Discover The Church

We are Redeemer International Church Delft and we exist to see the God’s Presence transforming lives in Delft and beyond.

We started in January 2017 when a group of people left Redeemer International Church in The Hague to start a new church in the heart of Delft.  This team was led original by Chris Taylor from The Hague church and subsequently and currently by Dean Wilding.  We have become a community of people from all over the world who aim to love God and all people and want to show everyone everywhere that the message of Jesus is still as exciting, relevant and life-changing today as it always has been.

Our Vision

What is a “vision”?

Our vision tells us what we want to be in the future.  It is a picture of the type of community and the type of people we want to become.  It is what we would want to find if we jumped into a time-machine and came out and looked at Redeemer in five or ten years’ time.  It is the point on the horizon we are moving towards.

Our Vision

We have a simple statement of our vision:

We exist to see God’s Presence transforming lives.

As with any short statement each of these words are full of meaning, here is what they mean to us:

“We exist…”

We believe Redeemer Delft was planned and called into being by God for His specific purposes in this city. We are not the whole Body of Christ in Delft, but we seek to be secure in the specific role and “body part” God has appointed us to be.

“…to see…”

Our primary calling is to be witnesses to the glory and goodness of God. We are here to see what God wants to do in Delft through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, rather than focusing on what we can achieve through our own strength.

“…God’s Presence…”

While God is everywhere, we specifically seek His “manifest presence”—the tangible, measurable expression of His glory among us. We aim to create “encounter spaces” where both believers and non-believers can meet with God in a way that is more than just a subjective feeling.

“…transforming lives.”

When people encounter God’s presence, they are changed. We believe this leads to physical and emotional healing, salvation, and an ongoing process of being made more like Jesus as we dwell in His Presence.

What does this look like in practice?

Perhaps this is all sounding a little strange to you.  You do not know what we mean when we talk about when we say “encountering the Presence of God”.

Right from the start of the Bible in Eden (see Genesis 2) all the way to the end in Heavenly Jerusalem (see Revelation 21) we read the story of God wanting to be present with His people.  It is God’s great desire that you would live in and experience His Presence 24/7.  It is the goal of Jesus’ work on the Cross and the purpose of the Great Commission that God would have a family who can live in and enjoy His Presence forever.

The Presence of God is what you were made for.  Coming into the Presence of God is like being placed into an spiritual and emotional atmosphere where you realise you can breathe for the first time.  It is intoxicating, comforting and challenging all at the same time. It is better than anything else you will experience and will leave you wanting to experience more.

  • Physical

    People often encounter God in their bodies and senses: feeling a warmth or heaviness, “electricity” through them, experience of healing, smells, etc. 

  • Emotional

    When God’s Presence is manifest people can get emotional: laughing, crying, feelings of being deeply loved, etc.

  • Spiritual

    God’s manifest Presence touches our spirits giving us assurance of salvation, conviction of wrongdoing and revealing truth, etc.

Our Approach

How we do what we do is just as important as the vision itself. Our approach is summed up in one statement:

We are led by the Holy Spirit, focused on Jesus’ Presence, and sustained by the Father’s joy.

Spirit-Led

We seek the guidance, wisdom, and revelation of the Holy Spirit in every decision, ensuring our work is “God’s thing, done in God’s way.”

Presence-Focused

We prioritize Jesus’ Presence over human performance, trusting Him to work through us rather than relying on our own efforts to “get it right.”  

Joy-Sustained

We serve from a place of delight, fueled by the Father’s joy rather than a sense of heavy duty or responsibility.  

Our Activities

We organize our ministries into seven “pillars” to help us focus our resources and energy on what God has called us to do:

  • Encounter

    Creating gatherings and spaces where we host God’s Presence through worship, prayer, and the Word.

  • Prayer

    Building rhythms of corporate prayer as the primary engine of our church.

  • Growth

    Fostering discipleship contexts and training to stimulate spiritual and emotional maturity.

  • Next Generation

    Investing in age-specific encounter spaces for those aged 0 to 30.

  • Community

    Cultivating a family of genuine love where everyone can find care and a place to contribute.

  • Outreach

    Partnering with God to share the Good News and reach the city of Delft.

  • Operations

    Building the infrastructure and stewardship needed to grow and multiply into the future.

Our Beliefs

Central Beliefs

Redeemer International Church Delft holds to the historic Orthodox Christian faith as found in the Bible and summarised in the ‘Ecumenical Creeds’ of the Church (statements of belief developed by the early church, which all Christian denominations agree on):

The Trinity

We believe that there is one God who has eternally existed in a community of three: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All are to be worshiped and all are equally God. None of them came into existence at a point in time. They are not identical to one another (the Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit and the Son is not the Father or the Spirit, etc.) but they are one in will and essence.

God the Father

Created all things (both visible and invisible realities) out of nothing, according to his will, through the Son and in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is faithful to every promise and out of all that he created he intends for humanity, in particular, to live in relationship with Himself. Therefore, in an act of great mercy and love, he sent his Son into the world.

God the Son

He Came: Moved by love and in obedience to his Father, the Son came into the world as a man, but without the loss of his divinity. He was conceived by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, and was born as Jesus of Nazareth through the virgin Mary. He was tempted in every way that we are and yet lived a sinless life. He came to reveal God to us and to rescue us from our rebellion and rejection of God (sin) and it’s consequences.

He Died and Rose: He died on the cross in our place, removing all barriers to our relationship with the Father. Three days later, he rose bodily from the grave, as a demonstration of his power over sin and death, and as proof of his identity as the eternal Son of God. For 40 days after his resurrection, he remained on the earth and appeared to over 500 people, teaching them and eating with them. After this time he retuned to heaven, where he now rules at the ‘right hand of the Father’, and through him all who love him have access to the Father.

He Will Come Again: At an unknown time in the future, Jesus will return physically, to establish his everlasting kingdom. At this time all the dead will be physically raised, and along with the living will be judged by him, according to how they have responded to his life and teachings.

God the Holy Spirit

Was sent by God the Father and the Son into the world in order to: make us aware of our need of a saviour, lead us to trust in Jesus’ life and work and to empower the believer to live a new life in obedience to God. He spoke through the Old Testament Prophets and inspired the writers of the New Testament, and he enables us to understand what God has revealed about himself.

The Church

The Church is a spiritual community, made up of all those (living and dead) who have turned from their sin and trusted in Jesus alone for their salvation, all of whom have been given new life by the Holy Spirit and are united to Jesus as ‘one body’. The Church is founded on the truths found in the Bible (the Apostles’ teaching) and is not identical to one denomination, institution, or gathering of people.

The Good News of Jesus Christ

To sum up the main message of the Bible, called the Good News or the Gospel, in one small section is not easy but we can get some help with a tool called The Four (find other languages here):

God loves you.

God created you for a loving, intimate and personal relationship with Him.  He loves you unconditionally as you are right now.

You are separated from God.

You do not experience God’s love because you ignore God and just do your own thing.  The Bible calls this sin.  It is the sickness of every human soul and the source of everything that is wrong in the world.

Jesus died for you. 

He came to heal you from sin.  He paid the penalty for your sin, he broke its power over you and will remove its presence from you – allowing you experience God’s love now and forever.

Will you choose to follow Jesus? 

This life-long journey of freedom, transformation and change begins by talking to God and asking for forgiveness for living our lives without Him.

Core Convictions

Along with these central beliefs we have other core convictions, which shape our specific practices of church and the Christian life:

Evangelical

We believe that the Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, is the written word of God. The Scriptures are the authoritative guide for all Christian life, practice and beliefs (for the Church and the individual). The truthfulness of every statement of belief is dependent on whether or not it is in line with the teachings of Scripture. All believers are encouraged to study the Scriptures and apply them to their lives in obedience to God, who speaks through them with life-giving power.

Reformed

As a church we stand within a particular Protestant tradition that emphasises the supremacy of God over all things in creation and in relation to salvation. We believe that all things exist for God’s purposes and his glory, that he is the rightful ruler and judge of all things and that he is the thing of most value and worth in the universe.

Charismatic

We believe that the Holy Spirit supernaturally gives abilities to believers, some of which seem “ordinary” (e.g. administration, hospitality), while others seem more extraordinary (e.g. healing, prophecy). We believe that all of the ‘gifts of the Spirit’ found in the Bible are still available for all who believe in Jesus and that these gifts should be encouraged and practiced in the individual’s life and within the Christian community for the building up and encouragement of all believers. We also believe that the ‘Baptism of the Spirit’ is available for all believers and should be accompanied by further fillings of the Spirit throughout the believer’s life.

Missional

We believe that God has given all believers a mission, which is to ‘Glorify God through living and sharing the Gospel (the good news about Jesus)’. Therefore, all of a Christian’s life should be lived in line with this purpose, and church life should be organised and practiced in such a way as to achieve this mission.