Saturday Post -- 18/11/17

Don't try this at home (or you'll get sued).

There's no dressing it up: this year, it's fair to say we didn't so much enjoy camp as endure it. I think it was last year that we asked our supporters to be especially prayerful for us as we were about to run our first camp avec enfant. As it happened, Sam barely raised a peep the whole weekend. It was probably owing to 2016's overall feeling of smugness, then, that I barely gave such concerns a moment's though.

Hah. What do you get when you cross an all-action youth camp with a sleep-dependent toddler navigating the 'terrible twos'? A lesson learned, that's what!

So it's fair to say that, all said and done, our own experience of our first four-day camp (and fifth overall) was somewhat removed. However, by the time we'd gotten our energy-levels back to something resembling normal (about 4pm on Thursday afternoon, by my estimation), we could step back from things and see God's hand in it. The young people were challenged. The church was built up. And no end of hijinks was engaged in, the likes of which would keep health and safety experts up at night. In other words, much to give thanks for.

Not that, on the face of it, there was all that much to be optimistic about upon arrival on the Thursday afternoon. Nothing quite says 'the joys of Bolivian camping' quite like:

• Waterlogged floors.
• A dormitory room with the roof off.
• An auditorium filled with bunk-beds.

I imagine points two and three were in some way connected!

All hands to the pump, then, and within a couple of hours we were able to mop up the floors and completely reconfigure the vast dining hall so that one half of it could be set aside for music and teaching. Still, it was very much a case of, "OK, Lord, you've made this camp possible. We trust you to help us work within these limits, and bring glory to your name." Still, it's fair to say that by the time I finally sat down at the keyboard, about an hour later than scheduled and without any rehearsal time with the other musicians, my head was anywhere but in the moment.

Craig with 'small' group.

For all Sam's difficulties this time around, we at least stuck with last year's approach of commuting to and from the camp site each day, just over an hour's drive. We arrived on Friday morning to overcast skies and reports of excitable teenagers managing as little as 30 minutes' sleep. Things were going to be just fine.

Romon Gore

Things warmed up as the day progressed and we were able to have our first proper teaching session in the morning. This year, the focus was, er, 'Focused' (Enfocado, in Spanish), using the first few chapters of Daniel. Our teachers were Romon (of newly-arrived couple Romon & Melinda -- see previous posts) and Ruddy, whose father is my fellow elder and Fundación Totaí president, Miguel Ángel. The sessions were highly practical, particularly in a Christian context. I was particularly encouraged by Romon's teaching on Daniel 3 and his observation that stories such as those of the young Jews and the fiery furnace are so often used to glibly declare that God will always deliver us from our problems. Perhaps this seems obvious, but in our context here in Bolivia, it's not unusual for pastors to get away with this kind of lazy application; many simply haven't been given the critical thinking skills to question such a statement. I think the youth were encouraged to see that God can deliver us, but that if he does not, it's not a sign of his rejection of us (as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego also affirmed).

Ruddy Arauz

As the day wore on, I snapped away (the 'official photographer' position is a useful one in muck-avoidance!) while Amanda just about held things together while keeping an eye out for Sam. But by about 5pm, the latter had long given up on even trying to behave himself, the fatigue proving too much to bear. We left early that evening, with Amanda resolving to stay in Trinidad the next day with Sam, even though she'd be without the car.

Not that she would have had much freedom anyway. For this was the scene to which we awoke on Saturday morning.

That picture is taken from our garage door. We live about a mile north of the ring-road which surrounds the central area of the city. From our house to the ring-road, I would have been better served by a dinghy. 

My passenger (Elías, who like us had opted to return in the evenings) and I feared the worst, even if the main road to the campsite was more elevated and, therefore, not flooded. Based on the conditions that awaited us on Thursday afternoon (with leaky roofs being a particular problem), we were beginning to wonder if there would even be a camp site by the time we got there. 

Yet the closer we got, the lesser the intensity of the rain, until we eventually arrived to find the camp site undergoing nothing more than a mild sprinkling. Amazing.

So things were able to proceed more or less as planned on Saturday, and Amanda and Sam had sufficiently recovered their energies during their house arrest to be able to come back on Sunday for an exciting final day. As has become the tradition, we had a brief communion service and, beforehand, without any planning, I challenged the young people to confess Jesus' Lordship over their lives (we know that three of them made a commitment that morning). 

An impromptu post-games shower under an overflowing water-tower.
This really happened.

This done, we then headed over to a large pond on the grounds to witness six young people and two adults declare their faith publicly by being baptised. Long-time readers may remember the tragedy of a teenage boy's suicide early in 2016. Four of those baptised are his family members, including his two parents, who had never before darkened the door of the church. Tears were shed.

Father of five, Alberto, with Elías (foreground)
and Miguel Ángel (background).

All that remained was for the rest of the 115-strong party to become fully immersed themselves, having a quick end-of-camp splash before lunch, group pictures and our departure. Just after we'd put Sam down, at around 8 o'clock, Amanda told me she was having a short nap. I wasn't to see her again till the next morning. Likewise, I have have become gladly reacquainted with siestas these past days.

If I may paraphrase the great king Nebuchadnezzar himself, it has been my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for us.

Prayer

• Pray for all in attendance at camp -- leaders and youth -- that they would continue to draw encouragement from what they heard. 
• Pray especially for the new converts, and for older Christians to come alongside them to disciple them.
• Pray for future camp planning. For the first time, the leaders had a debrief meeting last night, in the hope of keeping the areas for improvement fresh in the memory for next year's planning. Based on the weather, a date-change might be priority number one!
• Sam has been a little under the weather since we returned. He has managed fine at nursery and at home, but he's not eating very well and has had bad diarrhea. 

Praise

• Give thanks for safety in the travels of ourselves and the campers, and during the various activities there.
• Give thanks for Romon and Ruddy and their thought-provoking messages.
• Give thanks for those who chose to be baptised, and for the awesome work of God in their lives.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 14/10/17

Craig with fellow Mr. Bolivia contestants MCB new membership candidates.

During a dramatic week of World Cup qualifying, one of the big headlines was Panama's president declaring a national holiday the day after their first ever participation in the tournament was secured. The slapdash nature of this was certainly a key component of the story. I joked with a friend that, were the same thing to happen to Bolivia, we'd probably get a week! For spur-of-the-moment days off work are standard practice down here, so much so that we're struggling to remember the last time Sam attended school for a full five days.

(Utterly irrelevant tangent alert: Bolivia, like Scotland, share the honour of having played in the opening game of the World Cup, Bolivia against Germany in Chicago in 1994, and Scotland against Brazil in Paris in 1998. And Bolivia, like Scotland, have since failed to qualify. See also: Senegal, South Africa.)

Local holidays and the like, curiously, have taken on a strikingly different complexion since Sam started school, with things reaching something of a nadir this week. Two consecutive days went down the proverbial, with the added bonus of being announced only on the afternoon of the day before. Wednesday was international women's day so, naturally, all members of the fairer sex were entitled to an impromptu day off (at no inconvenience whatsoever to their employers, one would vouch), while a a maintenance mishap rendered the school unsafe for Sam and his toddler cohorts on Thursday. 

The circumstances were not ideal, not least for Amanda, who had flown solo on the parenting front from Thursday till Saturday of last week, thanks to a conference I attended. This was the annual national assembly of Misiones Cristianas Bolivia, our church's denomination, which, for the first time in its 57-year history, was taking place in Trinidad itself. This was my first time in attendance as a delegate (my membership was confirmed on the opening day), with two others in our church already among the membership. Essentially, the national assembly was an extended business meeting, with a significant chunk of time given over to reviewing the body's constitution (so long that much of it will have to be reviewed via email communications over the following year). A necessary evil, then, if not quite my idea of fun. 

That said, it was a great opportunity to meet like-minded individuals from across the country. Like Mark and Carol, an older American couple who run a seminary in a rural part of the country. Or Mario and Helen, who are commended from the very first church I attended as a boy back in Hamilton. Or Felix, a Bolivian missionary who works with a tribe who are based 12 hours' from the nearest major city. No electricity + no internet + no telephone lines = a calling!

Helpfully, the fellowship opportunities were extended beyond the conference itself. In the evening, three special services were held for the Trinidad churches to attend, with a series of talks given on the Reformation. One of the main speakers was Canadian Jürgen Schultz (or 'Jorge' to Bolivians) whom attentive readers may remember as being our speaker at camp last year -- and a very good one at that! It was good to catch up with him, too, and his 40-minute overview of the life and impact of Martin Luther was soul-stirring.

At the Foundation this week, the annual ENT surgical campaign has been in full swing and Amanda has been helping to keep things ticking over. Meanwhile, I've been preparing more teaching materials for church: a sermon for this Sunday and, for Thursday, a new Bible study based on a book called 'Living in the Power of the Gospel'. It's a book that was recommended to me by a missionary friend as having had a powerful impact on pastors and laypersons throughout Bolivia recently. We began by reading the first couple of chapters and thinking particularly about Colossians 2:6, with its encouragement to the believers to live their lives 'just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord'. In other words, it is the same power that saved us that now sanctifies us, and not an ounce of this comes from within ourselves. If you've read the blog of late, you can see that this ties in nicely with some of the issues that have arisen in the light of our sermon series in Galatians.

Anyway, best get on with the rest of my day. After all, Sam never seems to have classes on Saturdays!

Prayer

• This week we met with a young couple called Cristhian and Milena, who are having some marriage difficulties. They have a three-year-old son. Please pray for them, and for wisdom for ourselves in counselling them.
• For our work as board members at the Foundation, where we are occasionally having to deal with some difficult staff issues.

Praise

• Craig and the rest of the Langham Preaching group had their first meeting this morning since the Level 3 workshop. Give thanks for a good start.
• For a great initial Bible study on Thursday.
• For a good first MCB meeting for Craig last weekend.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 30/09/17

"So, Clemenza, let me get this straight: Is the law, therefore, opposed 
to the promises of God?" 
"Fuhgetaboutit!"

When it comes to faithfully and honestly expounding the word of God as he has given it to us, there is simply no substitute for working through a book together, Sunday by Sunday, as a church. Thematic or topical series have their place throughout the church year, but if we claim to take the Bible seriously in our congregations, then book studies must be given primacy. 

A criticism that this approach often attracts is that it lacks the flexibility to address issues the church might be dealing with at any particular moment. This can be fairly easily countered. Firstly, when choosing books to teach as a series, a church should be considering the current needs of its congregation anyway, and prayerfully selecting texts which speak to those. Secondly, as stated above, a good church will make room for thematic or topical sermons throughout the year anyway, and these provide particularly gilt-edged opportunities for such ministry.

But I cannot imagine I am alone in positing a third, far weightier reason: we have good reason to trust that God will speak powerfully to us through his word as it has been presented to us. Time and time again in my own preaching ministry, God has aligned circumstances and text in such a way that the particular text, of the particular book, in the particular preaching series, that was programmed for that particular Sunday some months ago, is precisely what the church needs to hear. This is all of God, and all the more reason to give him the glory.

This has certainly been the case here in the last couple of weeks, where I have been working through Galatians 3 and 4. We elected to preach Galatians some months ago owing to the Reformation's 500th anniversary this year, and it being Martin Luther's favourite book (his only commentary was written on the epistle, and if you know anything of his biography, it's not hard to see why). In the particular passages I was preaching on, Paul is showing that God's law, which the Galatians were depending on, is inferior to God's promise (because it came later and through an intermediary), but that it is still integral in that it demonstrates in Technicolor just how far we fall short of God's standards -- and therefore, just how much we need to respond to his unconditional promise in Jesus! He then reminds the Galatians that, as heirs of the promise, they are free -- so why go back to a life of enslavement to works-righteousness?

We have all, then, as Christians, gone from slavery to salvation-by-works, to the freedom of salvation-by-grace. But the funny thing is that Amanda and I have had a lot of experiences here recently, in our own church and in para-church settings, where the noises from the pulpit seem to suggest the opposite, particularly among young people. Something along the lines of: "Don't be like those friends of yours who are having the time of their lives; don't dance, don't drink, don't get into relationships with the opposite sex." And that's it. 

I recently read a book on preaching that contained the following simple, yet powerful, thought: that if you reckon you could get away with your sermon in a mosque or a synagogue, then it isn't worth preaching in church. So many factors, too numerous to detail here, have brought about an 'evangelical' church culture where legalism and The Stuff We Must Do have come to dominate Bible teaching, particularly among those pesky young people, who just can't control themselves, can they. And so, sermons you could get away with in a mosque or synagogue are the meat and potatoes of church experience.

It all comes back, of course, to a faulty understanding of God's salvation. Having been brought up in the school of no-free-lunches, we struggle to accept its totality, finality and unconditionality (I have this moment at least once a day!). And as a result, our obedience is motivated by fear when, in fact, if we really grasped the fullness of what God has done for us, it would flow from us naturally as an expression of love and thankfulness. Why, indeed, settle for these fleeting pleasures, when life in abundance can be ours today?

Going back to my sermons, then, it has been interesting to see how God, in the last few weeks, has used this hefty reminder of his grace to really get people thinking about the kinds of messages we are sending as a church, particularly among our young people; bear in mind that our young people are vulnerable not only because of youth culture in general, but also because they largely come from unchurched homes -- and those whose parents have brought them up in some kind of faith know only the works righteousness so ingrained in this culture. 

So this message is causing people to sit up and pay attention. Two separate young men, both regular youth-group attendees, approached me in the last week to tell me that they had never heard this before. I was simultaneously encouraged and challenged: encouraged that they were simply paying attention to the Sunday sermon (!) and that the gospel was being clearly understood; challenged that this seemed to be inconsistent with the kinds of messages they were hearing elsewhere. That was confirmed to me when a youth leader approached me to say he was concerned that the general teaching for the youth on Saturday nights wasn't consistent with the kind of gospel message being preached on Sunday mornings.

I am not currently involved in the youth ministry, but Amanda is, and has also had some interesting conversations this week on the topic with her fellow workers in the ministry; they are great, committed people, but most are new enough in the faith to be susceptible to these kinds of errors. The material used on Saturdays is essentially solid, but much of it is about making good decisions, and so the possibility of 'synagogue sermons' is very much a live one. It seems like, pretty soon, the teaching on Saturday nights will have to come under some serious scrutiny, and we are encouraged that it's not just us foreigners, for once, asking the big questions.

Of course, as with all such matters, The Godfather nailed it. Hitherto blue-eyed-boy Michael Corleone is in some anxiety as to the impact his upcoming 'hit' on a family rival will surely have on inter-mafiosi affairs in New York. Peter Clemenza ("Leave the gun; take the cannoli.") endeavours to help him see the bigger picture:

That's all right. These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood.

While by no means looking to 'get rid of the bad blood' (!), I wonder if, in the church of Jesus Christ, these little grace shake-ups also "gotta happen every five years or so", much like we are experiencing now. Indeed, I suspect we depend on such seasons. If I, as I mentioned above, need to be reminding myself of God's grace every day, we can never preach this message too much. But first of all, we need to learn accept it for ourselves. 

Prayer

• We are thankful for this little reawakening which might be taking place among us, and doubly conscious that we must, as a couple, be patient and, yes, gracious with the people we are working alongside, so as not to compromise this message in any way. Pray for tact, for diplomacy, for love.
• Our fellow Latin Link workers, Graham & Debbie Frith, are due here any moment now for a weekend visit. Please pray for a time of mutual encouragement.

Praise

• The Gore family (see last week) have settled in well after their move from Cochabamba and we have enjoyed getting to know them a little better this week.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 26/08/17

The base of the old tower (left), the old tank itself (right)
and the beginnings of the new tower (centre). Hard hats optional.

A very tangible display of God's goodness to us is slowly but surely taking shape round the back of Fundación Totaí's headquarters. Late last year we were advised that FT's water tower, the delivery system for water to the building, was in bad shape, and dangerously so. The harsh climate here had caused parts of the structure to erode, causing parts of the piping to rust and a potential disaster to ensue, given the decreasing strength of the high tower and its proximity to the building itself. 

But finances were already tight as a drum, rendering any future attempt at a repair a, er, pipe-dream. So, as a Foundation, we took a step of faith and did something we'd never done before: appeal for funding for a repair -- or, if possible, a replacement tank -- from FT's friends and supporters around the world.  

Over the past nine months, that funding has come together, with various churches and individuals from both North America and Europe giving generously -- so much so, indeed, that we have been able to knock down the old tower and start from scratch. The construction team are currently two weeks into an eight-week schedule and things are already coming together nicely. We are encouraged and humbled.

We're also excited about the recent resumption of the men's and women's Bible study groups in the church. That old adage that Christians enjoy judging may be unsubstantiated at best, but the evidence that Bolivian Christians enjoy Judges is all around, with the girls doing a study of Gideon, and the boys a study of the book of Judges as a whole. Us guys had our second study last night and some great, gospel-driven conversations to boot (I was especially challenged by author Tim Keller's point on sin and our excuses for it, when, "I can't" in actual fact usually means, "I won't"). It's particularly thrilling to have one or two young-adult youth group members in attendance at the study, which is being led by our "brother, co-worker and fellow soldier", Carlos. Amanda came back with similarly glowing reports from the women's first meeting last Sunday evening.

I'm thankful for a few weeks out of the preaching game after a busier spell of late, taking charge of four of the past five Sunday sermons. Indeed, this proved to be providential this week under some challenging circumstances, namely some car issues and Sam catching a fever and being off nursery for most of the week. Yet God's hand was so visible even here. A healthy Sam would have gone bananas without some means of transportation to get him out of the house; as it was, he was quite content with cuddles and Dora the Explorer.

Next weekend sees our third annual Langham preaching conference take place, a little later in the year than the first two conferences due to my time out of Trinidad. The group is a little reduced at this point, but the longer wait means that those of us who have stuck with it are particularly excited for this year's edition. This year one of our speakers is Igor Améstegui, who is based here in Bolivia and oversees Langham's preaching programmes throughout all of Latin America. As you can imagine, he is a gifted preacher himself, and we will be having a special service at our church next Sunday evening so that the members of the various churches involved can hear him speak too.

So in the unlikely event of another maratón de Dora next weekend, I'd imagine Amanda will be unable to provide a further update. Furthermore, we are travelling to La Paz the following weekend for a retreat with our Latin Link cohorts. What's the name of that Depeche Mode song again? Oh yeah: enjoy the silence. 

Prayer

• Pray for a stimulating weekend of teaching and equipping next weekend and that, above all, our churches would reap the benefits.
• La Paz is not always the most relaxing of destinations. But we're looking forward to meeting with the Latin Link team again for a weekend of refreshing and encouragement. Pray for safety in our travels there and renewed vigour for the task ahead.

Praise

• Give thanks for the funding for the water tower, and the progress being made on its construction.
• Give thanks for the positive start to the new session of men's and women's Bible studies.
• Give thanks for the Lord's providential ordering of circumstances this week, and his abundant grace to endure. 

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 12/08/17

Lunch-avoidance for beginners.

This coming Monday marks four weeks since the Strathaven team set off for home at the end of their stint here. Their legacy continues to be felt, not least in the shape of the expertly-crafted mural and banner that festoon the church walls, though it pains me to say that the last embers of their Obligatory British Chocolate Package ran out during the week.

This also means, though, that we've now had roughly one month, since returning, of living a 'normal' existence here (teams, while always welcome, present their own unique challenges every day, and even the two weeks we had here before their arrival was largely taken up with team preparation or sorting out the house). In other words, it's as good an opportunity as any to reflect, and give an update, on the targets we set ourselves for life and ministry earlier this year. I'm delighted to say that, by and large, we see progress here, and are feeling the benefits immensely.

Working from a place of rest

Following a year of essentially juggling two full-time jobs and parenthood (and paying a heavy price for this!), we knew as we left Bolivia in early January that something had to give. This year, as happened during our 2014 furlough, we sought the Lord's guidance as to which ministries it would be best to leave in the Bolivians' hands. But unlike 2014, this time we made the Bolivians aware of these changes some time before we even arrived back in the country, meaning they were both well prepared and less likely to cajole us to change our minds (which, by and large, in January 2015, we did!). 

For Amanda, this has meant scaling back her HR responsibilities at work a little in order to better attend to the practical needs of her 'boys'. The Lord really provided in this respect, as the administrator who started with FT in December was quite happy to take on much of this work, and has continued to do so with aplomb. For a couple of mornings a week, then, Amanda has not only been able to get through mountains of ironing, but also have uninterrupted time with the Lord in prayer and Bible reading. As an onlooker, I'm encouraged.

One of the tasks I stepped down from myself was youth ministry, which takes place on Saturday evenings. This was certainly a case of mind over matter, as the youth group has grown considerably since we left, and more male leaders would be welcome, making it all the more tempting for me to backtrack and play the knight in shining armour (after all, the Lord's work depends solely on us anyway, right?). But I've kept to the original plan, and this has given me the time and space on Saturday evenings to continue in an online theological training course I began on furlough. I've found this not only to be great nourishment for myself, but also of great benefit, already, in church leadership. All in all: good move.

Putting family first

With a slightly reduced workload, we now have increased flexibility to adapt to situations as they arise. During the week, for example, Amanda might ask me to take Sam out for a couple of hours just to get a break, or I might ask her to give me the chance to go out and get some exercise. We are now much better equipped to help each other in this respect.

However, the three of us do still hang out together (occasionally!) and these times have been all the more special for the lack of exhaustion. Additionally, I have begun leading family devotions every day just before Sam's bedtime, and we're delighted by how much he's already embracing this. For Amanda and I, date nights (or 'mornings', in the case of Mondays), have been re-prioritised, and we feel we are working so much better together during the week as a result, both as parents and as spouses. 

Craig's pastoral work

By and large, I'm enjoying my increased role now in the church leadership. I've set aside one evening a week for visits -- an area that had been neglected for many years -- and I've had some great conversations, not only with members, but also with parents of some of the children and young people who attend at weekends. Part of my aim is to make them feel comfortable in the church on those rare occasions when they accompany their children -- and, indeed, encourage them to come more.

My Bible teaching workload has increased significantly. I'm preaching at least three times a month, I take turns with another guy to lead the bi-monthly Bible study, and I'm also making the usual contributions to Communion services and prayer meetings. However, this area is a strength, and so I know my energies are not being wasted in any way. 

Staying with preaching, the Langham group are looking forward to the Level 3 workshop at the end of this month, and I'm praying about starting a new group. There is a lot of interest among people from the churches currently involved, including our own. I'll be looking to get a little more guidance on this when the Langham workers arrive here in late August.

Finally, I'm getting back into some one-on-one discipleship and just this week I had a great time with one of our young people in the church, Diego, who supports the children's ministry. I'm hoping to start this soon with a young man who became a Christian just a couple of weeks ago.

Amanda's work

Though she's cut back on her hours a little, with the delegation of her HR duties, Amanda has had a lot more time to sit down with staff and find out how they are getting on; this pastoral side to her work was something she was looking to improve on, so this is a great start for her. She's also enjoyed being back on the board of directors at the Foundation and has driven a couple of key initiatives just in the last month. The prayer room is still a work in progress; please pray! 

Sam's schooling

Sam continues to thrive in his new environment in the mornings. The only issue we're having is that he arrives home so exhausted that lunch -- the main meal of the day here -- is, well, challenging! It's essentially a race to see how much food we can get in him before he raises his white flag with 'BED! NOW!' written on it. His Spanish is really starting to come along now too; he even addressed me with an 'Hola' at the school gates yesterday. 

Prayer

• Pray for the preparations for Langham Level 3, taking place from the 31st of August till the 3rd of September. 
• We're beginning a new series in Galatians this week in the church to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (it was Mr. Luther's favourite book). Pray for Craig tomorrow and next Sunday as he preaches, and on Thursday as he takes a session of the Revelation Bible study.

Praise

• Amanda and the youth committee were finally able to meet this week to start planning for this year's camp. 
• Give thanks for the great time of discipleship this week with Diego.
• Give thanks for the many ways we are seeing God bless us in life and ministry when we simply follow his guidance.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday post -- 24/06/17

After a full week back in Trinidad, we’re enjoying being home and having a more settled family life again (how many people have to come all the way to Bolivia to do that?!). The house increasingly resembles our home (i.e., the mess is ours and not someone else’s) and we’ve been able to catch up with a good number of friends and colleagues, with some very initial conversations about ministry thrown in. Furthermore, Craig was able to tie up the paperwork on the car’s registration yesterday, after a week spent mostly driving from one office to the next; we sure haven’t missed Bolivian bureaucracy.

More on the present-day in the prayer points, below. For now, time to pick up where I left off last week, with a little more detail as to our prospects this time around.

Craig: Building a Church

As 2016 drew to a close, we were making our preparations to leave Trinidad and begin our journey back to Scotland for home assignment. Meanwhile, our former pastor, Elías, was preparing to step down from his position, according to a timetable agreed some months earlier. So I have known for some time now that this new term in Bolivia is likely to see my church commitments increase and intensify.

Elías was preaching about twice a month and teaching Bible studies every other Thursday. He was also at the forefront of visitation and represented the church at a local level. My workload in all of these areas was somewhat lighter, and is now likely to pick up considerably. This will be particularly pronounced in the first few months, as the other elder, Miguel Ángel, has asked to step back himself from the pulpit until the end of the year.

Though I will be taking on a lot more of the pastoral load, I will not be assuming the title of ‘pastor’ any time soon. Our vision, as ever, is for the Bolivians to gradually assume the work that the missionaries began – not just ourselves, but those other couples who have gone before us. Having a foreigner take on the role of pastor would surely hinder such progress, especially in a culture which is at times has no qualms about putting its feet up while other people get their hands dirty.

Moreover, our church has always been a very collaborative enterprise, and we have been delighted in the past week or so to hear about the great strides that have been made in gospel ministry, driven primarily by the laity. We may come to a point where we wish to appoint a pastor again, but for now (not least in a church with strong Brethren roots), we are happy to see how things progress, and I will be delighted to play my own part in this.

However, along with the additions will have to come subtractions, particularly if we are to live by the principles mentioned here last weekend. I have prayerfully decided to step back from youth ministry for the time being (though I will continue to disciple individuals in the group), and I will be winding down my responsibilities in the music ministry, with the aim of stepping down in January. Against my better instincts, I resurrected the English classes last year as a way of raising funds for Fundación Totaí. Well, by and large, it turned out my instincts were on to something; they, too, will be shelved.

Other jobs will continue for now, including my supporter communications work for FT and overseeing Langham Trinidad, which has also made great strides in my absence – a recurring, and humbling, theme developing there.

Amanda: Becoming more of a people person

As long-time readers will be aware, Amanda’s main role for her first few years here was as an audiologist at FT. She loved the work, but felt the door was closing on it by the time we had our first home assignment in 2014. During that year, God directed her towards the work of human resources in the Foundation, to which she dedicated a great deal of time and energy.

Above all, though, Amanda had planned on using the HR position as a way of getting alongside staff members on a pastoral level, and deepening relationships with them; several of our health staff are not yet believers, and most face challenging circumstances at home. While there were occasional opportunities in this area, Amanda largely found that it was hard to make great headway due to the copious paperwork that her role also entailed; naturally, Sam’s arrival complicated things here too.

Well our last home assignment saw FT’s new Director of Administration, Hernán, take on the HR role as part of his own work, and we prayed that there might be scope upon our return for Amanda to leave that with him permanently with a view to a greater pastoral care focus. Hernán and FT’s board members feel the need for this too, and they have been delighted to let Amanda go ahead with this.

She will essentially be making up her role as she goes along, but her goal is to be a presence in the Foundation as much as possible and to spend meaningful time with staff and patients; a ‘prayer room’ for patients has been a dream of ours for some time, and Amanda will finally be free to get this up and running at the Foundation with those patients who wish to be prayed for.

Like me, Amanda hopes to do some more discipleship work with youngsters in the church, and she will continue to support the work of the youth ministry – though this is, again, an area where she has been able to relinquish the role of leader since we have been away.

Sam: “Ring ring” goes the bell

“Hang about!,” I hear you cry, “I thought you guys had no time these days because of that Energizer Bunny also known as your son.” And in this you would be right: indeed we did not.

However, the decibel levels round here are about to take something of a downturn, as Sam sets off on his latest adventure: Day Care.

If you’ve met Sam, you will know just what a sociable little boy he is, and we’ve long felt his need of companionship, particularly of children his own age. Not least as Mummy & Daddy are running out of ideas fast: there are really only so many times you can play chucking-toys-up-the-stairs-then-back-down-again before even Sam starts looking at his watch.

The day care Sam will be attending feeds into a local school, and takes place on weekday mornings. In other words, by sheer coincidence, Sam will be otherwise occupied at the time of the week when we are generally at our busiest (this also paves the way for the aforementioned Monday morning ‘date nights’).

In all seriousness, while we are a touch nervous about dropping His Lordship back into the Spanish-language deep end, we are delighted to afford him the opportunity to spend more time with other little people, and get to grips with the accompanying social skills. We’re sure he’ll have a great time.

Meanwhile, of course, we hope to see him cement already-existing relationships with our friends and our church community here. Last Sunday morning, in church, he danced incessantly while the band played, and we pray that his joy in the Lord would only grow in the coming years.

Prayer

• For patience, wisdom and self-discipline as we seek to put these plans into action.
• Next weekend sees the wedding of a young woman who has grown up in the church and is well known and loved by many who are associated with this place. Consequently, a veritable horde is making its way here over the coming week, including several ex-missionaries. Pray for safe travels for all.
• Said horde will also include a seven-strong team from Strathaven Evangelical Church (including Craig’s Mum), who are due to arrive here next Saturday morning for two weeks. Pray for preparations for this visit, for the team and for ourselves.

Praise

• For progress this week on little jobs like the car documentation and the house.
• For great encouragement in catching up with old friends and learning of so many positive developments over the last six months, both at institutional and individual levels.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 13/06/15

A final group picture (with the camp caretaker on the left, of course).

Well, I can’t promise exploding houses, prospective pyjama parties or KD (that’s ‘Kraft Dinner’, for the hitherto unsullied) but if you give me five minutes of your time, I’ll happily tell you all about what went on last weekend, in a place where the reading of blog posts was about as likely as going the whole weekend without a mosquito bite.

Trinidad’s newly-launched Langham Preaching programme is the culmination of nine months of prayer and preparation. For me, the general outline of our sabbatical year in 2014, in terms of my thought pattern, was six months of encouragement as to the things I was learning, followed by another six months of continued encouragement, but also trying to think carefully about how my experiences at Cornhill would translate to a very different cultural context, as our return date loomed ever closer. I felt particularly challenged to address the area of Biblical preaching which, in this part of Bolivia, is severely lacking.

Eduardo (right) in action.

With that in mind, at the recommendation of friends both in Scotland and Canada, in September I got in touch with Langham’s representatives in Bolivia, who proceeded to put me in contact with Eduardo Rojas. We began a tentative discussion as to the feasibility of running a Langham Preaching course in Trinidad, and by the time we had arrived back here in January of this year, it was a case of gauging interest levels, with Eduardo more than happy to come here from his home city of Cochabamba should there be enough appetite.

Within a few weeks, having spoken to a range of groups around town, it was clear we could definitely cobble something together, and so Eduardo kindly came out for an overnight stay in late February, to speak in more depth with the interested parties as a group. From there, a local organising committee was formed, which I headed up, and despite the odd headache in the run-up to the conference (e.g., would we have anything to eat?), a group of 13 men and women from a variety of churches made it to the meeting point on that first afternoon, ready to roll.

Edwin Fernández.

It hadn’t exactly taken much thought as a committee to settle on a venue for the course. Eduardo had stipulated that the course was best delivered in some kind of retreat centre, free of outside distractions. There is only one such venue in this whole region, a municipally-owned centre about a 90-minute drive from Trinidad; indeed, it’s where our church has run its youth camps the last couple of years. Several churches here have their own camp grounds, but without the conveniences that we needed to enjoy a distraction-free time of it (though the two-hour power cut on Thursday evening rendered those advantages pretty much obsolete; mosquito nets were a non-negotiable too).

Best of all, there was next to no phone signal, making it really hard for outsiders to get in touch, though a touch frustrating when, say, trying to get one’s wife to bring out a projector cable.

The plan for the weekend was to help a group of people with a wide variety of preaching and teaching experiences to teach from a book of the Bible expositionally, in such a way that the same principles could be applied to all Scripture; this required us to get to grips with the text as a whole. And that made Philemon – one of only five single-chapter Bible books – a logical place to begin, when: a) many had never had experience of preaching expositionally; and b) we only had three days to prepare.

Getting together to 'Pray the Word'.

Each of the three mornings began with a tremendous exercise called ‘Praying the word’, which preceded the preaching of a section of Philemon, either by Eduardo or his colleague, Edwin Fernández. As a group, we would read the passage aloud three times, before closing our eyes and listening to the chairperson read each verse slowly. And after the reading of each verse, two or three minutes were given to open prayer of the kind that acted as a response to what was read. This served as a tremendous preparation both for the day ahead and for the upcoming sermon.

The rest of the day was largely given over to teaching on the various steps required to prepare an expository sermon – such as discerning the main idea behind a passage, thinking about how a letter written to a Hellenistic slave-owner applies to Trinidad in 2015, and forming a sermon body which reflects the passage structure – which we then put into practice in our groups.

Miguel-Ángel at the pulpit.

On Sunday (the final day), this work culminated in – how ever did you guess? – a sermon from each of the two groups, based on verses 17 to 25 of Philemon, the only stipulation being that the nominated preacher had to have limited experience in the area. It gave me no small thrill, then, to see our old friend Miguel-Ángel step up to the plate – correction, the pulpit. Miguel-Ángel serves on the church leadership alongside Elías and myself (he’s also the president of FT), and a more gentle, more unassuming man you would struggle to meet. Although he regularly chairs services and provides informal teaching at communion services, he has been reluctant to preach in our own church until now due to a lack of training and experience. However, in recent months, he has expressed his desire to address this, and my prayer is that his assured debut on Sunday afternoon will stand him in good stead.

Romina, also from our church, delivered the
other group's sermon.

Those two groups into which we were divided (one of six people, the other of seven) were not solely for the purpose of the training weekend. Because the course, in truth, lasts three years. The idea is that we will have two further conferences – one with a specific Old Testament focus, the other New Testament – in 2016 and 2017, about this time of year. But in the twelve months between conferences, the groups are to meet once a month as escuelitas (literally, little schools). In these escuelitas, one member of each group will give a 20-minute sermon on a specified text in Mark. But the other group members are required to arrive at the session having studied the passage in their own time, so as to be able to deliver constructive criticism of the sermon. As at the conference, the sermon is to be preceded by a session of ‘praying the word’, and some time is also to be given over to reading a book on preaching by, of all people, Eric Alexander.

The two group representatives put the finishing touches to their work.

Besides the necessary learning, there were regular breaks incorporated into the schedule (including the all-important post-lunch siesta stretch), which allowed for great opportunities to get to know the rest of the group. Having at times in the past wondered if the likes of Amanda and me were the only ones even halfway bothered about the quality of preaching in these parts, it was of great encouragement to meet other brothers and sisters with a passion for the word.

Indeed, on Sunday evening, Amanda and I accompanied Eduardo to a local church, where he had received an impromptu invite to give a sermon, and where a few other of the course’s participants were gathered. And as he preached on Acts 6:1-7, on the need to free up certain members in the church to be able to concentrate on word ministry – and the huge blessing that can bring to said church – he was met with a great response. We pray that, in the coming years, the word of God might indeed continue to increase in Trinidad.

Prayer

• For hard work and commitment from the Langham group as a whole, with the ball now squarely in our court.
• Our thoughts are beginning to turn to Scotland, where we will, God-willing, be spending a few weeks in July, due to Craig’s sister’s wedding. Naturally, that means there is a small mountain of tasks to be completed by the end of this month before we set off. Pray for patience.
• Craig’s penance for his upcoming month out of Trinidad is to give six sermons/talks within the next sixteen days: three at the youth group on Saturday evenings, and three at the Sunday morning family service. Prayer appreciated this weekend as he teaches the young people tonight about Gideon, and kicks off a new series in 1 Kings on Sunday.
• For the safe arrival of three volunteers from Seattle – Brittany, Haley and Juliana – who are due to land in Santa Cruz on Thursday, and who will be supporting the work at FT for two months

 Praise

• For the great help and encouragement that the Langham course provided to all involved -- including Eduardo and Edwin, who were very impressed by the group. They told me they often come to the end of these courses with concerns that the group might not run with the proverbial baton; not so with this group.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda