Who are we?

We are a group of people, a church, committed to one another in brotherly/sisterly love, united in the belief that God has given us a new life, and held together through our shared relationship with Jesus Christ.

We are a spiritual family pursuing meaningful relationships through the grace of God. The strength of our community comes from a united dream to live out the teachings of Christ and to bring God's story to the world around us.

Ultimately, we want to grow community, develop spiritual depth, and model the Kingdom of God.

What is our story?

Amsterdam50 was born out of a movement of churches called the Great Commission Association (GCA), whose primary vision is to develop churches around the world and to reach people with the message of God's love in Jesus Christ.

In May 2001, a team of 30 people from two Great Commission Churches, H20 (a church in Bowling Green, Ohio) and the Rock (a church in Fort Collins, Colorado), joined together to explore Amsterdam and felt God's leading to indeed start a church in the city center. Over the next year, a group of about 40 individuals including people from Holland, England and various places in the United States formed the church planting initiative called "the Amsterdam Project." Between July 2002 and March 2003 the entire team of about 40 people made its way to Amsterdam and started looking for jobs, enrolling in school, and finding housing.

The first church gathering was aboard a boat on the IJ River. Slowly the group grew and began meeting in an apartment on the Leidsekade. During this time the community began renovations on an attic space ("zolder") in a historic building on the Leidsekade, which was to become the meeting place of the church, which was initially named Zolder50. After several months of hard work, the church held its first official public worship gathering in March 2003. Ever since then, we've been continuing to refine our vision for knowing Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and making Jesus known in Amsterdam.

What is our vision?

Amsterdam50 is primarily focused on knowing Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and making Jesus known. We serve as a network for communities of faith that experience the power of God in a variety of different expressions throughout the city of Amsterdam and perhaps someday beyond the city as well.

We model ourselves after the church in the book of Acts, multiplying communities throughout the various neighborhoods and subcultures of Amsterdam and saturating the city with the presence of God and His people. It is our hope that each community will create its own identity. This paradigm would allow people to meet the individual needs of their neighborhoods by creating an atmosphere that best suits their particular subculture. The various churches and communities of Amsterdam50 are tied together by their shared mission and values, their commitment to the Bible and the Spirit of God, and each individual striving to know Jesus, become more like him, and make him known.

What is the meaning behind 50?

"50" is a number that represents new beginnings. In the Old Testament of the Bible, God commanded his people to observe a special year of celebration every 50 years, called the Year of Jubilee. It was set apart as a time of rest, recovery, release, and renewal for everyone within the nation of Israel, ultimately foreshadowing the Kingdom of God in heaven. We want to also serve as a signpost for God's Kingdom here on Earth and the new beginning that we are given in this life through a relationship with Jesus. (See Leviticus 25: 8-18)

The Greek word "Pentecost" means "50" and is a significant number in the New Testament of the Bible because the Holy Spirit was given to the church on the fiftieth day following the resurrection of Jesus Christ, filling each believer and giving birth to the church as God's agent for change in the world. At that moment in history, the world was forever transformed as ordinary people were filled with the very Spirit of God, and they started to experience miraculous and supernatural events as the newly defined people of God who lived out true community with one another. We want to echo this initial expression of Gods Spirit-filled community. We want to be a part of God's plan for this present time?redeeming our homes, our neighborhoods, our cities, our countries, and our world for God like the original church described in the New Testament. (See Acts 2)

What are our core values and beliefs?

The core of our identity is expressed in supporting one another in the process of knowing Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and making Jesus known. Yet we strongly value the fact that each one of us makes his or her own choice, not just to say that we're going to follow Jesus, but to actually and actively live that out in our day-to-day life. This is expressed through many disciplines, with the primary being:

• Reading and studying the Bible for life application, being humble to be taught by the Bible and the Holy Spirit, trusting God for transformation of the heart and soul.
• Enjoying a vibrant connection to God through prayer, believing that if we are in personal relationship with God that we will communicate with and listen to Him.
• Living out the Great Commission by making other disciples. This is a natural cause and affect when we are connected to Jesus: we will desire to share about him with others as we grow in our relationship with Him.
• Living in deep relationship and community. Believing that God is alive and active in our lives also through our love and relationships with one another.

These are some of the most basic patterns of life and ministry, which shape our definition and experience of church. If you want to read more about the core values of our movement of churches, click here to view a more detailed explanation from the Great Commission Europe website.

Our Beliefs

We see our Statement of Faith as essential truths of Christianity. Our statement contains the same truths that have been part of the Christian faith since the First Century; such truths are stated in Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. To read more on our statement of faith go here.