In 1988, Marc Huynen visited Finland with his wife. In the tourist documentation he received, he discovered an original map of the country with indications of so-called "open" churches. He inquired and discovered that this idea also existed in England.

Their "Open Churches Trust" published a real collection of open churches, i.e. more than 11,000 of the 16,000 existing ones. This initiative of a network of open churches existed in other countries but not in Belgium. 

2007 : Marc Huynen then gathered around him a few people from different professional and philosophical backgrounds but all interested in the project: to open our churches.

Today the network has been deployed in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Open Churches associations have been created and have joined the non-profite organisation Open Churches, generating a vast cross-border network.