Bits January

Those baptized this month! 

We are excited for this month for a couple reasons. We are going to have our new boss Randy Richner and his wife Cindy in town for a retreat with our colleagues. Then he is going to teach a module on Biblical counseling at the church. We always like having modules at the church and see them as great growth tools. 

The construction in Tupanatinga is going really well! We are close; not sure we will be using the building before next month’s update but it is possible and should be at least really close. We had a huge gift come in last night to finish off all we need and so we are about to be in a big buying stage for the remaining finishes on the building. 

The girls went to Camp Paradise this month that ABWE started more than 50 years ago and our colleague Dan Cook runs. They had a really fun time with a few others from our church as well as a couple counselors from our church. We are excited that the group that goes has really grown. The girls both got camper of the week for their cabins and won three theme nights with costumes that Sarah made. They were pretty excited about that.

Heading home from camp excited

Egyptian night

While the girls were at camp we missed going to Tupanatinga and then we had Covid! So we missed church in Tupanatinga for a couple of weeks which we really hated missing! But we were pleased that they kept meeting and had a good service even though we were not present. We are going to be gone for a while starting in July and we are working on how they will be cared for in our absence. For now the plan is spread out; a mixture of having services on their own; Chico has preached a couple of times there; then we can send some leaders from the church in Arcoverde as well. 

My brother Phil visiting

This month we have thought more in depth on legalism and faithfulness. Can we be too legalistic requiring or demanding our member’s presence in church activities or do we just say whatever is fine. It comes down to motives that we cannot always see. What we would like to develop is member
s who really want to be present and serve because of their love for Jesus, not out of a sense of obligation for their salvation, or a sense of debt. We consider it a privilege to serve as missionaries of the gospel and we thank you all for allowing us that privilege. 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah and our little insects (Their camp rooms were named after insects this year) Esperança (leaf bug) and Juninha (lady bug) 

Joe Smith and Jane Doe in church planting

Lately I have read a lot about church planting processes as well as done some training and observing. We have two distinct church plants going on and it is interesting seeing the differences between the two. In the United States I don't think Christians often think about the processes that churches go through in the life of their church as we mostly attend well established churches. I participated in some training that looked to the book of Acts and saw that local churches progress over long periods of time; basically a church starts, gets established, raises leaders, does ministry and over time grows, fizzles, fades, maintains; it really all depends. Sometimes it is obvious the goal is to grow and even multiply and sometimes it is to just survive. 

In church planting with Paul in Acts we see a process where he goes and gathers believers through gospel preaching, makes disciples, strengthens those disciples, chooses leaders, goes through tribulation, all with prayer and fasting. If you look at the letters, it was hard to have a smooth process in any of these churches; there were always kinks and details to be worked out. There are details to be worked out, doctrine and practice to be determined, and real people with which to work. 

We are at the point right now in Arcoverde where we are working on establishing leaders. This gets me excited because we want our people to own the church here, to be established as leaders here that will grow themselves and help grow others. There is a temptation in churches to be happy with the status quo. We have people like that in our church as well. I want to challenge them to greater service within the church. It doesn't have to be full time, but I want them to consider if church edification should be included in their values and priorities. Is it only full time pastors who should be involved in the edification of the church or the expansion of God's kingdom? 

Looking practically I can see how our members could help us start new churches. One main avenue is through preaching. The heavier time consumer of ministry is preaching and teaching. If we have members stepping up to lead small groups, preach, and lead other ministry areas, that would open up more time for church planting. As it stands we have stopped visiting one city for some reasons, but part of it is time constraints. Another thing that could happen is hiring someone from within the church to be another pastor/administrator here, but at this time the church doesn't have the finances coming in that would allow for it. So if we had heavier givers or more givers (in our church in Arcoverde) we would be able to hire someone. In time we feel we will have more Bible studies in that city but for now it is on hold. 

So my question is how you, if you are a church member, can be involved in the edification of the church and maybe even church planting. Maybe it is just to give more, but hopefully it is more than that. Don't underestimate how much it helps when members are deciding to grow spiritually and then helping teach or lead or volunteer in a godly manner. Taking on visitation of elderly, hospital visits, being proactive in teaching and serving and/or many other tasks helps pastors as well. Awareness and being proactive might be what is most needed in the church today. I may be wrong, but I don't think the average church member thinks about church planting as something that involves them. It can though! 

Some churches are dying; other communities don't have solid gospel churches. US churches need to mobilize to impede the gospel influence from fading. See what you can do to be proactive in growing God's kingdom!