Winning more battles than we’re losing

One way we like to measure spiritual growth is to ask the question,

“Are you winning more battles than you were losing at this time last year?”

This question helps to put the sanctification process in perspective for the leader/mentor and his disciple.

For many years we struggled with getting our church people to do more than just say “hello” to our new people. We taught and showed them over and over that they need to engage in conversation and show interest in them as people. This was a frustration for us at worship services as well as at church events.

Finally, something clicked.

During the past several months the church has seen more and more visitors who found us on the internet. Literally, every week total strangers show up at our services. Normally, they would walk in the front door, receive a customary kiss on the cheek with a “Hello, how are you?” from a handful of church folks, and then sit down. Alone.

However, that is not happening anymore! Our people are stepping out of their comfort zone to engage with visitors and new people. Ladies are going with the moms to take their children to their classes. The youth are inviting the new youth to go play ping-pong after the service. They are exchanging phone numbers and then communicating during the week.

On Friday we had our second “annual” Good Friday church picnic. (I’m not sure how many consecutive years you need to do something for it to be called an “annual” event.)

Last year, most of the church youth made an effort to reach out to the visitors… until they didn’t. Many got tired or bored of the attempt and decided to play games, to the exclusion of everyone else.

This year was a totally different story. All day long the youth included the new kids, the shy ones, the introverts, the not-so-athletic ones… The adults, as well, stepped out of their comfort zones to get to know the new people. They were ministering to others with an eternal perspective. They demonstrated that they have a better grasp of how to shepherd someone’s soul much better than they did last year.

So, is this Disciple-Making church winning more battles than they were losing at this time last year? Are they engaging with new folks better than they were at this time last year?  Are they growing to become more like Christ? From the evidence, it would be safe to say, “Yes!”

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Small Groups

Two years ago we began to implement a culture of disciple-making in our personal lives and in the church in Pilar. Since that process began, we have seen growth in the Word and growth in numbers. It’s now time for the ministry to take the next step to add another dimension to our evangelism and discipleship.

In order to reach those who are not yet in a one-on-one mentoring relationship, we are launching four new small groups. Each group has a leader who we have been training as well as an apprentice who, Lord willing, will begin and lead his own small group in 12 months. One of the groups is strategically located in the home of a faithful deacon who lives about 20 minutes away, with the hopes that a church plant would grow out of that Bible study one day. We are excited about how God will work through this next phase of ministry!

There are a myriad of definitions of small groups as well as the way they are structured and implemented in a church, but here is what we are doing in Pilar.

The purpose of small groups is to Glorify God.

The mission:

• Evangelize unbelievers – inviting new people to the group to study the Bible
• Disciple the saved – studying the Bible with believers, encouraging them to greater commitment to the Lord
• Train leaders – equipping them to be leaders of their own future group

→ This is NOT a substitute for one-on-one discipleship; It is another layer in the process of discipleship.

Objectives:

• Establish small groups that increase spiritual growth in the following activities:
  • study of the Word
  • biblical fellowship
  • prayer
• Train believers to be leaders of their own small group while ministering to unbelievers and/or other believers.

Healthy small groups combine all the elements necessary to grow healthy and reproduce disciples. They offer food and spiritual support, development of skills for ministry, responsibility, training to reach others, long-term relationships, and worship. They develop the skills for leadership and they are the best instrument the church has to bring people together. (Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship)

Small Group Principles:

• Be intentional in maintaining your own commitment and surrender to the sanctification process of deepening your relationship with Christ
• Provide structure in attending, participating and being punctual
• Promote intimacy by establishing relationships and bonds with others, showing love and support that provides the strongest form of mutual responsibility
• Insist on growth (open groups) by having a mission outside of oneself (evangelizing)
• Make a commitment to multiply each year (train leaders to start their own groups)

Requirements for leaders: Each leader must

• Be an example in their character (1 Cor 11: 1, Mark 3: 13-14, Acts 6: 1-7, 1 Tim 3: 1-16, Titus 1)
• be faithful in his service (1 Cor 4: 2; 2 Tim 2: 2)
• be an active member of the Independent Baptist Church of Pilar
• follow a more mature believer in the faith (each one follow one)
• guide a newer believer in the faith (each one lead one)
• take a Bible Institute class or inductive study per year (each one take one)
• go through a previous training time with the Pastor to share the philosophy and purpose of the small groups and be able to continue growing during the time of their leadership
• Be fit to lead
• Be available to devote the necessary time to the project

If you want to be the kind of leader that others follow, you must pass the simple spiritual test of being teachable, humble and always progressing.

Materials to study: We follow the church’s established “Recommended Resources” list. Each member of the group must obtain a copy of the study book in order to read and meditate on it during the month, before arriving at the small group meeting. Not only is it more profitable for learning, but it also protects the group from the risk of shared ignorance and false teachings.

Disciple-Making Q & A

How often do we attend a class, camp or a conference and come away blessed, but there is no lasting change? After last month’s Disciple-Making Conference, many pastors went away nourished with biblical teaching and renewed with hope for the future, and several are already beginning to implement changes in their homes and ministries.

As each ministry is unique, the manner and timing in which they will practically implement changes will vary according to each pastor and his church. For example, one church is studying the Foundations Bible study in small groups during their mid-week service, while another is doing the same study, but only with their leaders for now. Another more established ministry is teaching the concepts to the leaders and making changes slowly and methodically. All the reports from the pastors are very encouraging as they seek to obey the Great Commission in this way.

You may view the videos of the Disciple-Making Conference (in English and Spanish!) here.

Over the past several months, and especially during the Disciple-Making Conference last month, many ministry leaders have asked questions regarding creating a disciple-making culture in one’s church. Maybe some of you have similar questions lingering in your minds, so we are laying out a few of the questions and their answers here for you!

 

Q: Isn’t this just another church program?

A: Our goal is not to create another program that must be maintained or it will die. Creating a disciple-making culture means that we are equipping the believers to do the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12), who will in turn win others to Christ through intentional disciple-making relationships and then mentor them, hence repeating the cycle for generations.

 

Q: We already do discipleship in our church. What makes this different?

A: The idea of disciple-making encompasses obeying both aspects of the Great Commission—evangelizing the lost (“teach all nations” in Matthew 28:19) and discipling believers (“teaching them to observe all things” in Matthew 28:20).

 

Q: “Discipleship” seems to be a trendy term these days. Is this a new fad?

A: We believe that creating a culture of disciple-making may be a break away from modern church tradition, but only to go back to a first century, New Testament model.

 

Q: In the States, only those churches that compromise in their music and other standards see the type of “success” you report. Are you compromising?

A: Definitely not. By God’s grace, we have not changed our standards nor are we on the path to compromise.

 

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask!

Unexpected, God-intended consequences

God has done some pretty amazing things since we have begun to implement changes in order to create a disciple-making culture in our church! As believers realize the implications of being a true follower of Jesus Christ, they have begun to take their Christian walk seriously, to pray earnestly for and witness to their unsaved contacts, to practice love and good works and to mentor believers less mature in the faith. In the past seven months, 16 adults have trusted Christ as Savior and almost all of them are being discipled. Last week, L., the adult son of one of our church members, as well as R., the father of a church member, both trusted Christ!

Creation Conference

On July 19-21, our church hosted a Creation Conference with Missionary Jonathan Rehfeldt as an evangelistic outreach. This conference was originally planned to take place at a another church here in Buenos Aires, but the church had to cancel. We (James and Amy) were already scheduled to be a part of a conference in Brazil during that time, but our church leaders agreed to go ahead and host it. Just a few hours before it was to begin, there was no electricity in the church building! It’s winter here, so that meant no heat either. The business next-door had power, so they allowed us to run an extension cord so that we could at least have basic lights and run the audio and PowerPoint.

Our church people had to overcome several other major obstacles during the week, but at the end of it all, the Lord was glorified. There were about 40 visitors each of the three nights and one lady, M., got saved. Because of the event promotion, people who had been looking for a church found us and started attending.

As a side note, the power company fixed the problem ten days and four official complaints later! 

Disciple-Making Seminar

Please pray for the preparations for our first South American Disciple-Making Seminar this September 11-13 for missionaries and national pastors. Our church in Pilar is generously preparing the meals for this three-day conference. As of today, 95 missionaries, national pastors and their wives from 6 different provinces in Argentina, as well as the countries of Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, United States and even Australia are registered to attend. Please pray for the Lord to work in the many, many details of this important event—transportation, meals, lodging, logistics, etc.

 Our prayer is that this conference will challenge each attendee to be a disciple maker and that we would be able to create a network of like-minded churches that can help one another start more churches.

Family Matters

In July, we were privileged to go to Curitiba, Brazil, for James to speak at a missionary training conference for Brazilian missionaries. It was such a blessing to observe how God is working in our neighboring Brazil and to be able to minister to fellow missionaries who are serving in the cities and jungles of Brazil, as well as Mozambique, Africa.  We also spent time learning from our hosts and veteran missionaries, Ed and Jan Alexander, about ministry in Brazil.

By His grace alone,

the Greenwoods

Gospel Growth

“And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied… greatly…”

(Acts 6:7)

Thank the Lord for not only the increase in church attendance, but even more so for the increase of the Word of God in believers, drawing them into mutually edifying fellowship with one another. How does that play out? Every day, all over the city of Pilar, believers from our church are meeting to study the Bible and exhort one another (Hebrews 3:13). Men, women and teens are getting together one-on-one and in small groups—mature believers leading less mature Christians, new Christians and/or unbelievers. That’s Gospel growth!

One of the Bible study groups consists of men at all different levels of spiritual growth. They are able to share problems and receive biblical counsel as well as pray with and for one another.

Gospel Growth through small group Bible studies

One of the beautiful things about creating a culture of disciple-making is that people are receiving the mentoring they need to grow spiritually, and those who are mentoring are growing through the challenge of being an example to others.

In March, Amy and Lauren began leading a Bible study in a Peruvian immigrant neighborhood, because two ladies were willing to host it but did not feel capable of leading it. Amy will tell you that she felt extremely inadequate to minister to these folks because of the cultural differences. The Lord used each of the ladies in their weakness! As a direct result of these Bible studies, Daisy and Belén have come to know Christ, and are now being mentored by mature believers (Rosa and Martha, the hosts of the Bible study)!

Amy, Belén (on the day of her new birth!), Rosa and Martha

Amy, Daisy (new believer), Rosa, Martha and Lauren

 

7 years old!

What started out as a small Bible study in 2008, grew into a church in 2010, and seven years later we marvel at how God continues to work in and through this body of believers to reach Pilar for Christ. Members are growing spiritually and going out and witnessing to their family, friends, neighbors and coworkers, and there are unsaved visitors every week at church. In the past month, three folks have trusted Christ and are now being discipled. Sunday morning attendance has been at an all-time high. Those numbers are a mere reflection of what the LORD is doing in this church.

Our theme for this year is, “Each one Reach one. Each one Lead one. Each one Follow one. Each one Take one.” The idea is that every believer is actively involved evangelizing, mentoring, being mentored and taking at least one Bible institute class per year. The response has been amazing! Men, women and teens are doing just that! One of the beautiful things about this is how God is taking broken people and using them for His honor and glory in ways none of us ever imagined.

One way we are equipping our people to disciple others is by going through the Foundations book all together in our Sunday morning discipleship hour.  In 12 weeks, the 60 people taking this class will be familiar with the material enough to be prepared to teach it to someone else. Please pray as we “prepare the nursery,” so to speak, to receive new converts. 

 

2016 Year in Review

Deadline

2016 began in a pressure cooker! Working long hours in the scorching South American summer heat, we were pressured to get the new church building ready in time for the April 1 deadline. God continued to provide the health, strength, labor and funds necessary to make that goal in just 13 months, with only volunteers laboring Saturdays, holidays and days off! To God be the glory! See pictures here.

Dedication

The men in our church who work in the construction trade observed that our volunteer crew would accomplish more on a given Saturday than most eight-man crews on a job site get done in a five-day work week!

Before the building could be dedicated on April 1, we saw the dedication of many Argentine church folks and Stateside supporters with the donation of their time, labor and offerings. Thank you, once again, to all those who gave toward this project.  See pictures here.

Departure

One of the men dedicated to the completion of the project also proved to be dedicated to the Lord for ministry. We were able to leave Benjamin in charge of the church plant, along with the other two deacons and a missionary intern, while we began a six-month furlough. We departed Argentina on August 4 and look forward to returning January 31 of next year. We have visited 17 churches so far, including five missions conferences. See our furlough video here.

Disciple-Making

With a renewed burden for biblical disciple making, we head back to the field eager for the next phase of ministry. During this next term, we will go through the process of handing over this church to national leadership while preparing a detailed plan for the next church plant, which should include a Christian preschool. Please pray for wisdom!

 

 

Disciple-Making

November has been another busy month of traveling, but an encouraging one! At our fifth and final missions conference in Huntsville, Alabama, we heard Pastor Tim Potter speak on becoming a disciple-making church. The two sessions that we heard him were so encouraging that we made plans to attend a full two-day ARCH Ministries conference on the subject. The Lord provided the time and finances for both of us to go, and it was a tremendous blessing. The emphasis on all the members of the church taking ownership of their biblical responsibility to make disciples is precisely the next step of the church planting process in Pilar. Praise the Lord for this biblical wisdom at just the perfect time! Pray for us as we begin to teach this and implement some changes in Pilar in 2017.

Our hearts are overflowing with joy at all the good reports from the folks back in Pilar! Men’s and ladies’ discipleship continues to go strong, five men just went on a construction missions trip to another province, the missionary intern is teach several music classes and there seems to be a good spirit among the people. To God be the glory!

Update from Lauren

“I had an amazing experience in the jungles of Peru, where I learned so much about clinical terms and procedures, medical missions, the power of prayer and, most importantly, about God and His redeeming love and power! On this trip I was given opportunities to work alongside different doctors and nurses who were so patient to teach me. This experience certainly confirmed my call to medical missions and has lit a fire in me to achieve that goal, in God’s strength. In May of next year I am praying to be able to return to Peru, this time to the Cuzco area, with Operation Renewed Hope and participate in another medical missions trip. I was definitely left with a great burden for Peru! I am now more excited than ever about going to Maranatha Baptist University in 2018 to begin my training in the field of nursing so that I may be fully equipped to reach people physically, in order to be able to then reach their more important spiritual need. Please pray that I would stay moldable to His perfect will.” — Lauren Greenwood

Breaking down and building up

A time to break down, and a time to build up

Sixteen teens and six sponsors from Faith Baptist (Taylors, SC) left a remarkable and lasting impression during their ten days in Buenos Aires. They stayed busy tirelessly helping with our teen leadership retreat, passing out over 7,000 tracts and VBS flyers, working our winter VBS and demolishing most of what was left of the old building. While they did some tearing down, they also built up our community, church body and us personally. We thank the Lord for their very encouraging visit. Please come back anytime!

Winter VBS

Despite the rain and cold at the beginning of the week, the Lord brought more and more kids each day of VBS. One of our ladies brought up to 30 kids all by herself on the city bus! (Praise the Lord, the bus driver only charged her for two fares each time!) Six children made professions of faith during the week. The ladies also had a craft table to encourage the mothers to stay. One of those ladies trusted Christ on Sunday morning!

Going out with a splash

On the last Sunday of this term, we had the incredible blessing of baptizing 11 new believers and adding 11 new members to the church body! It was a glimpse of what our heavenly reward will be like as we  heard each one’s testimony, how they were saved and discipled through the faithfulness of our church folks.

But continue thou…

We thank the Lord for the capable leadership God has blessed us with three deacons, as well as missionary intern, Adriano dos Santos Silva, to preach and serve in our absence. Please pray for the spiritual protection of the leadership team and the flock in their charge during our time away.

Growing Together

Opportunities to learn and grow abound! Thursday night Bible Institute classes are going strong, with 10 students in the Bible Doctrines class.  After a Sunday service, a young man approached James, indicating he would like to learn how to witness more effectively. So, a few of the teen boys are going to start evangelism training every Thursday morning!

One of the most exciting times of the week is early Sunday morning discipleship classes. James is taking the men through a discipleship workbook, and Amy is teaching the ladies an inductive Bible study on the book of Philippians.

Our goal is not only to equip the believers for their own spiritual growth, but also for them “to teach others also.”  As we ultimately “work our way out of a job” at this church plant, we want to see the church continue to thrive by reproducing themselves.

 

What a joy to see folks saved and follow the Lord in steps of obedience! Victor and Rosa each trusted the Lord and then shortly later were convicted about their need to get married. They wanted to marry in the church so that all their friends and family would come and hear the Gospel, which they did! A few weeks later, three of those wedding guests each trusted Christ!

 

 

Future Ministries

In July, we had the privilege of hosting Adriano y Josi Silva, future missionaries to Argentina from Brazil. They accompanied James to the home Bible study in San Antonio de Areco (above), where there were several unsaved who heard the Gospel. When James went back the next week, two ladies trusted Christ as Savior! The Bible study hosts and church members, Raul and Lydia, are beginning new believer’s discipleship with them.

We are very excited that another missionary couple, Seth and Lauren Champlin (with Baptist World Mission and based out of South Carolina), has begun deputation and is planning to work with us their first term.  Their goal is to finish deputation and go to language school in two years. We are praying to that end as well!

A Biblical Philosophy of Church Planting

Every subject has a philosophy. It may not be spelled out, but it is there just the same — whether good or bad, right or wrong. Church planting has its own philosophy — godly or worldly. Of course, the true philosophy of church planting is to be Biblical. But what is the Biblical philosophy of church planting? (O. Holmes)

Dr. Otis Holmes wrote an article in May/June 2000 edition of Frontline Magazine, which recently appeared in the online version, http://www.ProclaimandDefend.org. You can find the full article here.

Before we began our first church, we wrote out our own philosophy of church planting, along with a timeline and methods tailored to the culture of Argentina.  We have had to go back and make adjustments regarding the specifics, but the Biblical part does not change!

Dr. Holmes’ article was an encouragement and affirmation for us to keep doing right, following the clearly established pattern in God’s Word. As we read his summary, we sort-of gave ourselves a check-up on how we’re doing in the various areas mentioned:

• The Great Commission  
• Holy Spirit Control
• United Leadership
• Teaching and Preaching
• Independence
• Fundamentalism
• Discipline

Of course, there is always room for improvement!  However, by God’s grace, we will continue to evangelize the lost, disciple the saved, walk in the Spirit, follow Christ’s leading, teach and preach the whole counsel of God, allow the church body to make its own decisions, contend for the faith, and confront sin.  

We thank God for our spiritual heritage through a solid Bible education, an excellent sending agency (mission board), and a strong, missions-minded home/sending church.  Each of these institutions has played a vital part in who and where we are today.  Above all else, anything good we do, say, or think is a blessing from our Heavenly Father!  (The rest is all our fault!)  Thank you for your continued prayers.

Serving the King of Kings,

James & Amy

 

 

 

Motivated Learners

“For learning to take place with any kind of efficiency students must be motivated.

To be motivated, they must become interested.

And they become interested when they are actively working on projects which they can relate to their values and goals in life.”

– Gus Tuberville, President, William Penn College

For the first time in the history of our church, we offered a Bible college-level class for the benefit of every one age 12 and up. Dr. Fred Moritz (Baptist World Mission Executive Director Emeritus) taught four days (10 hours) on theology of prayer and one day (2.5 hours) on theology of worship.

We are thrilled to report that the average attendance of the class was 32, over two-thirds of whom were from our church and the remaining were visitors from the community or from other Baptist churches. The class was extremely well received and we believe it will have a lasting impact on the lives of the believers for years to come.

Dr. Moritz teaching through an interpreter

Judy Moritz ministered to the ladies at a ladies’ meeting on Saturday afternoon. She also helped prepare and serve food every night of the class as well as supervise the children during class time.

We are so thankful for the sacrifice of Dr. and Mrs. Moritz to come down to Argentina to minister in Pilar. Their ministry to us personally was priceless to this missionary family! The encouragement, godly counsel, and wisdom we gleaned from this remarkable couple was invaluable and particularly timely.

2011 Ministry Summary

Summary of 2011

Stateside: We wrapped up a short furlough in February with basically a zero net support gain, maintaining approximately a 91% support average. We held 23 meetings in those 20 weeks, 4 of which were for new support.

Evangelism: We held special evangelistic meetings throughout the year for the church’s one year anniversary, a sacred music concert, monthly ladies’ meetings, monthly youth meetings, and our first missions conference. For evangelism training, we taught the Netcasters course on Wednesday nights. Several folks have made salvation decisions in these meetings and on visitation. Everyone who shows interest receives follow-up by either the pastor or a church member, but only a handful have shown lasting fruit so far.

Discipleship: Our discipleship program continues to be the church’s primary strength. We held two semesters of Sunday discipleship and Saturday youth discipleship as well as 10 weeks of one-on-one with various new believers. The church body has faced several difficulties from within and without. Praise God for wisdom and patience in dealing with these situations.

Training Nationals: There are three men in James’ Thursday night deacons’ training. They have studied three leadership books and have been involved in visitation and new believers’ discipleship. The church will vote on the deacon candidates in January. We are still praying for a pastoral candidate.

Church Building: In September we began a second service to accommodate for growth. Between the two services, the church is averaging 85 in attendance. The Argentines have given almost 50% of the total $20,000 raised for the purchase of property. We continue to search for land in the city center and are also talking with the owners of our current location about the possibility of buying.

Goals for 2012

Following God’s leading, our goals for 2012 are:

· Begin Saturday morning evangelism door-to-door within a 3 mile radius of the church

· Continue small group and one-on-one discipleship

· After the deacons are voted in, continue leadership training as well as visitation times

· Continue to raise funds for the purchase of church property.

Prayer Requests

· A national pastor to take over this church plant

· Wisdom and funds to purchase church property – our rental contract expires in June!

· Spiritual growth and unity within the church body

· Spiritual and physical protection of and provision for our family

systematic studies

The Lord has brought us two new families recently and they both want to join the church! They are both from Pentecostal church backgrounds, but like the many others in our congregation, came to the realization that the Pentecostal preaching and practice does not line up with what God’s Word teaches. They were eager to get involved in some kind of discipleship. For the benefit and maximum growth of all, we’ve implemented a gradual, systematic discipleship program.

· Step 1 – Basics for Believers – 10 lessons covering topics like salvation, baptism, and daily devotions. This is usually taught in the person’s home, by us or another member.

· Step 2 – New Members’ Class – 6 weeks of Baptist distinctives, taught by the Pastor.

· Step 3 – Advanced Discipleship – 12-13 week, semester-based studies on Sundays, required for anyone who desires to serve in the church. This is taught on Sunday’s (like a Sunday School hour) by us or another member.

· Step 4 – become a small group leader – whether adults, teens, or children.

We visited both of these families and gave them the Basics for Believers booklet to start studying. We’ll set up a time to meet with them weekly to go through the book with them. This is a great way to get to know each other as well!

On the mission field, you really can’t take anything for granted. People grow up with no Christian teaching or training. Those from other church backgrounds have been confused by conflicting faith and practice. Systematic discipleship is so vital for a healthy church body!