While his countryman, Corrie ten Boom, was enduring the hardships of a German concentration camp, Andy van der Bijl was still a teenager., pulling pranks on the German troops that occupied his village. These world events led to Communism’s stronghold on Eastern Europe – a place that would play a key role in this young man’s life and ministry.
Andy was born in the village of Witte, Netherlands, in 1928. Their family of eight lived in the smallest home in the village. His father was deaf and his mother handicapped but the family’s circumstances did not hamper Andy’s dreams of adventure.
When he was 18, Andy joined the Dutch army. Haunted by what he had seen and done, he tried to escape the guilt he was carrying by drinking, brawling and writing. It wasn’t until he was, two years later, that he began seeking God. While recuperating, conviction about his sinful life drove him to read the Bible and ask many questions of Thile, the love of his life, who was corresponding with Andy. When he returned home, he finally surrendered his life to Christ.
Soon afterward, Andrew responded to God’s prompting to become a missionary. Despite the fact he had never finished high school, Andrew obeyed God’s lead and applied (and was accepted) for Bible college in Glasgow. During his college years, Andrew’s faith continued to grow. As he obediently followed where God was leading, his saw God’s miraculous provision, time and time again.
In 1955, this young Dutch missionary attended a Communist youth conference in Poland. He took his clothes, personal items, a Bible and “The Way to Salvation” tracts to give away. He visited a Baptist church in Warsaw and discovered the churches behind the Iron Curtain thought they’d been forgotten by the rest of the world. They needed encouragement and prayer. They needed Bibles. This trip changed his life.
Andrew began praying about what he could do. Through Revelation 3:2 God directed him to “strengthen what remains.” So, he began with the most immediate need he saw.
It was the height of the Cold War between the Communist Block and the free world. Communism was striving to wipe out all remnants of Christianity within their regime. Into this environment, Brother Andrew (as he came to be known) began smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain in his blue VW Beetle. Each time he made a dangerous border crossing he prayed, “Lord, in my luggage I have Scripture I want to take to Your children. When You were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind. Do not let the guards see those things You do not want them to see.”
His work in Communist block countries was so extensive, the KGB had a 150-page dossier on him. Although they had compiled a great deal of information about God’s Smuggler, they were never able to stop his ministry.
As others joined Brother Andrew’s work, the ministry grew and expanded into other countries where Christians were isolated, persecuted and feeling abandoned. When Communisms stronghold on Eastern Europe crumbled, the ministry expanded its reach into other countries where Christians are persecuted and need support. Brother Andrew not only preached in churches throughout the Middle East, he met with the leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah as Christ’s ambassador.
God called Brother Andrew home in 2022 but his work continues through Open Doors International, a ministry committed to the ongoing support of the spiritual, educational, and practical needs of the persecuted church worldwide. You can learn more about this ministry by visiting their website.
“The real calling [to serve Christ] is not a certain place or career but to everyday obedience. And that call is extended to every Christian, not jut a select few.” -Brother Andrew
*Information taken from Inspirational Christians (www.inspirationalchristians.org) and Open Doors International (www.opendoors.org).
