ANBI
ANBI
ACTIVITIES REPORT 2021
As a church and foundation with a charity status (ANBI), we had many activities lined up for 2020. Unfortunately, we were unable to execute over ninety per cent of the activities due to the outbreak of the COVID19 Pandemic. In fact, one of our programs scheduled to take place from 14th to 23rd March 2020 had to be cancelled, and the guest speaker from the United States of America had to return home due to the COVID19 restrictions and regulations quickly.
The program was a national conference with all our branches in the Netherlands coming together in our national headquarters in Amsterdam. There were scheduled training of pulpit and non-pulpit ministers, prayer sessions, family meetings; spiritual counselling; youth empowerment seminars; family fellowship; and many more.
As a responsible organisation, all our onsite church activities were cancelled most of the year and only held online services. Because of lack of experience with live streaming and the absence of the necessary equipment, we struggled in the first few months of the Pandemic and eventually have streaming our programs successfully.
EFFECT Of COVID19 PANDEMIC ON OUR ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS
The COVID19 Pandemic significantly affected us in many ways. The first area was that opportunity to regularly come together to fellowship in the presence of the Lord was taken away. Many families struggled to deal with this situation. Secondly, our activities and programs for the church and the communities were also affected, and they were cancelled due to the pandemic restrictions. These programs and activities include:
Church Conferences
Leadership conference
Social intervention seminar
Marriage seminar
Training and seminar
Youth retreat
Children outing (recreational park)
Teenage Camping program
Hospital and prison visitation
King’s Day National Evangelism
National prayer programs
Pulpit exchange (ministers/pastors exchange locations for one month)
Men and women retreats
Skills empowerment and development
Mothers / Fathers’ Celebration
This is a program we have embarked on for a few years. We prepare ready to eat food packages about 50 – 60 boxes and take the packaged ready-to-eat food to Kadijksplein Amsterdam to be distributed to those in need. We do this on Thursdays weekly. The program was suspended for a short time because of the Pandemic, but we have since resumed the program.
The Pandemic also affected our income significantly. This had several implications on the church, members and activities. Many members were affected financially, and their voluntary contribution to the church was also affected. As a church, we could not effectively support the members of the church who are not documented and without a source of income. For some branches meeting up, monthly obligations was a considerable challenge because of the reduced financial inflow.