Our Histroy
Church History of RCCG Mount Zion International
Mount Zion International parish traces its roots to the mid 90s, when a couple of Msc. students visiting the then headquarters parish in Torenstraat in The Hague, had a chat with Pastor Olotu on the possibility of establishing a parish in Delft. Shortly after that meeting, MZIP was born.
Timeline:
1996:
- Pastor and Pastor (Mrs) Olotu arrived in the Netherlands. They were based in The Hague and attended the Headquarters parish in Torenstraat, the Hague.
- Some foreign MSc students in Delft were searching for a suitable place to fellowship. There was virtually no place in Delft. They located a small place of weekly fellowship, organized by a Dutchman married to an African woman. The idea was to organize a fellowship for English speaking believers. The meetings begun with singing songs, followed by voluntary exhortations by whoever had a word and was willing to share.
1997:
- Some students went to The Hague and found themselves in the RCCG. When Pastor Olotu heard their story, RCCG Mount Zion International Parish Delft was born the following week. The first location was the common room of the ground floor of the student hostels located at Oost-Indieplaats. This location could comfortably accommodate the handful of members at the time. The membership consisted of mainly students and working individuals. There were mid-week house fellowships, Friday prayer meetings and a Sunday service, which was preceded by Sunday School, all providing a rich source of spiritual growth for members.
- The church was located in the Dish hotel in Delft briefly between 1997 and 1999.
1999:
- Gradual growth and expansion took place in 1999 and attendance on Sundays rose to about 20 people on the average. Plans were made therefore to move to a larger and a more suitable location. One of the newcomers, Pastor Sam Osam-Duodu, then an MSc student from Ghana, soon became an assistant to Pastor Olotu.
2000:
- The Parish moved to Morgenstond church building located at Achterom 46 in the year 2000. This facility had a 300-seater auditorium which accommodated the growing numbers and other significant changes at the time.
2001:
- Pastor Sam Olotu relocated to Nigeria towards the end of 2001. Pastor Kalada Tobin was then posted from one of the parishes in the Hague to take charge. Pastor Sam Osam-Duodu later relocated to Ghana.
2002:
- Pastor Tobin relocated to Nigeria during the latter part of the year after roughly one year in charge. Pastor Austin Omobhude became the new parish Pastor. This was a season when there was a noticeable drop in the number of foreign students at the various institutes coupled with the departure of many students who left for their home countries. The church membership reduced subsequently, reaching a point when the Friday prayer meetings regularly averaged less than ten people,and had even further dropped to as low as two, but to the glory of God, the parish was being ushered into a new era of fruitfulness.
2003:
The Congregatiegebouw in the city center of Delft
- From the Morgenstond church building, MZIP moved to the Congregatiegebouw until 2015.
The church has since witnessed absolute growth, full of diversity. Presently there are quite a number of families, several children, youth, students and workers from various walks of life and nationalities. Fully translated services are available. The outreach to the Delft residents as well as prayers for the city have intensified, further emphasizing the RCCG vision and applying it specifically to the city of Delft. - One of the major highlights of 2003 was the visit by the General Overseer, Pastor E.A. Adeboye, who worshiped briefly and then went on to pray and prophesied concerning the growth and expansion of the parish.
- Delft parish became self-sufficient, a mature parish, having its own board and no longer required any major support from the Mission Headquarters in The Hague.
- Members and of house fellowships continued increasing.
2004:
- Through divine wisdom and leadership under Pastor Austin Omobhude the parish begun to experience stability and steady growth. The Lord was working through different vessels at various leadership positions. It got to a point that the pastor could comfortably focus on his official duties while away on regular foreign trips without the need to check up on how the parish was doing.
2005:
- In 2005, there was a further consolidation of the growth which had taken place in the previous years. We witnessed increased level of anointing and service in the various ministries.
2006: The year of Ultimate Breakthrough
- Pastor Omobhude relocated to Nigeria, after four years of labour of love to the Lord and His church. He left behind a parish which is in every sense, was fully fledged and growing stronger, having set very high leaderships standards by example, as well as being influential to advancing the work of the Lord at the National level.
- Pastor Hyacinth Nwosu took charge after Pastor Omobhude left. He became the first parish pastor resident in Delft. This marked the beginning of a new chapter of partnership with God in building His Kingdom here in Delft as we looked forward to more exploits in what has been a journey of amazing testimonies of the goodness of the Lord.
July 2015:
- The Parish relocated to the Lutheran Church at the North of Delft.
July 2016: New Beginning
- The Parish relocated to the Stanislas College at Krakeelpolderweg1 in 2016. We continue praying for the city and preparing the ground for a new revival.