Monday, September 27, 2004
Andrew's musings on Sunday 26th September
Well – what a Sunday! Thank you for praying. It went well, but was pretty exhausting.
In the morning we had the English group at the PIB – the second study on Exodus – Yahweh, the God who preserves, transforms and employs Moses as a saviour of his people. The group was great in terms of numbers and good comments and questions – I am deliberately going fairly slowly, and encouraging more participation. A good morning.
Before that, I had spoken with Paulo Solonca, pastor of the PIB. He will be travelling throughout November and has asked me to preach there on all available Sunday evenings – suggesting a short series. I am now committed to three dates and will probably do the three “Why Jesus came” passages in Mark.
In the afternoon the meeting of the Peregrinos went well – more new people – Alex and Sara’s lounge totally full. We met at their house near the airport to facilitate the “church crawl” on to Carianos Baptist, in the same neighbourhood, for the evening service. In order to keep things simple, we only looked at the opening verses of Gen 2 – the seventh day. I should have known better: that passage is not simple. But after a happy excursion through Exodus 20 via Psalms 92 and 95 to Hebrews 3 and 4, we all certainly felt fed. A good afternoon.
And so to Carianos. This neighbourhood near Florianópolis airport has a large Baptist church which is in a state of trauma following the withdrawal of its entire leadership who wished to take it into the G12 movement. The church resisted, but is now in a state of shock, and suffering from a lack of Bible teaching over many years. Levi, Adriana and their son Edson,(ex-members of IBVN and close associates of our church group)are now members there, with Levi in a leading role. He is teaching through Mark with their Youth leaders, using the material I did at IBVN!
The evening service was no great surprise, but the kind of ‘praise’ still makes us sad. Hyped-up emotions, shallow, subjective and repetitive songs, dancing girls at the front – we have seen it all lots of times now. And yet, there was no surprise either in the freedom when I got up to speak. These folks are really Christians – converted under a minimalist gospel, never given any food since, they are not unbelievers, just chronically malnourished babies, who have never had a good feed since birth. The impact of the word was most encouraging, with the people desperate for more. If this were the only church in such a state, the solution would be simple – go and work there, preaching and teaching regularly. And the need is so drastic, something in me wants to do just that. But in fact Carianos is just one of many – we need to work on at the strategic level. But oh for the hungry to be fed!
The day ended with exhaustion (three different sermons in one day, in two languages, is no joke!) and real joy. We ate tapioca pancakes, north-eastern style, together with Levi and others in a little roadside café in Carianos, before the short drive to home and bed. A good evening.
Well – what a Sunday! Thank you for praying. It went well, but was pretty exhausting.
In the morning we had the English group at the PIB – the second study on Exodus – Yahweh, the God who preserves, transforms and employs Moses as a saviour of his people. The group was great in terms of numbers and good comments and questions – I am deliberately going fairly slowly, and encouraging more participation. A good morning.
Before that, I had spoken with Paulo Solonca, pastor of the PIB. He will be travelling throughout November and has asked me to preach there on all available Sunday evenings – suggesting a short series. I am now committed to three dates and will probably do the three “Why Jesus came” passages in Mark.
In the afternoon the meeting of the Peregrinos went well – more new people – Alex and Sara’s lounge totally full. We met at their house near the airport to facilitate the “church crawl” on to Carianos Baptist, in the same neighbourhood, for the evening service. In order to keep things simple, we only looked at the opening verses of Gen 2 – the seventh day. I should have known better: that passage is not simple. But after a happy excursion through Exodus 20 via Psalms 92 and 95 to Hebrews 3 and 4, we all certainly felt fed. A good afternoon.
And so to Carianos. This neighbourhood near Florianópolis airport has a large Baptist church which is in a state of trauma following the withdrawal of its entire leadership who wished to take it into the G12 movement. The church resisted, but is now in a state of shock, and suffering from a lack of Bible teaching over many years. Levi, Adriana and their son Edson,(ex-members of IBVN and close associates of our church group)are now members there, with Levi in a leading role. He is teaching through Mark with their Youth leaders, using the material I did at IBVN!
The evening service was no great surprise, but the kind of ‘praise’ still makes us sad. Hyped-up emotions, shallow, subjective and repetitive songs, dancing girls at the front – we have seen it all lots of times now. And yet, there was no surprise either in the freedom when I got up to speak. These folks are really Christians – converted under a minimalist gospel, never given any food since, they are not unbelievers, just chronically malnourished babies, who have never had a good feed since birth. The impact of the word was most encouraging, with the people desperate for more. If this were the only church in such a state, the solution would be simple – go and work there, preaching and teaching regularly. And the need is so drastic, something in me wants to do just that. But in fact Carianos is just one of many – we need to work on at the strategic level. But oh for the hungry to be fed!
The day ended with exhaustion (three different sermons in one day, in two languages, is no joke!) and real joy. We ate tapioca pancakes, north-eastern style, together with Levi and others in a little roadside café in Carianos, before the short drive to home and bed. A good evening.
# posted by Andrew and Cora @ 2:25:00 pm 
