how God created His People to live. Our Church constitution was written to be a guiding document that establishes these principles and reminds us both where we came from and why we must not deviate.
We have taken quite a journey and yet we have arrived where we began, back at the beginning. By God’s grace we are still the Church He created us to be. You belong here. There is room here for all God’s People to worship together in peace. It is in this expression of Unity that the world will know Jesus. John 17:20-21, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
“Trinity International Church is a safe, welcoming, community of Christ-followers who uphold a high view of Scripture, celebrate unity in diversity and participate fully in the abiding life as described in the Bible. We are united by the principle that in the essentials there should be unity, in all else there should be charity.”
