A dream from God
How a dream from God can grow into a beautiful, life-healing program that has already encouraged and healed hundreds of people: that is the story of the Joseph Project.
It started with a desire
My husband and I served the Lord in Central Asia for a number of years. The Christians there live under great pressure and often experience difficulties because of their faith. When we were expelled from the country, I thought I would never be able to return. Back in the Netherlands, however, my heart continued to go out to Central Asians and the desire remained to be able to do something for first generation of Christians. One day, our friend Rianne, who had also worked in Central Asia, received a request from one of the women to come back. The need was great. People were being imprisoned for their faith and many just coming to faith in Christ had their homes raided. There was an urgent need for teaching and healing.
A dream from God
Together we brought this request to God in prayer: perhaps He could create an opportunity to return to Central Asia. One night I received a dream, a Divine dream. God showed me what we could do there. He gave me the whole elaborate story of Joseph and his family, with many creative activities incorporated into it. Although Christian education was forbidden in these countries, the activities themselves could serve as a cover for working safely in Central Asia. Together we developed the dream into a four-day conference in which education, encouragement, processing, and healing are interwoven.
INCREASING
In 2011 a team of Dutch women shared the first conference with Central Asian women. It did not stop there; God had bigger plans. Again and again, we received requests for conferences in various countries in Central Asia. Since then varying teams of Dutch women and men gave several of these conferences. Though we started with a focus on the women, since 2015, this conference has also been given to men. Traveling to completely different cultures when organizing these conferences, because of the ever increasing demands for and dependence upon financial sponsorship, the volunteers began to teach and train local teams in Central Asia. The content of the Joseph Project has now been translated into several languages and several local teams are now active. The blessing of this conference is spreading like oil through different countries. God is at work, equipping His church.
DREAM AND LIVE
From people around the world we started to receive invitations to come and teach the program Dream & Live. After a few years of organizing women’s conferences only, a course for men and women started at the beginning of 2018. The course is given over several evenings and a short weekend rather then as a four-day conference. In addition, the entire program has been laid out in a beautiful workbook with a separate manual for the team members who lead the conference or course. These books and manuals have now been translated into various languages.
In 2020, due to the pandemic, we saw the need for an online program. We rewrote and recorded all the lessons into an online format.
In this way the Dream & Live program can reach more and more people and change many lives. It is amazing what a wonderful dream can bring about. All thanks and honor to God! His ways are wonderful and trustworthy.