“Be not afraid; for
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people:
for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ
the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)
JOY! Such a small word, with so much meaning! No
source of joy compares with the joy of Christ’s coming. But His joy permeates
everything else we do when we are in Him. I remember reading an article from
Christianity Today that a friend once passed on to me, titled: “My Ministry
Turned on a Three-Letter Word: JOY”. I don’t know who wrote it, it was in the
late 70’s or the early 80’s, but it had a tremendous impact on my ministry.
The Lord
has been giving us some JOY since we returned to Honduras in late September.
1. Sunday night December 14th,
we graduated the second generation of First Principles students at Iglesia
Bautista Hermon. 14 graduated. Another group will graduate in late January or
early February. Some of these will begin facilitating groups of third
generation disciples. It is exciting to see this leadership developing.
2. At Iglesia Nuevo Pacto, a group of
16 students has completed the first 6-lesson module of the First Principles
course. In January they will begin on the second module.
3. In April, Lise will begin teaching
the “Values” course in a public school in Colonia Avelar, where the Nuevo Pacto
church is. She will have one hour a week with the students. A great opportunity
for testimony.
4. Pastor Rafael, of a church in San
José de Panes, a town in the mountains about two hours away from Siguatepeque,
told me he wants to start the First Principles course with a group in his
church (as well as from a daughter church they have started in Matasanos). Rafael
is following BILD courses that I help teach along with pastor Hector on
Saturday mornings. He asked me to help him get it started and to train him to
facilitate the group. Three things in this pleased me: his desire to start the
First Principles course, his desire to be trained, and the fact that he plans
on doing the work himself, not depending indefinitely on me for help (not that
it would have worked out that way!) Travelling to San José every week will
prove to be quite an adventure. On some of the curves in the mountains, one of
the bus’s wheels sometimes is just hanging in space with a very long way below!
5. I expect to be helping a group of
pastors in another part of the country to get started with the First Principles
program in the new year.
6. Brisas del Bosque, a mission point
of the Hermon church, just ended its first year of AWANA program. While we have
not been involved in that, we have had some input in the lives of the members
of the Hermon church that have been leading this program. The first year was a
great success, including the training of several teenagers for leadership.
So our year
ending has been fruitful and joyful, and the beginning of the new year is
looking to be even more so. But as Jesus said to his disciples, “Rejoice,
rather, that your names are written in the book of life”.
Lise and I
wish you a blessed Christmas and a happy and fruitful new year.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire