In 1999 we began to meet as a small house church in Izmir. Later we rented an apartment in Alsancak. After having had our Sunday services there from 1999 to 2000 for one year, we had to meet again in our private home due to financial difficulties. During that time we applied at the municipality for an old church that hadn´t been used as a church for a period of time.
The district administrator at that time gave us his verbal confirmation that we could use the Anglican church which had been used by the municipality of Buca as a cultural centre of art in the context of Christian tourism, if we would be ready to pay the high costs for the necessary renovation and conservation measures. In march 2001 a Christian tourist group from Germany visited us and my person, Ertan Cevik, pastor of the Independent Protestant Church and Mr. Seyboy, the mayor of Buca welcomed the guests. In the presence of this visitor group, the mayor promised us to commit himself to giving back this church to their former owners, the Christians and to open it for church services. After our application, the municipality of Buca sent a letter to the responsible authorities. As a result of this application, we received notice from the Turkish Home Office and the Turkish Foreign Ministry that nothing would stand in our way to use the church for permanent Christian services as an Independent Protestant Church. Since April 2001 we are having services in the church of Buca. Sundays more and more visitors attend the services in our church. People who hear that the church has been opened again, come and attend the services.