What is happening in Pacifico at the moment?

What is going on in Pacifico?

Even though we are now not meeting in Pacifico on a Sunday we still have a regular presence there on a weekly basis. In addition to this we are doing a church outreach there every 4-6 weeks on a Sunday morning rather than meeting formally in our house. Our first one was on the 18th November and we will be doing one this week for Christmas. Hopefully, future blog posts will follow about both of these events!

So what are we doing on a weekly basis in Pacifico?

Llilda, Karina and Elisabeth in the Bible Study

We currently have a weekly meeting on a Wednesday that is slowly growing in number. Attendees vary in number from one week to the next; with between 10 to 35 people in attendance, aside from the leaders.

Steve teaching at the interactive Bible Study

Three Wednesdays a month an interactive form of Biblical teaching is done, in this meeting, which is covering Bible stories in a visual, picture-based forn. We are using this form of teaching, because it helps both adults and children engage. In addition most of the people involved in the group have little or no education, and reading and writing is of a very low standard.  Every participant is encouraged to draw the different elements of the story in a symbolic way to aid processing and understanding of the story and to lead them to application. Think non-academic note-taking! 

This has been a real success and we are excited for the future of this study, not just in Pacifico, but also how this style of Bible teaching to groups of people with low education levels can be used in the jungle.

Nancy, Jane, and Karina buying supplies for Color de Esperanza

Once a month Karina leads the Wednesday meeting with her new ministry Color de Esperanza (Colour of Hope). This is an evangelistic and creative ministry connected to Jane Savaas, a wonderful lady who visited in February this year.  Jane brought a creative ministry with her and Karina has been able to carry it on since her return to the UK.  We are in the early stages with this ministry, but there is no reason why Karina cannot use this ministry all over Peru. She has already been to churches in Chiclayo in the north of Peru. The vision Karina has is to help people work through issues they have had through testimony and creative workshops. The workshops she has begun to do have been very powerful and well received. 

Some of the Pre-teens

On a Saturday Ronald leads our most healthy group/ministry, the pre-adolescents or teens group.  Rosa and Gabriel help him in the leadership. Ronald visits the core pre teens during the week and now has ten regular disciples in his group with maybe another ten who come less regularly and less faithfully. These pre teens are not just growing in their faith in Jesus, but also the practical outworking of this. See this link to see Joana’s healing testimony. In addition to this many of these pre teens are prophesying on a regular basis, evangelizing to their friends in Pacifico and at school. It is very exciting to see how God is using them!

As well as helping lead the pre teens Rosa leads the only other small cell group we have, which happens on a Monday, afternoon and is co led by Llilda. It is exciting that Llilda is helping Rosa, as is one of the first leaders from Pacifico. They are currently doing the Alpha course, which is an excellent tool for discipleship rather than evangelistic tool, as it is used in the UK. (Unlike in the UK, people here often make decisions quickly to follow  Jesus (they already believe in God) but the fall out rate is high - in the UK people are often slower to make a decision but more committed when they do.)

Finally, in addition to all this we also do a lot of visiting of people that are involved with the church. Nancy, as head of pastoral care heads this up, with Ronald and Lili doing a large share of the visiting too.  

A Shipibo jungle Wedding

JUNGLE NOVEMBER 2012: PART 3

We were really honoured as a team to have Dennis and Charmian helping us.  They are leaders of church in another part of Lima and it was great to draw on their ministry experience. 

They did a wonderful talk on covenant with your spouse and also covenant with your kids, focusing on their spiritual walk. This was a real needed area in the life of these Shipibo people. I was so blessed to be part of a team helping to lead these guys into a new deeper experience of love for our God and in their marriages and families. 

Traditional Shipibo dancing at the wedding.

We heard testimonies from men and women, lay leaders and church leaders about how their spiritual eyes were being opened.  They talked of scales being removed from their eyes and closed or immature beliefs being changed. Some realised for the first time that it was ok to include your family in your mission and ministry.  A pastor realised that the church was less important than his relationship with his 16 year old son. It was a revelation that the family is more important than the church, but not God and that loving God is not the same as loving the church at the neglect of your family.  

Erling and Maritza in their traditional outfits 

Following the times of confession, many pastors and leaders saw bright futures for their marriages. This is wonderful in a culture where most marriages are functional (often arranged) and made for protection, provision, and child bearing and not always love. This I know will now begin to change.

Mark, his kushma, and Marcial

This was massively highlighted by the wedding of Erling and Maritza on the Friday night. Starting at 7pm sharp, the 10 people present were calling all the attendees by microphone. At 7.20 incredibly there was over 200 people there celebrating the first Shipibo religious wedding in this village. What a honour to be presiding over it.

With the happy couple

We started with the short (very)cultural section and it was wonderful to see both Erling and Maritza, and many other women dressed in traditional costume. I was lent a kushma or traditional male outfit and far too small traditional headwear. Very few people own these outfits due to the cost and so there was only 3 at the whole wedding. Following more singing and the traditional Shipibo dance section I was asked to lead the modern marriage vows. 

Here comes the bride with her Dad.

The whole event was very emotional and a real pioneering step towards seeing a more united God loving church and people. It is so amazing to be involved with the Shipibo church and especially with Oikos Selva.

Starting next year I plan to be there once a month to really start to intensively train our leaders.  We also hope to lead some short term teams there and carry on the learning community conferences we have started.