Now That’s the Church

Most of you who read this blog know that MJ and I are missionaries here in Brazil. And most of you know about our ministry to orphans and to the children in the local favelas (slums) in and around Curitiba. And most of you know about all the camps we do each year for hundreds of kids who desperately need Jesus. Our life is non-stop but we love doing what we do: )

But, what some of you may not be aware of is that, for a little over 2 years now, we've also been the lead pastors of an English speaking church in Curitiba as well. We meet in one of the largest Baptist churches in the city (Igreja Batista do Bacacheri) and have services at the same time as the mother church is having their main portuguese service.

We started out with about 12 people and have grown to a solid 50+ people each Sunday Morning. Since we’re an international church, that meets inside of another church, it's a different dynamic than you see at most churches. Even though we only have, on average, around 50 people each service- we see a lot of different people each month. Actually, we probably have 150 different people that come each month to one of our services. Some people are only in town for a few weeks or even just for the weekend (for their jobs). Some people only show-up once a month (or so) because they’re wanting to improve their English. So it’s difficult trying to actually ‘pastor’ in this kind of environment. 

The i3C Worship Team at a special Night of Worship

But Me and MJ have been extremely grateful for the opportunity to be able to minister in our own language in a foreign country each week. Actually, I truly believe it’s a gift from God since I still struggle with portuguese (actually struggle is an understatement, haha) and it’s helped keep me sane since teaching The Bible and pastoring are such a HUGE part of who we are.

But, even though we’re able to minister in English each week, it’s always been a concern of ours that that’s all we’re doing- ministering in English each week and that’s it. There’s been no way to actually measure our effectiveness (with the people) because we live 45 minutes away, in the middle of the jungle, and we don’t get the opportunity to walk with any of the people we pastor during the week (to actually see if there's any fruit being produced in their lives). And this is always at the forefront of our minds. 

Because, to me, the thing about being a pastor that I have zero interest in- is trying to pastor people who just want to be at church on Sunday and then they just check-out for the rest of the week until the next Sunday without actually following Jesus every day. That doesn't interest me at all- English or no English. But we’ve remained steady and have just trusted that God was actually using us in the people’s lives.

Some of the i3C crew at a recent outreach

Since we do a lot of outreach in the orphanages and favelas as missionaries, over the last 2 years, we’ve invited the church to partner with us any time we do and the response is usually pretty good. But still- we know that even that (having people show up for an outreach) doesn’t prove that someone is actually the real deal, right?

In Villa Zumbi at an outreach we did last month

Well, after this past Sunday’s service, Me and MJ were driving home and she began to tell me a story about a precious couple that are members of our church. She was telling me how that last week they were having some financial difficulties (due to a job situation) and didn't even have money to buy toilet paper.

Then MJ told me about how, when someone else in the church found out about it, they  gave them R$500. And then another person who’d found out about their situation gave them some money. And then someone else found out about it and showed-up at their house with 5 big boxes of groceries! 

This all happened last week and they didn't come to Me and MJ asking for help (which we would have), no. They didn't need to. Because the Church, the Body, aka- the Members took care of each other like they're suppose to. And that’s the way that I believe God designed it (the Church) to operate from the beginning (Acts 2:42-47). 

As a pastor that makes me so proud of our church and it helps us know that we’re actually pastoring people who are living out their faith and not just showing up on Sundays and then clocking-out until the next week: )

James says (in James 2:14-16), that one of the proofs (or one of the things that gives evidence) that your faith is actually alive is when you see a brother or sister in need and you do something about it. And Jesus says (in Matthew 25:31-46) that one of the things that'll differentiate the true disciple from the false disciple on Judgement Day will be the fact that they met someones needs when they were made aware of it. So, to me, what these brothers and sisters did for this couple was a proof of something that’s real.

We don’t work for our salvation but our works prove that our salvation is real. 

And, because of this, I'm feeling pretty happy today to be honest with you. Because for over 2 years now, as we’ve been pastoring the i3C, we’ve been looking for true signs that what we’re doing really matters. So I’m writing this blog to brag on our church and to thank God for allowing us to see some fruit in our people’s lives that shows that we’re on the right track: )

Feeling Proud (in a good way),

Jim and MJ