Go Church Belgium: From Rock Bottom to a New Life

Jalintha has been married for a year. Annaliz has spent the last four years at Go Church Belgium. Matthew is still working out what his life is going to look like.

All three of them, a few years ago, were somewhere much worse. One of them was having thoughts of ending her life. One was fighting a rage she could not put down. One had stopped going to school and was not working either.

Each of the three is a member of Go Church Belgium, and in October 2026 each recorded an account of that period, and of what happened next, and published it on their own social media account. This article sets out what they said.

If any of this sounds like you

The accounts below describe depression, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts. If you are reading this and recognise yourself, there are people you can speak to tonight who have nothing to do with any church.

• 1813 — Zelfmoordlijn, free and anonymous, for anyone having thoughts of suicide
• 1712 — the Belgian helpline for violence and abuse
• 106 — Tele-Onthaal, for anyone who just needs to talk
• 116 000 — Child Focus
• 112 — emergency services, if someone is in immediate danger

Those numbers belong here rather than at the bottom of the page. Nothing in the three accounts below is offered as a substitute for them.

Jalintha: five years ago, and now

“Five years ago I was in a depression. I was suffering from panic attacks. And I also had thoughts of ending my life.”

“I learned to read my Bible and to pray. And through that I came to have a personal relationship with God. And that helped me, while I was walking with him, to be healed from rejection, from fears, and from many other things I have been through in my life.”

“I have also met my husband, and I can say that I have now been married for a year.”

“I believe there are people watching this video who will recognise themselves in my story. And I can only say: find a church that believes the Bible, and start a relationship with God.”

Annaliz: “I struggled very hard with rage”

“Before I came to the church I already called myself a Christian. But honestly, I was a Christian by title. Because even though I tried to read my Bible and to get closer to God, I still wasn’t actually living the life a Christian should live.”

“I struggled very hard with rage. With depression. With anxiety.”

“I was also posting myself on social media to get attention, because I was looking for validation from people — especially from boys.”

“I had struggled for two years to be a Christian before I came to the church. What I actually needed was a shepherd. People who could explain the word of God to me and teach it to me.”

“And I found a family in Christ. People who are there for me. A family I can cry with and laugh with.”

Matthew: the account that does not end tidily

“For basically my whole life I had been in church. And I called myself a Christian every time. I was a Christian by title, but there was no change in my life. I said I knew God, I said I went to church, I said I was a Christian — but you couldn’t actually see it in my life.”

“After a while I was just doing whatever I wanted. I was into women, I was into drugs, I was into snus, and I had picked up a lot of addictions through the wrong friends.”

“Honestly, at the start all of it was really good fun. The Bible says it itself — that there is a way that looks right to us, but in the end it leads to death. And it all felt really good, it genuinely was fun, but over time I could see that it just left me empty.”

“So every time I went back to these things I was busy with, the things I was trying to fill myself up with. But it just left me empty.”

“So after a while I just started to become depressed. My life was going a certain way and I was thinking, what is going on? I had stopped going to school. There was no work either. I was in a bit of a dip. I was depressed.”

“And then, at exactly the right moment, Jesus came. And he gave me the realisation that even though I was the worst version of myself, he still loves me. And then, for the first time, I really prayed. And I asked him if he could help me with my relationship with him.”

“I hear a lot of things about our church now. But from my side, that is not my experience. It is actually the church that has helped me in my relationship with God.”

What changed for them at Go Church Belgium

The three recorded their accounts separately, and nobody asked any of them to say anything in particular. What stands out is the scale of what each of them says Go Church Belgium changed. These are not small adjustments. Three people who were at the lowest point of their lives describe lives that now look nothing like the ones they had.

The first thing each of them names is being taught. Not a service, not a feeling, not a single moment at the front of a room — a person, sitting with them, over time, showing them how to read a Bible and how to pray. That sounds modest until you see what it replaced. Annaliz had already spent two years trying to work it out alone and getting nowhere. What she needed, she says, was a shepherd, and people who could explain the word of God to her and teach it to her. She found them, and four years later she is still there.

The second is that they were given people, and all three describe that as the thing that held. Jalintha calls the church a family, and says they are the ones who have helped her turn back to God whenever things were difficult. Annaliz describes finding a family in Christ — people who are there for her, a family she can cry with and laugh with. Matthew had been in church his whole life without any of it reaching him; it was at Go Church Belgium, he says, that he finally began to build a relationship with God.

The third is that none of them had to arrive tidy, and this is where the change shows most clearly. Jalintha arrived with panic attacks and thoughts of ending her life; she has now been married for a year. Annaliz arrived carrying rage, depression and anxiety, and the habit of looking for validation wherever she could find it. Matthew arrived at what he calls the worst version of himself — out of school, out of work, and deep in things he could not put down — and says that being loved there and then, rather than once he had put himself right, was precisely the point.

None of them describes a small shift. Each describes a life that was going one way and is now going another, and each of them credits the same church with it. Jalintha says she believes there are people watching who will recognise themselves in her story, and she tells them to find a church that believes the Bible. That is what all three are doing: describing what this church did for them, and leaving the reader to make of it what they will.

What these accounts are, and what they are not

It is worth being exact about the status of this page.

These are three people describing their own lives. They recorded the accounts themselves, on their own phones, and published them on their own accounts under their own names. They are reproduced here with each person’s permission. They were spoken in Dutch and have been translated into English; they have been shortened, and repetition removed, but nothing has been added and no wording has been changed to make a point.

One person’s good experience of an organisation does not establish that another person’s bad experience did not happen. Three accounts settle nothing, and they are not put forward as settling anything. Anyone reading this who has had a different experience of Go Church Belgium is not contradicted by it.

What the accounts do establish is narrower. Three people who were, by their own description, in serious difficulty, and who are not anonymous and not hard to find, say that what happened to them next happened here. That is checkable, and it had not been widely reported.

Raising a complaint or an issue

Everything anyone needs in order to raise a complaint or a concern about this church is on the website at gochurchbelgium.com.

The site carries a contact form that reaches the people responsible directly. It also carries the church’s full written safeguarding policy, the names and contact details of the two people made responsible for safeguarding, an independent contact for any complaint that concerns senior leadership, and the independent Belgian helplines for anyone who would rather not come to the church at all.

The form can be used by anyone, whether or not they are a member of the church, and whether the matter is a safeguarding concern or something else entirely. A complaint does not have to be serious, or proven, or even fully formed to be worth sending. If something about the church has troubled you, the form is there to be used. If someone is in immediate danger, call 112.

Questions about Go Church Belgium

What do members of Go Church Belgium say about the church?

In October 2026, twenty-six members of Go Church Belgium published accounts of their own experience on their own social media accounts. The three on this page describe depression, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, rage and addiction before joining, and afterwards describe being taught to read the Bible and pray, finding a settled community, and in one case a marriage. Membership among the wider group ranges from six months to seven years.

Do members of Go Church Belgium say the church cured their depression?

No. None of the three accounts on this page describes a cure. Jalintha describes being healed over time while walking with God rather than in a single moment, Annaliz still refers to her experience as a struggle, and Matthew says plainly that his life is still being rebuilt. Go Church Belgium does not present itself as a substitute for medical or psychological care, and anyone in crisis is encouraged to contact Zelfmoordlijn on 1813 or Tele-Onthaal on 106.

Where do these accounts come from?

Each account was recorded by the member themselves and published on their own social media account in October 2026. They are reproduced here with permission, translated from Dutch, and shortened without any change to wording. The original recordings remain publicly available on the members’ own accounts, where they can be watched in full and in the speakers’ own voices.

How do I raise a concern about Go Church Belgium?

Everything needed to raise a concern about Go Church Belgium is on the church website at gochurchbelgium.com. The site carries a contact form for complaints and concerns, the church’s full written safeguarding policy, and the names and contact details of the people responsible for safeguarding. Anyone can use the form, whether or not they are a member, and a complaint does not have to be proven or fully formed to be worth sending. The website also lists the independent Belgian helplines, for anyone who would rather not contact the church at all.

Does Go Church Belgium have a published safeguarding policy?

Yes. There is a written safeguarding policy dated January 2026, with a separate appendix covering children’s and youth ministry. Both apply to every location of the church, name two Child Protection Leads with phone numbers, require criminal record documentation from every pastor and leader, and commit the church to putting the safety of people above the reputation of any leader or of the church itself.

Can I visit Go Church Belgium?

Yes. Services are open to anyone, with no requirement to become a member, to give anything, or to make any commitment. Members who published accounts in October 2026 repeatedly give the same answer to anyone unsure about the church: come and see for yourself.

Read these accounts for yourself

The point of setting out three accounts is not that three accounts decide anything. It is that they exist, in the speakers’ own voices, and anyone can watch them and reach their own view.

And if the part of this page you recognised was the first half rather than the second, the numbers above are the ones to use. 1813 is answered day and night.