Ministry

Church Plant Philosophy & Timeline

Our Call to Pilar - During our first term, God impressed on our hearts the need to plant churches in and around the city of Pilar – a city of nearly 300,000 souls and no other fundamental Gospel work.  Pilar is situated on the northwestern edge of Greater Buenos Aires.  We desired to see an independent, fundamental Baptist church in a city where there was none. “The house of God, which is the church of the  living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).   We recognized the need to establish a church for those who were expectantly awaiting one in Pilar.  

Pilar Centro Church Plant - In August 2008, we began weekly Bible studies in the city center (Pilar Centro), which quickly grew to about 30 believers.  In March 2009, we began holding Sunday services and the church kept growing – inside and out! In March 2010, we held a “Charter Sunday,” when we signed the church constitution and recognized the work as an official church.  However, it cannot become independent until God brings along a national permanent pastor.  Please pray with us for God to raise up His man to shepherd this precious group of believers.  

The Current Need - With a church established and growing, our next major goal is to purchase property and build a building.  The strategy in this is in order to:

  • Give room for growth – We have outgrown our current facility and are going to two Sunday services.  Having an adequate building that gives plenty of room for growth will free up that time for other disciple-making opportunities.
  • Establish a permanent presence in the community – In Argentina, many “evangelical” (the name given to any non-Catholic church) churches rent a facility and come and go quickly. However, owning property gives a sense of permanence in the community and security to its members.
  • Be wise stewards of our resources -  Loans are not only difficult to obtain in Argentina, but their rates fluctuate and can run 30% or more.  Rent is increased 10% per year and is renegotiated after 3 years.  This makes it unaffordable and unfeasible to stay in a rented facility for more than 3 years.
  • Prepare the groundwork to hand over the work to a national pastor – Once the church is alleviated of the burden of a rental contract, it frees up funds to pay a national pastor’s salary.  We want the church to be prepared as soon as possible.

Ministry Goals

Plant independent, self-supporting, national Baptist churches by:

  1. Evangelizing the lost - Home Bible studies, Special evangelistic meetings and events, One-on-one personal contacts, Tract distribution, Media advertising
  2. Discipling the saved - Men and Ladies’ Bible studies, personal discipleship
  3. Training national pastors - Internships, Cooperation with local seminary, Classroom training
  4. Repeating that process by sending out missionary church planters from our church plant and/or moving to a nearby community to repeat the process.