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April 1974 Newsletter
COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
San José del Guaviare in Colombia, South America
Volume 3, Issue 4 April, 1975
GROWING PAINS
As we become more involved in the work of preaching the gospel, we become more involved with the churches and the people who form them. We learn more on each preaching excursion about each group of Christians.
We have learned that they are people of God. They often literally wear out the Bible in less than a year. (In contrast, how many of us has found it necessary to buy a new Bible because our old one has fallen apart from over-use?) They are concerned with evangelism an often take one day off work and walk for hours through the jungle to witness to a non-believer. (Again, in contrast, we often, fail to talk with our neighbors about Christ.)
In everything, this dedication to our Lord has become evident. They have even sent out their own missionaries on preaching tours lasting many weeks. They have carried the gospel to areas where no American missionary has ever been. They have proven themselves to be dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet, the churches here are made up of people, fallible as we are. And so, in these churches, and into the hearts of people, Satan makes his appearance. These young churches with so many new Christians, encounter severe trials. The work grows phenomenally for a while then sputters to a mere snails pace. Unity and love disappears into bickering and selfishness. Let me share some of the problems so that you may pray more specifically for the growth of the Kingdom here in Colombia.
San Jose is the hub of this whole area. The church is five years old and has a wooden chapel that will seat 50 or 60. In the San Jose church there has been considerable problems with the people having a denominational outlook. Rather and looking to the Bible for doctrine and Christ as the head of the church, they yearned to "be as the nations round about." As a result they have written a rather lengthy (14 page) creed and appointed a "President" to "govern" the church. Liberalism is no problem, but the trend concerns us. Pentecostalism which with its present day prophesy and denial of Biblical authority has also been a problem, but seems to have died down for the moment.
Moving out from San Jose, the next church is La Estrella (the star). It is a smaller congregation and meets in a home. It is made up mostly of young farm workers. The lack of stability characteristic of young, single, day laborers here in Colombia is the basic problem in the church at La Estrella. They long for thrills and become bored easily. This makes them incline toward bursts of activity with doldrums in between. It also makes Bible study appear dull at times and present day prophesy attractive. Pray for increased maturity and hunger for the Word of God among this congregation.
The next church on the road out of San Jose is the healthiest. It has seen over 30 baptisms in the last few months. In Vacation Bible School, we enrolled as many students as the public school there. Problems began to crop up when they began thinking of a church building. Everyone wanted to donate some of his property as a place to build the chapel. We finally had to encourage them to table these plans for a few months. Things have settled somewhat but unity and love suffered and the decrease in these two essentials leaves open a door for Satan.
All in all, we find churches healthy and the general outlook good. We look forward to more opportunities to teach these young churches. We even find church problems invigorating after fighting language problems and visa problems for so long. We enjoy seeing their growth and anticipate a continuance of the expansion of the Kingdom here in Colombia. We are thankful for this opportunity to serve and Praise the Lord for the challenge He has set in front of us. Yet, so that you may pray more earnestly for our work and understand more fully that nature of the "harvest" here; we want to share everything. We have complete confidence in our Lord and so are not daunted when men of God prove to be less than perfect. A few clouds in the sky don't ruin a sunny day.