God Is Working

There have been some very serious changes in the church since 8 months ago (when we left). There is a church about five miles away, which we call “Sarabia church” because it’s in the village of Sarabia, with a very jealous pastor. Pastors in Mexico tend to be very territorial. We’ve found that territorialism is found in churches of all nations, but in those with small, closely-knit villages, the jealousy is much more hurtful because it affects such a small area. When a pastor disfellowships a person for fellowshipping with other Christians outside his church, all the villages know, and it is a very bad testimony of the Christian faith to the unbelievers. This has happened here in our area.

Many believers in our area, who could not drive to the village where the Sarabia church met, began walking to the various house meetings that the other missionary, Greg Wilke, was conducting. When they stopped coming regularly to the Sarabia church, the pastor visited them and told them they must choose where they will worship. The believers wanted to worship there on Sundays, and with Greg’s fellowship during the week. The pastor of the Sarabia church made each person choose between his church, and “that” church.

This has caused a lot of dissension in the body. The pastor from the Sarabia church now refuses to visit those who have “deserted” him, and he does not even greet them when he sees them. That kind of offense is very hurtful in a culture that greets everyone with a wave, a “Good Day,” or for the Christians, “God Bless You.”

This split grieved a prominent brother from the Sarabia church, and when the Wilke family went to the U.S.A. for three months for work, he began teaching the brothers and sisters who live in the villages where Greg was ministering. The Sarabia church pastor made the man choose between his church and “their” church. So now, the believers in our area have a native teacher who is leading them.

At first, we saw this as an answer to prayer, as our desire has been to see this fellowship of scattered believers flourish under a native Spanish teacher and to watch them grow in the Spirit. However, it grieves us that there is such jealousy and contempt in the church, and even more so, that this idea of territorialism has now crept into our fellowship. The believers are splitting between us and the Spanish brother, and while we desire to work together with him, we are finding strong theological disagreements. Please be in prayer for us as we face these problems.