Our faith story

David and Linda met in 1996 while backpacking in Australia. After returning to the Netherlands they got married a year later. They have three grown-up children, Annika, Rick and Laura. Originally Linda was not raised with the Christian faith, David was raised Christian but left Christianity behind when he was 20. After their marriage, faith had no place in their family for a long time. Until 2016, in that year Linda was invited to an Alpha course by a friend, she came to faith and got baptized in 2017. David is not involved in faith at all at that time. He attends church with Linda occasionally, but does not feel this is for him.

In 2018, Linda gets the feeling in her heart to walk the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. She decides to go alone and walks 300 kilometers to Santiago de Compostella. Before Linda leaves, they agree together that David will come to Santiago and so they both can walk the last part of the journey to the Spanish coast.

The moment they take their first step on the walk together, they meet another pilgrim. They engage in conversation and this pilgrim turns out to be a pastor of a church in Vancouver. They spend much of this week hanging out with him, becoming friends and having great conversations. Conversations about faith and Christianity, but also about their personal lives. The conversations with Durwin change David’s view of the Christian faith.

After they return to the Netherlands, David attends church with Linda, joins the next Alpha course and comes to faith in early 2019. On April 14, 2019, David is baptized, exactly two years to the day after Linda was baptized.

Listen below to an audio clip of a sermon by Durwin in which he tells his side of our encounter.