It is with great sadness that I announce that my Father, Bob Cottrill (Robert Edward William Cottrill) passed away early on the 31st of August 2019. He went to be with his Saviour, Jesus Christ, after a short illness. My Mom and I were with him when he went home to be with the Lord.
Thank you to so many who have been praying! Although we are of course sad, we are also very thankful for so much that the Lord has done for us through this time.
I keep thinking of something that the author of Hebrews said to a local congregation many centuries ago. “By this time you ought to be teachers”. It’s just a general comment – directed at – everyone!
In one sense, of course, not everyone is or should be a teacher (1 Corinthians 12:29; James 3:1; 1 Timothy 1:6-7). But in another sense, we all should be teachers. It’s simply a matter of sharing the truth with a neighbour, daughter, coworker.
So what would it look like if we had the goal of making everyone in our congregation a capable teacher? What would we teach them?
The first on my list would be helping people to love the Lord. After all, that is the greatest commandment. It’s at the heart of everything we are, everything we do (Deuteronomy 6:5; 1 Timothy 1:5).
After that, maybe the goal would be to help people to know how to handle their Sword – the Word of God. If anyone is going to grow, and help others grow, that’s the starting point.
Of course as leaders in a new church plant, these are things we are trying to do. Hopefully these things permeate our everyday lives and discipleship.
We have been talking about some ideas for the fall. Many of these come from requests that we’ve received from local believers. For example, in our Sunday School class, we have a couple of plans – a study of the gospel, using biblical key words. Rod has an outline planned that we probably will both teach. And I’m planning to teach my five part study on biblical discernment. We’re also talking about the possibility of an evangelism class.
Biblical Hermeneutics Class promo
We’ve just recently confirmed that the three churches will be partnering in a 40 hour class on biblical hermeneutics. It will officially be a partnership between the community centre and the Still Water Institute in Texas, a ministry of a church there which will be sending down teachers.
There are a number of exciting things about this. Of course it’s a key component of how to use Scripture properly. But we’re also hoping that it will be the beginning of something larger – an ongoing Bible institute that can train up leaders as a part of planting new churches in this less-reached area of Mexico, and beyond.
We’re in a unique place here. In some ways, this is still very much a “pioneering” area, with very few churches. But the growing young churches mean that there is an emerging leadership and enough resources to go beyond simple one-on-one discipleship.
There are some other exciting things in the works too. Maybe you or your church would like to be a part of this unique opportunity! There is a lot to do here – the work is just beginning!
Well, there you are – a shot from our time of worship through music last Sunday. As you may know, we have constantly changing decorations, thanks to the fact that we worship in a place also used for various and diverse parties. Here you can see not only a disco ball, but LPs hanging from the ceiling.
But we were making our own music, singing a Mexican hymn called Give Thanks to Jesus Christ. I’m up there somewhere with my guitar, with Nathanael in the middle, sitting at the PowerPoint controls. 🙂
The last couple of Sundays have been tremendously encouraging. For example, it was great to hear people’s testimonies about the activities of the summer. It really was encouraging for us to work together in the VBS, for example, getting a lot of people involved together that aren’t always serving together directly.
We’ve also heard some testimonies. One guy in our youth group recently shared about how God worked in his life through his journey with cancer. A woman shared about severe health issues that she and her newborn son went through years ago, and how God has been drawing her to Himself since.
Hummingbird nest, balancing on a string of LED lights
It is such an encouragement to hear people share, both in the service and outside of it. We can’t always see what God is doing, but He is clearly working in lives here. We’ve had quite a few new people coming as well, and so we’re looking forward to getting to know them.
In fact, we even had a hummingbird build her nest in the room we (usually) meet in. 😀
Thanks for your continued prayers, for so many lives – may God continue to strengthen us together as we reach this less-reached part of Mexico.
And I hope you’re enjoying some encouraging Sundays too!
Is it just a week of over-stimulation, or a reminder to pray? I close my eyes and I see the faces of the kids who came to the VBS in Las Palmas this past week.
Santiago, Zuri, Emi, Donovan, Sara, Logan, Ismael, Mario, Les – there were 70 or more in all. Many from very difficult backgrounds, dealing with very difficult situations. The vast majority no Christian and with very little contact with the Church.
Well, it is a good time to pray. There were many opportunities to share the gospel throughout the week, both through the official teaching times, Bible memory, and group and one-on-one conversations. And that includes not just kids and youth but adults as well. Many seeds were planted.
We praise the Lord for the help of many local believers, and for the help of the team from Hope Community Church. Events like this can bear fruit for years to come, and we pray that that will be the case here. That fruit is not only the community outreach, but the growth of believers as they learn to serve the Lord in new ways!
The team was also involved in other activities during the week. An event to provide hearing aids and reading glasses to some seniors in need, English classes, a basketball tournament. And the important ministry of spending time with lots of people all throughout the week.
Thanks for your prayers for the first day of the VBS in Las Palmas! So far so good. I believe there were 53 kids there today – a great start and far more than last year. If we grow a bit through the week, we should be able to double last year’s number! Lots of great Bible teaching and talks today.
Anyway, I’m just swinging by to share a few pictures to prove that it’s really happening…
You can tell by the buckets on our floor and the drips from our ceiling that rainy season has arrived at last. On Sunday morning I was at the front, just about to lead in a Scripture reading, and I let out a yelp as I got sprayed by water from above. Apparently the rain from the night before was sitting up there, and dripping not only on me but on others throughout the service. Hopefully not much on our sound system!
But hopefully I can be forgiven if I started thinking about the old song Showers of Blessing…
Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing we need: Mercy drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead.
Daniel W. Whittle
The words are an expression of thanks and prayer. Yes, we’re so thankful for what God is doing in our lives – in our community – in our church – but we want more! Not for ourselves, but for the Lord.
It fits well with Sunday’s study on the lives of Gideon and Barak – imperfect, hesitant men who nonetheless accomplished great things because of their faith in God. As William Carey pleaded – Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God!
VBS promo flyer
So we are looking forward to more great things. In two weeks we’ll be well into a major community outreach event – a vacation Bible school in Las Palmas. We’ll be back at the old party hall where we used to meet for the week (that’s another story), Monday to Friday. We’ll have help from a short term team for the week, and a lot of help from many people in the church.
We’re preparing and praying – asking for those showers of blessing!
The theme of the week is the life of Joseph (otherwise known as Zaphenath-paneah – that tongue-twister was Pharoah’s bright idea) – certainly one of my favourites.
So we would love it if you joined us in prayer – pray for our church as we prepare, for the team as they travel, and for the families in the community. We’ll be having not only lessons for kids and young teens, but also for parents who will be hanging out while their kids are there. So pray that many would come, and that we would clearly share God’s truth and love with them!
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.
