Old Style New Beginnings

This past Sunday, March 13th, we began the home church meeting in our house in Cochabamba.  We were fortunate about 10 months ago to find a home with a grand salon off of the back (used in the past by the owners for family parties and functions). This space has been wonderful for Bible study meetings and other functions for reaching our community (able to seat around 75 people).

Seth teaching youth on Friday night. 

Seth has studied God's word and church planting books for the past few years, and we felt like the best style of church plant for the area we live in would be a home church.  Many of the unchurched people we meet in Bolivia are uninterested and often put-off by the institutionalism they see in the religious climate here.  For many, they see leaders abusing authority, asking for money, or living lives contrary to what they teach. Creating Christ-centered relationships, focusing on discipleship, and the teaching of God's word, we feel we have found our niche for reaching our community here in Condebamba and the surrounding area. A relaxed, home-based environment where Christ is exalted and his Word held in utmost esteem. As we grow and as new believers mature, the goal is to create leaders to be pastors, elders, overseers, missionaries, etc. Our goal is to grow The Church in our community through the means and resources God has given us.

Our first Sunday night family service

We raised funds in the states for two months, speaking at several churches across the south and, with the funds raised, were able to hit the ground running when we got back to Cochabamba February 5th.  We've purchased a projector, 50 chairs, 10 tables, two room fans, a Mac mini, hardback Bibles, and even a sewing machine (this is Bolivia - you never know when you need to sew a curtain, hem a tablecloth, or sew up the hole in your church pants).  We were also able to get an old van about a week ago, affectionately named Big Bertha.  It can hold about 20 Bolivians (And maybe 8 of us Mississippians...ha, just kidding!), and its already been a huge help.

Ashley with some of her students on Sports Day

We have been SO busy!  Ashley's job at the school, Cristo Nacion, has taken a lot more time and mental energy this year.  She's teaching World History and Geography to 6 different groups from 7th-12th grade.  Students range from very beginning English to advanced, all in the same classes.  Its been very challenging and stressful at times, but her job at the school has also opened many doors to the gospel for us.  Seth has spoken the past two Monday's at the school giving a devotional to the 100 or so high school students.  Seth has also begun volunteering as the Bible teacher for 7th and 8th grade classes.  While there twice a week, Seth is building relationships with teens, many of whom are unchurched and have been turned off to christianity in the past.

Our youth night on Friday's is also growing.  After an initial slow start back since being gone 2 months, we are now getting a big group that is a variety of neighborhood teens and teens from the school.  This past week Seth began a series using Francis Chan's Basic resources.

Youth on Friday night 

Monday nights Seth is still having young adult Bible studies with our friends from the south zone of Cochabamba.  This is an amazing group of young adults who serve in their church and want to develop their faith in deeper understanding of God's word.  They are a tremendous blessing and encouragement to us as well.

The Monday night young adults group

A few other things we'd like to get started in the next few months:

-big brother volunteering at an orphanage: We'd like to take christian teens to volunteer and invest in kids that really need the love, attention, and example of an older Christian guy.

-children's ministry: This may be out of our home, or a kid's club that we do an the canchita (soccer court) near our home, but we want to teach a younger generation the gospel.

-A youth retreat: Seth will work with the leadership at Cristo Nación Bilingual School to help plan a retreat for the high schoolers.

We need your prayers!  Here's how you can pray for the work here:

1.  Pray for a few volunteers that are gifted in the area of leading worship for our youth nights and family Bible studies.

2.  Pray for wisdom and leadership as the Church grows in our area.

3. Pray for the resources we will need as growth occurs (additional seating, tables, literature, Bibles, materials for classes, food for meetings, hiring help for cleaning and upkeep, etc.)

4. Pray for our family, that Christ would be our focus and our goal.

5. Pray for the one-on-one discipleship Seth is doing with some select teens and young adults, that they would grow spiritually. Our goal is to disciple leaders.

6. Pray for the families and individuals we do ministry with, that they would see and know Christ, for their spiritual growth, and for their understanding of the cross to increase.