The story of ‘Gods Ambassade’ begins in 1992, when Hugo Van Leemputten received a call from a professor of the final year of medicine at KU Leuven. He asked him to come and share a testimony about divine healing with the graduating students. “Honestly, at first I thought it was a joke. But it turned out to be true, so my wife Inger and I went to Leuven. There, I shared my story with the students of the ‘Doctors and Faith’ working group.”
In 1988, the doctors gave me only a few months to live. I had a very aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. My wife and I were Christians. Our son Sam was 7 months old when the diagnosis was made. Thankfully, we were very well supported by our church in Mortsel. Together, we searched the Bible for everything we could find about healing. We tried to surround ourselves with others who were also focused on divine healing, and we attended special meetings. Faithful friends surrounded us with prayer and practical support—but above all: God healed me completely!
Four years later, I was standing in front of those medical students, testifying about my healing—and it made a deep impression on them. Together with that professor, we also organized special weekends for doctors, to spark their interest. Several physicians came to faith as a result, and one day we were asked if we would be willing to join a group meeting at a doctor’s home.
This doctor had come to faith out of an alternative healing background and had made the decision to stop seeing patients on Tuesday evenings, choosing instead to pray with those who were interested.
That first evening, it was just Inger and me, the doctor and his wife, and a few patients. A few weeks later, the waiting room was full, and eventually there wasn’t enough space anymore. People gave their lives to Jesus, we prayed for healing and restoration—both physical and emotional—and for any other need in their lives. Testimonies began pouring in, and those Tuesday gatherings never stopped.
The group quickly outgrew the doctor’s living room, so we moved to a small hall behind the house of two regular attendees. For years we had prayed for revival—and now, we were right in the middle of it.
We didn’t actually have the time to do all of this, so I took a career break. Together with two doctors, the church officially started in 1994. Our vision is clearly reflected in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
We believe too much focus has been placed on the first part of that verse, so we choose to concentrate on the second part: life and abundance in all its dimensions.
Our goal is to make Belgium one of the healthiest countries in the world by leading people into a living relationship with God—who sent His Son into this world to die on the cross in our place for our sins, sicknesses, and poverty.
When we were leading the church together with Ann and Nadine, the doctors, we felt God telling us to start a healing school. This thought wouldn’t leave us, and after much time, prayer, and study, we decided to take the step. I had already left my job as a civil servant some time before, but to make this project a reality, Ann and Nadine also had to give up their medical practices, and Inger had to leave her job as a nurse. They did so in October and November 2004. The healing school officially launched in February 2005.
To us, the school is not just a place where people come to receive healing. It’s a place where you learn, on a biblical foundation, how to live in health yourself. The next step is a natural one for us: to share that health with others. So the school is not only for people who are sick, but for anyone interested in divine healing—Christian or not. We also focus on caregivers from any background, who can apply what they’ve learned in their professional work.
When we speak of healing, we certainly don’t mean only physical recovery. When Jesus talks about life and abundance in John 10:10, that includes health for spirit, soul, and body. Mental illnesses—such as depression, sometimes leading to suicide—are very common in our society. We have many testimonies in this area as well.
For us, the healing school is not just another project within Belgian healthcare. We often see that our country is mentioned in the international press with “bad-news stories.” As Christians, you can be opposed to many things in current policies. But experience shows that being “against” something doesn’t attract anyone to the faith. That’s why we very intentionally don’t want to simply be “against”—we want to offer an alternative. And after all, that’s exactly what Jesus did too.
Bergstraat 156,
Kessel-Lo, Belgium
Everyone faces a need at some point. For some, it’s about everyday matters, while for others, it involves more complex issues.
One thing is certain: Jesus suffered on the cross for every need and every problem. We firmly believe that Jesus didn’t die in vain and that He wants to ease every burden and solve every problem. But it’s essential that we bring these needs to Him in prayer.
You can certainly do this on your own, but we’ve experienced that praying together as a community is especially powerful. United prayer can work miracles!
NBG: I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance! (John 10:10 – NBG)
And yet, in a time when there is a growing call for deeper values, we seem to go to great lengths to devalue our Christian heritage, sometimes even feeling the need to apologize for our faith.
