January 9, 2004

News From the Field

Here is a portion from a prayer letter I received from Mark and Linda Willson, which shows some of the work involved in church-planting in Brazil.

This past Sunday morning, almost all the members of the Novo Juazeiro
Baptist Church, including the Maranatha and Calvary congregations, met in
Novo Juazeiro to vote on a proposed revision of the CHURCH
CONSTITUTION. A revision committee, in which Pastor Sergio had participated, drew up the proposal. Copies were distributed to all and were read and explained in business meetings. Other suggestions were received and some of them incorporated. Then everyone met on Sunday for a final reading and
voted to approve it.

This was a good experience for the members of the Maranatha congregation.
They learned a lot about what is involved in a making a local church function, as we went over the mission of the church, its membership, its leaders and administration, etc. It was important all the members to be present. Praise the Lord, not only did almost everyone show up, but there was also plenty of transportation. Besides the pastor and missionaries, there are five other vehicles in the congregation, but many times they haven’t been available. Attendance seemed down a little at Sunday night service, but the atmosphere was very good and Pastor Sergio’s message was very appropriate. It is good to see the people grow together more and more as a CHURCH BODY.

Posted by Andrew on January 9, 2004 12:47 PM.