In the early 1970s, at the height of the hippie era, a detective from the Gouda police force frequently came into contact with hippies who were squatting in abandoned buildings. The man was a Christian and invited a few of those hippies to his home to talk about faith. This had a massive snowball effect, and before long, his modest living room was filled with as many as 70 hippies, who came to faith, sang together, and studied the Bible. To offer an alternative to hanging out in a squat, a small building was rented in 1972 for ten guilders a month. That was the beginning of “the Bible Shop” in a small alley in downtown Gouda. In May 1972, the Samma Foundation was established with an initial capital of 150 guilders. The shop moved three more times in the years that followed, eventually settling in a beautiful building on Turfmarkt.
A Bible shop for all ages in downtown Gouda!
