A new church

In the past updates, we referred to the children´s meetings that we have been holding in our village. The meetings have grown into a church, and we currently have about 15 children each week, and 4-5 adults.

We have begun meeting in an abandoned store, which serves well as a meeting place as it shades us from the sun in the afternoons, and from the chilly nights.

Lacy has been taking the children through the Fruits of the Spirit and also covering basic Bible stories, as many of them are relatively new to church. For the adults, Joshua has been taking them through Ephesians and James. We have children´s classes during the adult meetings on Wednesdays, and on Sundays, we bring all the children together with the adults. We have also instituted a point system to encourage the children to learn memory verses, attend the services, and participate in the classes. They are very receptive, and not only enjoy the songs and coloring, but also have a genuine interest in the Word of God. We have gifted them all with a New Testament, and wrote their names in the front cover. It is amazing to see the difference that ownership makes when a child bring their very own Bible to the lessons.

On Wednesdays and Sundays, Joshua teaches regularly, and Uriel has been helping him as his assistant, clarifying in love to the believers small things that Joshua says that don´t come through clearly in Spanish. He can do this because during the week they study together, and sometimes, when Uriel is truck-driving all week, Joshua even goes on day trips with him, so that they can study the Bible together and be on the same page when it comes time to teach.

The adults in the church are young Christians, and discouraged that there are so many children and so few adults. We are training them and encouraging them in preparing the hearts of these children and teenagers to the church of tomorrow. Many of the children coming will be 18 in 3-4 years. We are also encouraging them to be witnessing and light in their villages, and to bring people with them to church, and to make visits to read the Bible with people in their homes. The adults are learning to serve one another, and learning the new concept of reading aloud in church, and voicing their thoughts about the scriptures being taught. As they become more comfortable with participating in the Bible Study more than just listening to a sermon, they grow deeper in the Spirit. Lacy has also begun a women´s Bible study, and the women involved are learning to be open and to share their burdens with one another and pray for one another. These concepts, as basic as they may seem, are brand new and frightening to these new believers who have spent much of their time being listeners and observers in the church rather than participants.

The church building will, very soon, serve as our home, as well. We have experienced problems with the owner of our home, and rather than continue an unprofitable situation for both parties, we will move out of the house we live in now and occupy two empty rooms in the church. This move will prayerfully be temporary, as we have been gifted a lot of land to build our own house. This is an answer to prayer, but building will be a very slow process.

Meanwhile, the church fellowship has encouraged us to make the decision to move into the church building, and have all helped in a way in making the move possible. We have started reaching out to other villages and inviting people to the church, and currently, the Lord is blessing us in the attendance of children. As was the focus of our ministry in the inner city of Evansville, Indiana with Calvary Chapel Evanville, we are praying that the children become the portal into the family so that we may minister to the parents and help them to open their spiritual ears to the calling of the Holy Spirit to repentence and Life.