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A church in the city of Trujillo - what should it look like? Consistent with the LifeWind (community transformation) and the Bridges (Bible story telling) approaches, the church in the city will resemble the house church model. This model seeks to develop small groups that can meet in homes and be lead by nonpaid leaders. The idea is that every believer who can tell Bible stories can be a church planter! Does it work? In just a couple of months there are four house churches meeting in the city, with a total attendance of over 70 people.
Our trainers have prayerfully identified two barrios in the city where we are launching our city work. Roger and Rosa are their names. Would you put them on your prayer list? The city of Trujillo is made up of 59 barrios. A city barrio is any identified community regardless of economic status. The first barrio is the community surrounding the PNHI offices - a middle class area. The second barrio is toward the outskirts of the city in a community called Buenos Aires - a poorer area. A church is meeting every Sunday evening in the offices. A church is meeting in a rehabilitation center in Buenos Aires.
The goal of the Trainers is to go into the barrios and build relationships, explain who they are and make themselves available for holistic service. The LifeWind strategy is the more long-range approach and will take a full two years to fully develop. But it has the potential to be exponential in its growth over time. The idea is to build relationships with the plan of building a barrio committee who is willing to be trained to lead their community in health and wholeness. Eventually 15 community health trainers are equipped to go into 15 homes each with a message of health and Bible story telling. Out of this come several house churches. All of this will take time.
While I was in Trujillo a few weeks ago, Roger, Rosa, Mike, Danell and I went to see the barrio committee, a group of dedicated people who have tried to make a difference. They had stopped meeting because they could not find others interested in helping. We were a breath of fresh air to them and we gather the names of others in the community who care. They told us about a school just a few blocks away that needed all kinds of help. Roger and Rosa are on their way toward earning the right to be heard.
In the meantime, the Bridges strategy has us starting house churches wherever we can. Along with story telling, our trainers are teaching the Peace Treaty, a gospel presentation that leads people to a personal walk with Jesus, at every opportunity. So - long range community transformation is taking place and short term evangelism is being done simultaneously. As people come to Jesus we ask them to be willing to open their homes for weekly Bible story telling, which will be considered a house church as soon as it gains viability.
The approach is simple. We believe it can be dynamic. Church planting movements are built on the notion that by building no buildings and having no paid pastors, the church can proliferate at a rapid pace. This is happening all over the world. Pray for a Trujillo city church planting movement and pray for Roger and Rosa. In a few years we will see a dynamic church planting movement in the city that grows exponentially, is decentralized and is not dependant on American dollars.
Our trainers have prayerfully identified two barrios in the city where we are launching our city work. Roger and Rosa are their names. Would you put them on your prayer list? The city of Trujillo is made up of 59 barrios. A city barrio is any identified community regardless of economic status. The first barrio is the community surrounding the PNHI offices - a middle class area. The second barrio is toward the outskirts of the city in a community called Buenos Aires - a poorer area. A church is meeting every Sunday evening in the offices. A church is meeting in a rehabilitation center in Buenos Aires.
The goal of the Trainers is to go into the barrios and build relationships, explain who they are and make themselves available for holistic service. The LifeWind strategy is the more long-range approach and will take a full two years to fully develop. But it has the potential to be exponential in its growth over time. The idea is to build relationships with the plan of building a barrio committee who is willing to be trained to lead their community in health and wholeness. Eventually 15 community health trainers are equipped to go into 15 homes each with a message of health and Bible story telling. Out of this come several house churches. All of this will take time.
While I was in Trujillo a few weeks ago, Roger, Rosa, Mike, Danell and I went to see the barrio committee, a group of dedicated people who have tried to make a difference. They had stopped meeting because they could not find others interested in helping. We were a breath of fresh air to them and we gather the names of others in the community who care. They told us about a school just a few blocks away that needed all kinds of help. Roger and Rosa are on their way toward earning the right to be heard.
In the meantime, the Bridges strategy has us starting house churches wherever we can. Along with story telling, our trainers are teaching the Peace Treaty, a gospel presentation that leads people to a personal walk with Jesus, at every opportunity. So - long range community transformation is taking place and short term evangelism is being done simultaneously. As people come to Jesus we ask them to be willing to open their homes for weekly Bible story telling, which will be considered a house church as soon as it gains viability.
The approach is simple. We believe it can be dynamic. Church planting movements are built on the notion that by building no buildings and having no paid pastors, the church can proliferate at a rapid pace. This is happening all over the world. Pray for a Trujillo city church planting movement and pray for Roger and Rosa. In a few years we will see a dynamic church planting movement in the city that grows exponentially, is decentralized and is not dependant on American dollars.
