By God's grace, we are seeing new spiritual life at the Casa de Paz local FM church. We believe that God is answering prayers (yours and ours) that His presence might be revealed here in Mexico City- in and through us. As God opens the doors, we are learning to walk through them. Pastor Juan and Eva are leading in this area by example. What a privilege to watch them share their testimonies and lives with all who will listen.
We are also learning that we all have a part to play in this effort. The following excerpt from a report I wrote on Friday illustrates how the church and social ministries are working together to give people opportunities to meet the Lord...
We are taking a prayer walk this a.m. in the neighborhood with Pastor Juan and Eva. God is at work here- there is a sense of excitement and anticipation in the air. A 50-ish couple (Andres and Bertha) made a decision for Christ this week. Their story is an example of what we hope/hoped would happen with the work here. They have a son in AA and had attended some of those meetings where they were introduced to the Bible and started reading on their own. Our first contact with them was through the clinic- they both had various physical complaints. Even in the clinic, however, their language betrayed the fact that the greater need was spiritual. "I have this emptiness inside that I don't know how to fill." "Something is lacking." As they came to the clinic almost weekly, we pointed them to Jesus and this Monday they made the step of coming to the Bible study.
Since the other Bible study attenders are in a leadership curriculum, Pastor Juan took them into the parsonage and they decided to start the Timoteos (basic discipleship) series. They had their Bibles and started the first lesson- "How to start living a Christian life". By the second verse of the study, Bertha was weeping and Andres was visibly broken. Juan stopped the study and asked them if they would like to have this kind of life. They gave their lives to Jesus and are now continuing their walk alongside the rest of us. Last night they came to the prayer meeting and are planning to invite one of their friends to the Monday night study next week. You read and know about the Spirit working in this way but when it happens in your life and with your friends, it is still amazing and refreshing. God wants to use us and we want to be available for the Spirit to work through us, transforming lives.
We praise the Lord for this fruit that he is giving. Andres and Bertha were in church yesterday, praising the Lord for their new life in Christ. They are still learning what it means to be a Christian and we are glad for the opportunity to come alongside them. Would you be in prayer for them too? Would you also pray that God would continue to give the spiritual fruit as we obey Him?
-from Joel Miller
(Sorry there are no pictures in this blog. We'll try to get some new ones on here soon.)
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