Fifty Years of Ministry of Teun J. de Ruiter

This year, 2010, I celebrate fifty years of Christian ministry and it seems to me that this is a good time to give a brief history of my life thus far.

I was born on the 1st of July 1938. I received a solid Dutch Reformed upbringing but did not know the Lord personally, that happened in February 1959. I got converted and shortly after that filled with the Holy Spirit. Straight after my conversion I started preaching in open air meetings in The Hague, Holland. In the Spring of 1959 I received the call for ministry, which was confirmed with 2 Timothy 2:1-4. This had as a result that I applied for ministerial training at the Bible College of Wales in Swansea, Great Britain. After I finished my Military Service in the Royal Dutch Air Force in December 1959 I went in January 1960 for the theological and missions study to the Bible College of Wales in Swansea, South Wales. Soon I met in the College Reinhard Bonnke – who also celebrates this year 50 years of ministry - and we became friends up till this day. After a few months of study I received the first invitation to minister in one of the many churches in the vicinity of Swansea. More invitations followed with the result that on Sundays I made often, as other students, an early journey to preach in one of the many chapels in a village or town. As students in Christian ministry we were often asked to preach as there was already in those days a shortage of preachers and pastors.

In 1962 I received my Diploma and became officially a Christian Minister. I started first to preach in Wales and England and later in Holland and Germany. In September 1963 I married in Brynmawr with Theresa Thomas and started to travel together. Tessa was already active in her church and had also ministered for some years in the Sunday service of churches. She always ministered the Word of God with great dedication and was greatly appreciated by her pastor, Rev. Jim Webber and the members of the Church, the Baptist Chapel Tabor in Brynmawr.

In the Spring of 1967 we moved with our few belongings and our first child, Andrew, who was born in January, definitely to Holland and made our home in the town of Rijswijk, near The Hague. The reason for this move was the invitation to become a teacher in the 'Centrale Pinkster Bijbelschool,' (Central Pentecostal Bible School), which was to open in The Hague in September 1967 to receive her first students. Reverend Roscoe Leach and his wife, both ministers of the Assemblies of God in the U.S.A., were the first directors. They were truly inspiring leaders for staff and students. With great personal sacrifice they led the school in those first years of her existence. The school started with more students than was expected. We celebrated in 1992 twenty-five years of teaching and leadership, but remained a teacher in that school till 1994. In 1990 I accepted the call to become the pastor of the 'Pinkstergemeente Elim,' (Pentecostal Church Elim) in the city of Hilversum.

In 1963 I had received a prophecy in the AoG Pentecostal Tabernacle of Brynmawr – the village where Tessa lived and where I always found a place to stay – that the Lord would give me a teaching ministry. I had at first difficulty to believe this word. But after prayer I received from the Lord a word of confirmation that I would indeed become a teacher of many nations. First of all I taught students in the Bible College, equipping them also for ministry abroad. But the prophetic word given in 1963 received in 1997 a new, exciting potential. When I left the College as a teacher I was presented a personal computer. In a speech the remark was made that I could enjoy myself with playing with it at home. But soon after I left the college I began to realize the enormous, worldwide potential of this electronic medium for preaching and teaching on the internet and by e-mail. Our internet sites are bilingual reaching people all over the world. Now, in 2010, many people are blessed and inspired by our ministry.

Tessa and I are now 71 years of age but continue to minister. It is our desire to work for the Lord as long as we live and He continues to give us the strength for it To Jesus Christ, our Lord, who sacrificed His life for us, be all the glory!

1 May 2010, Holland, recvised 28 August 2011

Contact? E-mail.... Teun J. de Ruiter

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For the future support of the ministry of Teun & Tessa de Ruiter you can make a donation to the Foundation Support Christian Ministries' in Holland. The account is 44.71.11.973 at the ABN-Amro Bank in Leusden IBAN Code NL70ABNA0447111973