A test of patience

Yesterday was Sunday so I once again returned to the Methodist Church which only has about 10 members from 3 families (that´s membership not attendance). I showed up at 5:00 because I was going to meet with two of the teenage members to talk about some things and then the pastor wanted us to go out and invite people to church. When I showed up the pastor was there but the 2 guys were nowhere to be seen. We then decided to go to their houses to see if anything was wrong. We walked up to Arturo´s house and he came to the door to tell us that his aunt had passed out and so they had to rush her to the hospital. We´re not exactly sure what happened but she has been added to my prayer list and I hope you will do the same. We then went across the street to Alex´s house but no one answered the door and we later found out that someone in his family was getting married.

So...we returned to the church and waited for the people to come for service. Service is supposed to start at 6:30 but no one showed up until 7:15. Waiting for the teenagers and then for the rest of the members gave me a lot of time to talk to the pastor about some things. First of all, he has only been there since March and the pastor who was there is now the District Superintendent (I guess it doesn´t take quite as much to be a DS here). He came from a church in Lima where the average attendance was around 50 and the most they had was about 80, which is a pretty big Methodist Church for here in Perú. One of the main topics we talked about was the building of a church building. He seems to think that a building and a sports field would help bring people in, and although he is probably partially correct, I believe that the time and money could be better spent in a city where the average income is $2 a day.

We also talked a little bit about the ministry here. There are two main families that the members come from and then there is one other family from which one or two people will come. This is different from the Sunday School in the morning where sometimes as many as 15 children will come. Since there are so few members, I asked him if there was ever an occasion where no one showed up. He told me that there has only been one Sunday in which that happened and he stayed at the church from 6:00 until 8:00 simply praying for the members of the church and the church as a whole. Another problem that comes with a small church and occasional events where no one shows up, is that there is very little offering each week, maybe 8-10 dollars. This is not enough to cover the expenses of around $100 a month simply to pay the bills. The way the church makes it month to month is that there is one member who covers half the rent, or about $20, and then the pastor has another job Monday-Friday and he give half of his income to the church...again...he gives HALF of his income, not just 10% which a dwindling few still give.

I deeply admire this man´s patience and faith. I would like to say that I would respond similarly, but frankly I´m not sure if I would. He may not be doing everything right, and there may be ways to grow the church that he has not looked into, but he works Monday-Friday and so he is not able to do many things that church planters in the US could do. He´s also very limited in his funding seeing that he is funding much of the ministry himself. I will continue my discussions with the pastor and see if there is something I can do to help since he is limited in what he can do. For now I just simply ask for prayers for the church, the pastor, and myself as we search to see where this ministry is called.


Peace,

Brandon