The Local Church. - January 25, 2016
First, we asked for special prayer in regards to our first day at Sigo Vivo last week. It went well, and we're going to keep going. Essentially, around 10 volunteers come to the park by the cemetery in Zone 3 and a collection of 15-30 homeless and poor folks drop in to hang out, eat, learn, play for Saturday afternoon. Alaina felt so good taking blood pressures again and caring for the bodies and hearts of people before they talk to Dr. Tatiana, and spending time with moms and their babies...lots of hard stories there. AJ has gotten to converse with, play soccer with, learn about the lives of the dudes who come and hang out. Glue and paint thinner (as cheap inhalants) have a strong grip on most of the people there, which can be hard to walk through. We feel pretty strongly about continuing with Sigo Vivo because the relationships we form there give God the chance to introduce us to the gifts, wisdom, and challenges of the poor and left out. We hope Sigo Vivo can grow (and they want to) to find a building, to connect with their friends more than once a week, and develop the capacity to help their friends dig themselves out of poverty, addiction, and the streets. (Remember, Sigo Vivo used to happen in a church building, but said church didn't like having people on drugs in their church (sounds Biblical...) so a few elders voted to kick out the pastor of 15 years out of the church.)
Anyway, today we want to give you a window into the community we've come to call church here. Of course, Church is bigger than just one named group of people, but you get the idea. Iglesia Reforma ("Reformed Church") started about a year ago in a house, and 6 months ago they started renting a bodega (warehouse), hung some curtains and made it home. The 4 elders/pastors started it as a part of the Acts 29 network of churches... the 2nd one in Guatemala...as they saw the brokenness of the doctrine and misuse of influence in many churches here. Prosperity gospel, lack of consistent and correct use of the gospel, and manipulation for money, service, and time have poisoned many peoples' experience with God here, and that hurts. Iglesia Reforma has, in a lot of ways, rescued people from the church by bringing them to the actual, true Gospel from the Bible. Like people are having their lives changed and breaking down in church during a sermon on the Five Solas (Only grace, only faith, only scripture, only Christ, and only for the glory of God) because that is NEW, fresh bread, good news, and people hungry for God have finally found Him in the riches of His truth.
It's grown from its initial 30 people to 120 on a given Sunday, and is stretching the parking & seating limits of its space already! We had a "Family Day" today with games, food, and 10 baptisms. Wow.
Justin (our host/mentor), Oscar, and Steven alternate the preaching responsibilities, and the worship band is simple and very skilled -- guitar, cajon, bass, and a vocalist or two. Everything is in Spanish, and we love having the words on the screen, but are doing better and better at understanding the sermons more completely, haha. A couple things we love:
1. Peoples' patience with our language, and the folks there who help us with our Spanish too!
2. The babies.
3. Their priority is in making disciples...in being a faithful piece of the local Church, not in setting themselves apart as a "better church."
4. The Christmas service & dessert potluck was just a really good and good tasting evening.
5. The desire and beginning movements to intentionally invest in a community outside itself (namely, Bethania) to connect the church with mission, relationships, and families.
A couple ways you can pray for this church:
1. Pray against the devil's interference with the good going on there, especially for protection of the leaders--Oscar, Justin, Steven, Alejandro.
2. Pray for growth, but in depth as well as size, and that the community would be strong and tight amidst that growth.
3. Pray for movement of the church outside its walls, to share that true good news with those who need to hear, to care for the poor, the orphans, the widows.
Thanks guys. We love having you journey with us! We Skyped in with our home church, Maple Avenue Ministries, this morning and it reminded us, through smiles and tears, how much we miss all you people back home!!! There's a few pictures of things in the church down below for your browsing.
-AJ & Alaina
thewestys.weebly.com
p.s. A verse we've been digging:
Romans 15:13 - "May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Trust in God risks earthly happiness and the peace of mind of control. But God can and will fill us with true joy and true peace if we do trust in him, and then true ministry can overflow through us.
p.s. Tonight we're gonna watch Jurassic Park #1 in Spanish, with subtitles. One of our many mildly helpful language endeavors! And AJ has never seen Jurassic Park...oops.
p.s. This week AJ's parents are doing a mission trip in rural Guatemala, so they're coming a little early to hang out with us and we'll be out Chimaltenango with their crew doing a health clinic and a building crew for a week or so. Our first visitors!
Anyway, today we want to give you a window into the community we've come to call church here. Of course, Church is bigger than just one named group of people, but you get the idea. Iglesia Reforma ("Reformed Church") started about a year ago in a house, and 6 months ago they started renting a bodega (warehouse), hung some curtains and made it home. The 4 elders/pastors started it as a part of the Acts 29 network of churches... the 2nd one in Guatemala...as they saw the brokenness of the doctrine and misuse of influence in many churches here. Prosperity gospel, lack of consistent and correct use of the gospel, and manipulation for money, service, and time have poisoned many peoples' experience with God here, and that hurts. Iglesia Reforma has, in a lot of ways, rescued people from the church by bringing them to the actual, true Gospel from the Bible. Like people are having their lives changed and breaking down in church during a sermon on the Five Solas (Only grace, only faith, only scripture, only Christ, and only for the glory of God) because that is NEW, fresh bread, good news, and people hungry for God have finally found Him in the riches of His truth.
It's grown from its initial 30 people to 120 on a given Sunday, and is stretching the parking & seating limits of its space already! We had a "Family Day" today with games, food, and 10 baptisms. Wow.
Justin (our host/mentor), Oscar, and Steven alternate the preaching responsibilities, and the worship band is simple and very skilled -- guitar, cajon, bass, and a vocalist or two. Everything is in Spanish, and we love having the words on the screen, but are doing better and better at understanding the sermons more completely, haha. A couple things we love:
1. Peoples' patience with our language, and the folks there who help us with our Spanish too!
2. The babies.
3. Their priority is in making disciples...in being a faithful piece of the local Church, not in setting themselves apart as a "better church."
4. The Christmas service & dessert potluck was just a really good and good tasting evening.
5. The desire and beginning movements to intentionally invest in a community outside itself (namely, Bethania) to connect the church with mission, relationships, and families.
A couple ways you can pray for this church:
1. Pray against the devil's interference with the good going on there, especially for protection of the leaders--Oscar, Justin, Steven, Alejandro.
2. Pray for growth, but in depth as well as size, and that the community would be strong and tight amidst that growth.
3. Pray for movement of the church outside its walls, to share that true good news with those who need to hear, to care for the poor, the orphans, the widows.
Thanks guys. We love having you journey with us! We Skyped in with our home church, Maple Avenue Ministries, this morning and it reminded us, through smiles and tears, how much we miss all you people back home!!! There's a few pictures of things in the church down below for your browsing.
-AJ & Alaina
thewestys.weebly.com
p.s. A verse we've been digging:
Romans 15:13 - "May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Trust in God risks earthly happiness and the peace of mind of control. But God can and will fill us with true joy and true peace if we do trust in him, and then true ministry can overflow through us.
p.s. Tonight we're gonna watch Jurassic Park #1 in Spanish, with subtitles. One of our many mildly helpful language endeavors! And AJ has never seen Jurassic Park...oops.
p.s. This week AJ's parents are doing a mission trip in rural Guatemala, so they're coming a little early to hang out with us and we'll be out Chimaltenango with their crew doing a health clinic and a building crew for a week or so. Our first visitors!