10 years ago today, the Path of Life Bible Church of Jesús MarÃa (Iglesia BÃblica Sendero de Vida Jesús MarÃa) had its first service. Below are a few somewhat random photos that I put up on Facebook earlier this month (just click the collage for a larger version).
We are so thankful for these people, and the way the church continues to grow and reach out! To God be the glory!
So far I’ve written a little about COVID-19 in general, and then more about COVID-19 in Mexico. Today I’ll continue talking about Mexico a little, but I want to bring things a little closer to home.
First of all, when I say “closer to home” I’m not hinting that anyone in our family is sick. Our family, and extended family, is healthy at the moment. Well – as healthy as normal!
Here in central Mexico, things still appear mostly normal on the surface. I’ve seen supermarkets, markets, banks, highways – even a medical lab – all in the past couple of days. Yes, every employee at the lab was wearing a face mask (I don’t think I saw anyone wearing one correctly – so I doubt they did anyone any good!). And at the supermarket, there were friendly (and not-so-friendly) attendants who freshly wiped your cart with something supposedly anti-bacterial before giving it to you.
There are very few shortages – one has been the ubiquitous face masks, and the other anti-bacterial gel. But if you go to buy something, you’ll find the shelves mostly stocked as normal.
We are trying not to be envious of those who are looking for things to do during isolation. Isolated or not (not, at the moment), we have more to do than ever – and that isn’t likely to change.
So, like everyone, we’re adjusting to the new reality.
This weekend we will be doing some “online ministry”. Today we ran a test on Google Meet to see if we could use it for our Bible study tomorrow night. So far, so good. So our study will continue via live video chat.
We reluctantly decided to go online for our Sunday service as well. I won’t go into all the reasons why, but lets just say these are difficult and complex decisions. And we see this as a temporary step. Depending on how long this continues, we may move at least to small groups again. The assembly of the saints is a “necessary service”.
I’m curious to see what happens on the internet when thousands of churches try to go online Sunday morning. We shall see! But Lord willing they will at least have a sermon (my turn to preach) that they can watch or listen to sooner or later.
Hannah is facing the new reality, in her grade 12 year, of having a grad dress and no grad. Well, of course the students will graduate, but friends in the dorm are quickly saying goodbye and moving out, as the rest of their instruction continues online.
So earlier than normal, Hannah is thinking about a place to live in the months ahead, getting a job to pay for it, and all the things that we had put off dealing with in detail until graduation in June.
And Nathanael, the lucky home school student, is struggling to keep up with school while his parents are overly distracted with everything else that’s going on!
So we’re staying in touch with family and helping where we can, and also carrying on with ministry here in Mexico. The need is great here, and it’s likely to get greater in the weeks ahead. So we’re trying to figure out, day by day, how to best minister to our community in times of great uncertainty and change. We’re all fine, but everything that’s going on is a significant strain, so as usual we appreciate your prayers.
As you probably know, Hannah got back from Colombia about 10 days ago. With delayed flights on the way back, everyone had a lot of sleep to catch up on – and they probably have a lot of school to catch up on too!
Anyway, Hannah told me to thank everyone who prayed for their prayers! She says specifically, “It was a great and edifying experience for the whole team. It was really cool to see God at work in the various ministries we visited and served at, and we learned a lot from them.”
I’m sharing a video from the team below, so you can see some of what they did for yourself! You can also see their blog posts here, including one that Hannah wrote.
Hannah is already about 3/4 through her time in Colombia! Today, tomorrow and Monday – and then Monday night they leave for Canada. They’ll be home on Tuesday.
So keep praying for Hannah and the team – especially for energy for the last bit of their trip, and that the Holy Spirit would use them in the lives of those they meet!
This past week the women from the Las Palmas church hosted another women’s breakfast! About half of the women were first time guests to any of our church events, so brand new friends. About 30 women all together.
So please pray for these women! They had a craft time, and our friend Viri gave a clear presentation of the gospel.
Pray for our service this Sunday. We were unable to meet at our normal location again – they’re having a “Fiesta Expo”. I should have told them that the biggest fiesta of all is the Church on a Sunday morning, celebrating the Resurrected Lord! 😀
But anyway, we’re continuing our marvellous series called “Words” in which we’re studying words related to salvation. There’s so much to learn about salvation! And I’ll be preaching as we continue our odyssey through the book of Daniel. Please pray that God will work in people’s hearts.
Pray also for our children’s Sunday school. They’ve been talking about the Law of Moses and the Ten Commandments, as you can see here:
This Sunday our friend Sandra will be teaching them about the Tabernacle.
Actually, some intense topics this weekend! As usual, we really need the Spirit to work through us (and often in spite of us!).
Tonight (working backwards here) we continue our Discovering Life (Descubriendo la Vida) study (we’ve been learning about the attributes of God). And next Saturday we start our next institute course – a 60 hour Old Testament Survey, which will be going every two or three weeks or so until the end of June.
So — just a few little notes about what’s been happening here! Thanks for your prayers!
The gospel. “Good News”.
It’s kind of like a diamond, isn’t it? So many colours and sides, and yet always the same thing.
Last Sunday, for example, our theme was love (because we’re starting a series on the fruit of the Spirit). The youth did a couple of skits, teaching about the love of God as well as the love we should have for one another.
Since this is our first Sunday on the fruit of the Spirit (we’ll be doing the series the first Sunday of every month), it was my privilege to talk a bit about the theme of the epistle to the Galatians – the theme of grace alone.
I’ve also been enjoying our Sunday school series, on words related to salvation. Rod recently taught on the theme of reconciliation – another facet of the wonderful benefits of our salvation. This coming Sunday, I’m looking forward to teaching on imputation – more about the mechanics of our salvation, maybe you could say.
I’ve certainly learned a lot in this series!
We’ve been enjoying worship music on the theme, of course. And I’ve been meditating on the theme of salvation that shines through in the next passage of Daniel that I’ll be preaching on in a couple of weeks.
We’ll also be starting a study on Saturday evening which focuses quite a bit on our salvation. It’s a wonderful theme, that continues to change our lives day by day. Is it changing yours?
It reminds me of a graphic I made up when I was preaching in Jesús MarÃa about 7.5 years ago (wait – how long??). On one side you can see repentance and faith. Our trust in Christ as Saviour is what God uses to save us – hence, faith alone. But on the other side are the many facets of our salvation – adoption, mercy, inheritance, freedom, and so on.
I’m sure that there could be many more things on that side! And we can end up being very confused about salvation if we don’t start to learn about these things.
Please pray for us, that we may clearly and accurately share this wonderful Good News!