Monday, March 06, 2006
The Peregrinos: A place to meet
One of the issues that have troubled us somewhat as a church over the past months is the matter of meeting place. On the one hand there are all the advantages of flexibility of just using our homes. On the other hand, one home is out at the military base, in a tightly knit community which already has a reasonable Baptist church with which we have good relations, and others are in blocks of flats where singing is not a good idea. The central case for having a regular meeting place – continuity of the community and ease for others to join with us, has not been seen the same way by all of us, and the issue has been a bit of a stumbling block.
However, we are now looking seriously at finding a suitable place. It doesn’t need to be big, and ideally would be a room rented for a short period each week, whose maintenance and cleaning burdens were carried by the proprietors. Our group is very small, but we face the issue of grow or die, and there is a desire for the former. And there are marks of God’s blessing among us.
Sara’s parents, Pastor Davi and Dona Flávia, live in the centre, slightly up the hill to one side. They have a little complex of dwellings, including a small wooden house that could be a good meeting place. We all went there on Sunday morning to have a look, and had a good discussion. Many issues are involved, not least some difficulty getting there. The street outside has the approximate inclination of the north wall of the Eiger – if it happened to snow heavily crampons would be indicated. Cars cannot come close – and that leaves them just 50 yards or so below a favela with a focus for drug trafficking at its entrance. It is the real Brazil, but we need to think carefully over the kind of church we are, and the difficulties of trying to attract people both from within the area, while none of us live there, and from outside, given the very real dangers to anyone arriving.
One positive element of the visit was to see that there is a small but very pleasant apartment also going spare, as well as the little house. Perhaps Kito and Anna could live there?! That is between them and Pastor Davi, but if they were to, it might tip the balance in favor of its location.
In any case, the visit highlighted the fact that we are underway again, and stimulated the desire to seek alternatives. Please pray urgently over this issue, and the far broader matter of evangelistic momentum that is linked to it.
One of the issues that have troubled us somewhat as a church over the past months is the matter of meeting place. On the one hand there are all the advantages of flexibility of just using our homes. On the other hand, one home is out at the military base, in a tightly knit community which already has a reasonable Baptist church with which we have good relations, and others are in blocks of flats where singing is not a good idea. The central case for having a regular meeting place – continuity of the community and ease for others to join with us, has not been seen the same way by all of us, and the issue has been a bit of a stumbling block.
However, we are now looking seriously at finding a suitable place. It doesn’t need to be big, and ideally would be a room rented for a short period each week, whose maintenance and cleaning burdens were carried by the proprietors. Our group is very small, but we face the issue of grow or die, and there is a desire for the former. And there are marks of God’s blessing among us.
Sara’s parents, Pastor Davi and Dona Flávia, live in the centre, slightly up the hill to one side. They have a little complex of dwellings, including a small wooden house that could be a good meeting place. We all went there on Sunday morning to have a look, and had a good discussion. Many issues are involved, not least some difficulty getting there. The street outside has the approximate inclination of the north wall of the Eiger – if it happened to snow heavily crampons would be indicated. Cars cannot come close – and that leaves them just 50 yards or so below a favela with a focus for drug trafficking at its entrance. It is the real Brazil, but we need to think carefully over the kind of church we are, and the difficulties of trying to attract people both from within the area, while none of us live there, and from outside, given the very real dangers to anyone arriving.
One positive element of the visit was to see that there is a small but very pleasant apartment also going spare, as well as the little house. Perhaps Kito and Anna could live there?! That is between them and Pastor Davi, but if they were to, it might tip the balance in favor of its location.
In any case, the visit highlighted the fact that we are underway again, and stimulated the desire to seek alternatives. Please pray urgently over this issue, and the far broader matter of evangelistic momentum that is linked to it.
# posted by Andrew and Cora @ 4:51:00 pm 
