CHURCH HISTORY
The River at Istanbul is a fruit of the vision God placed in the hearts of the Founding Pastors Güçlü Corey Erman and Gülben Rose Erman. The church and its related ministries are under the Apostolic covering of Turkish Revival Ministries (TRM), which was founded by them as a result of the vision, fire and purpose God placed in their hearts. They were sent by God to Istanbul, Turkey with an Apostolic calling to plant a church in the heart of Istanbul that would carry the fire of revival to this nation and beyond. They started doing revival services in a hotel in Taksim in November 1999. Within a few weeks the crowds grew from 8 to 105 people. The first Sunday service of the church was conducted on December 5th, 1999.
The church met in several hotels in Taksim area until it moved to the current location on Cumhuriyet Caddesi 175/6 Harbiye in April 2000.
In January 2000, The River Bible Institute of Istanbul (RBI) was launched with the purpose of “Training revivalists for the 21st Century.” This is a Bible School where the Word and the Spirit come together. The school is designed to impart the Word of God and the Anointing of the Holy Spirit in order to help every student discover their gifts and callings, and to equip every student to fulfill the call of God. The school has a two-year curriculum. First Year Certificate is awarded upon completion of year one. Second Year Diploma is awarded upon completion of year two.
Turkish Revival Ministries has a media ministry department known as TRM Media, responsible for producing programs for broadcasting on television and Internet. The ministry maintains another facility located at Nakiye Elgün Sok 56/2 Şişli where the media ministry and Bible School are housed. Turkish Revival Ministries has a leadership training department known as Equip Turkey, responsible for conducting leadership training for church leaders and church workers throughout Turkey.
TRM has been involved with many church-planting efforts throughout the years in various capacities. We continue to have a goal of directly planting new churches or supporting such projects. TRM partners and supports various Kingdom-oriented missions work with prayer, financial support and resources.
CHURCH VISION
In simple terms, The River at Istanbul is “A Ministry of the Word and the Spirit of Revival.”
The VISION of The River at Istanbul (aka Turkish Revival Ministries) is:
“To see one million souls come into the Kingdom of God through evangelism, equipping and church planting.”
The MISSION of The River at Istanbul (aka Turkish Revival Ministries) is:
- To bring revival to the church and mobilize the Body of Christ to labor in the harvest fields and bring in the end-time harvest of souls.
- To equip believers with the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to be effective and fruitful in their divine callings.
- To plant churches and raise up Ephesians 4:11 five-fold ministry offices in the Body of Christ.
To accomplish the MANDATE given to our local church we have the following three priorities in everything that we do:
- Evangelism
- Equipping
- Church planting