Boituva
I had the opportunity of observing (or being a part) of two different fledgling works this weekend and both are being started by nationals! On Saturday Carlinhos and I took our juniors class to Boituva, about 45 minutes from our church. It is a small city of just 55,000 and is noted for it's parachutists and hot-air balloons.
The church plant there is being started in a very nice neighborhood by Lucio and his wife Claudinea, both are grads of our Bible college in Curitiba. Our boys handed out fliers for about 25 minutes and we waited for the kids of the neighborhood to come and be a part of the Bible Club.
We were expecting about 5 to 10 but only one little girl, Bárbara, came. She has been a part of the club since it's start just a few weeks ago. The eight of us sang and said our memory verse and had a Bible story. Afterwards the kids played a game of "Pop the balloon" and had a small lunch.
As we traveled back to Sorocaba I asked Carlinhos what he thought about the trip. "How discouraging!" was his two word response. I told him that church planting is often just like that, discouraging and that our church had started this same way, very slowly.
Habiteto
On Sunday afternoon, Dawn and I were invited to see and participate in another work.
Alexandre from Calvary, also a recent grad from Bible college, was inaugurating a Bible club in the Sorocaba neighborhood of Habiteto.
The mere mention of that name in a conversation with Alexandre a few days earlier had sent shivers up my spine! I had heard that Habiteto was once known as one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Sorocaba (and actually, I think that the rumor was true!). However, I found it very interesting the contrast from Saturdays efforts in the much nicer neighborhood.
The Bible club met in a large turquoise building near a litter filled field. The building was nice and nearly the size of our church. It had been offered for our use free of charge by it's owner!
About the same amount of time was spent handing out invites that had been spent on Saturday, but the results were a whole lot different.
Alexandre had brought a group of kids from the kids club from Calvary (about 22 in a 9 passenger van!) and he lead them, sort of like the Pied Piper through the crowded dusty streets of Habiteto.
As he walked and worked his way back to the pavilion the crowed mushroomed to over 60 kids (either following us or already at the building)! With the 20+ kids and helpers who had come from Calvary there were nearly 100 total involved in the effort. It was very very exciting!
See more pix here
I asked Alexandre if he had thought of the possibility of starting a church in Habiteto. He simply smiled and said, "It might be that the Lord is opening that door."
No matter which way you want to look at these two works there is a lot of work ahead for both. Lucio and Claudinea are in a nicer neighborhood and Alexandre is in the projects.
In a way these two works remind me of the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man ignored the Gospel because in his life time he had everything that money could buy and had no time for God. Lazarus on the other hand suffered but apparently paid attention to the Gospel because of his destitute situation.
Let's keep an eye on the future progress of these two plants. Keep them in your prayers and ask for God's blessing on both.
I had the opportunity of observing (or being a part) of two different fledgling works this weekend and both are being started by nationals! On Saturday Carlinhos and I took our juniors class to Boituva, about 45 minutes from our church. It is a small city of just 55,000 and is noted for it's parachutists and hot-air balloons.
The church plant there is being started in a very nice neighborhood by Lucio and his wife Claudinea, both are grads of our Bible college in Curitiba. Our boys handed out fliers for about 25 minutes and we waited for the kids of the neighborhood to come and be a part of the Bible Club.
We were expecting about 5 to 10 but only one little girl, Bárbara, came. She has been a part of the club since it's start just a few weeks ago. The eight of us sang and said our memory verse and had a Bible story. Afterwards the kids played a game of "Pop the balloon" and had a small lunch.
As we traveled back to Sorocaba I asked Carlinhos what he thought about the trip. "How discouraging!" was his two word response. I told him that church planting is often just like that, discouraging and that our church had started this same way, very slowly.
Habiteto
On Sunday afternoon, Dawn and I were invited to see and participate in another work. Alexandre from Calvary, also a recent grad from Bible college, was inaugurating a Bible club in the Sorocaba neighborhood of Habiteto.
The mere mention of that name in a conversation with Alexandre a few days earlier had sent shivers up my spine! I had heard that Habiteto was once known as one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Sorocaba (and actually, I think that the rumor was true!). However, I found it very interesting the contrast from Saturdays efforts in the much nicer neighborhood.
The Bible club met in a large turquoise building near a litter filled field. The building was nice and nearly the size of our church. It had been offered for our use free of charge by it's owner!
About the same amount of time was spent handing out invites that had been spent on Saturday, but the results were a whole lot different.
Alexandre had brought a group of kids from the kids club from Calvary (about 22 in a 9 passenger van!) and he lead them, sort of like the Pied Piper through the crowded dusty streets of Habiteto.
As he walked and worked his way back to the pavilion the crowed mushroomed to over 60 kids (either following us or already at the building)! With the 20+ kids and helpers who had come from Calvary there were nearly 100 total involved in the effort. It was very very exciting!
See more pix here
I asked Alexandre if he had thought of the possibility of starting a church in Habiteto. He simply smiled and said, "It might be that the Lord is opening that door."
No matter which way you want to look at these two works there is a lot of work ahead for both. Lucio and Claudinea are in a nicer neighborhood and Alexandre is in the projects.
In a way these two works remind me of the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man ignored the Gospel because in his life time he had everything that money could buy and had no time for God. Lazarus on the other hand suffered but apparently paid attention to the Gospel because of his destitute situation.
Let's keep an eye on the future progress of these two plants. Keep them in your prayers and ask for God's blessing on both.
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