Interview: The intercultural church in Gouda, where Esther van Schie is a pastor, has two hundred members and thirty nationalities. “I think many churches are shy about the presence of migrants.”

“Sometimes I think: No, Lord… When I preach in our intercultural congregation, I have to take into account that most of the people there have Dutch as their second language. Some churchgoers know very little about the Christian faith, others have an Islamic or Buddhist background. And there are also a few Reformed and Pentecostal Christians who know their stuff very well—how can I do justice to all of them?

I love studying, exegesis, and poring over Bible commentaries. But when I preach, I have to interpret the Bible text concisely, in simple Dutch, without Christian jargon, and in such a way that it connects with the lives of my listeners. Because you can hardly assume that they know anything.

Read more in the Nederlands Dagblad