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Steve Pearce, partnership coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, was recently in the Solomon Islands. While he was there he visited our partner church, the United Church in the Solomon Islands, and mission partners Graham and Jenny Longbottom, who are serving as doctors at Helena Goldie Hospital.
Freedom House, is part of the "Prison Fellowship" network of places for offenders to be given a chance at turning their lives around. I made a short visit to meet Pastor Miguel recently with Mission Partner Julie Cunningham, who is developing a Social Work ministry with the Methodist Church in Belize. She has agreed to provide support and counselling to about a dozen men that live and work together and are supported towards rehabilitation. The hose seeks to be self sustaining by making crafts, sweets and selling products. Devotion and prayer are essential parts of the day. Esential to Miguel's ministry is the fact that he has been an offender, he speaks about how life revolved around the drug culture until he became a user,and pusher and was caught and sentenced. In our meeting he spoke about how his live had been redeemed by God's Grace and he said... "Often when I think about my life, I look at my hands, I look at them and realise they are real and I am still here, not dead but alive, I thank God for that Grace that saved me" Miguel is a BIG man as we were parting we shook hands and just before we left he asked me to take a picture of a small and delicate creation - a humming's bird nest. Once, he was alive for the next fix, now he is is alive to notice the small and beautiful I thought... what a miracle of God's grace.
Most of my ministry I have struggled to see the value of pews. They have been an impediment to the free flow of worship. However, recently when visiting a numer of churches in Cuba it struck me that its not what you sit on that matters but how you come to worship that matters. Early Methodists and others in Britain built churches with pews beacuse it is a matter of getting as many people in as possible whose hearts are right with with God to worship and celebrate together. Pews are no impediment to the movement of the Holy Spirit - resistant people are. I was in such a church that is in the process of being built and has 250 members and as many members in the satellite congregations (missions) and house churches that I showed the pastor a church I will be at from September 2013. "What a beautiful church - what beautiful pews - there must be hundred's of members worship there?" was said to me. The Church I showed then was Sparty Lea Methodist Church, it has a congregation of five, the members do the best they can to fill the space.
The pastor of the Church I was at was called Blanca Nieves and as all the Spanish readers of this will know her name translates to Snow White. You can see how in this photo the inside and outside of her church.
Note the pews - blocks of wood and salvaged wood. Note the front, the grand appearnce of the columns etc. The result of the limited mental stature of Party "officials" that having tried all kind of ways to prevent Blanca from "rebuilding" the church, came up with regulations about having to stick to the "building line". Desired outcome - less prominent Christian building, actual outcome - even more grand a building than was intended. It seems true that opposition to the faith often benefits it. As I bid farewell to Blanca after a beautiful dinner under the sky, there was a sense of, I wish we could move these pews from a place where they struggled to be filled to a place where they would have hundred's of people praising God every week. Maybe there is a way??. Blanca prayed for me and the churches I will minister to, asking God earnestly that the Holy Spirit would bless my ministry, I felt strengthened and encouraged, filled with the possibility that yes, with the same kind of faith response, they can be filled.
A few days earlier I had been at the Methodist Church in Mota, Cuba. The pastor's wife welcomed us with sincere apologies that her husband had gone on "an adventure" - his mother had taken ill, and without transport he had set out hoping and praying that along the way he would connect with transport that would help him get to his mother's. The encounter was one of those where you feel you are in the presence of Jesus. The church had been a mission of the nearby town church, but had grown to be a self sustaining community with about 125 members and several missions of its own within the space of a few years. We sat where the church had started, we talked about the dryness of the location and she said "Its something from God - I don't know why, but look all around you and you see scrub and barren land around here, but look we have green everywhere, look at the trees and the neighbours plants"... there was an abundance of greenery. It struck me that at one level we had been talking about the water supply to the community, yet at another level we were talking about where and how the church grows, takes root and flourishes. "I don't know why - its from God" I had talked before hand with her about the strategy for growth the church followed... she just did not quite understand. "We don't have a strategy" as she smiled at me "It's a blessing, it's from God" We prayed together and she prayed that the Holy Spirit would bless my ministry, that the Holy Spirit would bless the Methodist Church in Britain, that the dessert would bloom and rejoice.
What an amazing day, after waking up early 05:00 I finished my preparation of the message I had prepared for weeks, by 08:00 I was ready at last to preach at the Central Methodist Church in Cuba. After about an hour of chorus singing and praying I started to preach... Never have I felt so ready to on the "Temptations of Jesus" as I did I felt at ease with the 700+ congregation that enthusiastically received my word. With Amens & "gloria a dios" and applause as you soon begin to feel, I spoke with ease about the way that the Methdoist Church in Cuba appears to me like a New Testament Church and how it also appears like description of early Methodist Worship I have read about. How the temptation might come to abandon being what God has called the Methodist Church in Cuba to be as Jesus was tempted to abadon his call and mission. This is a church that addresses its context and is sincere and powerful. After an appeal for committment 7 people responded - and were prayed for before being ushered for councelling. 7 people responding possitively to an invitation to commit their lives to Jesus Christ - when did I last experience that? following my preaching? - resolve. Return to the practice of inviting people to respond to the proclaimed word while they are able.
Manaus is the biggest city and the capital of the state of Amazonas with a population of 1.2, 2 or 3 million people, depending on who you ask! It is a vast, sprawling city very unlike the perfectly designed Boa Vista. As we drove from the airport to the Methodist Camp it was clear that in some areas roads and buildings are of good quality, but in many they are not. A car with 4 wheel drive seems a necessity! In Methodist geographical terms, Manaus is part of the REMA region – one of two ‘missionary regions’ in Brazil, which are given extra support from other regions and the national headquarters in recognition of their pioneering work. There are now six churches in Manaus – 2 of about 120 members, and 4 smaller church plants. One interesting historical point is that both the USA and Korea (not specified North or South!) did missionary work in this area, so buildings or projects can often be traced back to one or the other of them, including both of the larger churches.
The Methodist Camp was built by the Korean Methodist Church for Central Methodist Church Manaus. Central Methodist Church has two camps there per year and other groups also use the camp. It is directly next to one of the rivers and surrounded by beautiful rainforesty vegetation.
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After a lifetime of camping with my family, girl guides, the Camping and Caravanning club, and various churches, it was cool to experience Camp Amazon-style! It chucked it down with rain and most of the electricity went out – leading to muddy campers eating dinner in the dark! Proper camping J This particular camp was one they have during Brazil’s annual ‘Carnaval’. Methodists (and I think Christians in general) in Brazil don’t tend to participate in Carnaval seeing it as a negative time of excessive drinking and unhealthy relationships. During our short time at the camp we had yummy dinner, watched a muddy game of football, saw a hilarious but very confusing (for me anyway) camp talent show, and joined with the church in a time of passionate prayer and worship. It was fab to see the (mostly young) people there really going for it, particularly when praying for their communities and country – it really challenged me about how seriously I take prayer and the effort that I put into praying for our world.
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The next day, Tuesday, we visited the Hospital Boat. As the name suggests, it’s a boat which is a hospital. It was bought 10 years ago and paid for by the USA Methodist Church but now responsibility has passed over to the Brazilian Methodist Church. The boat is moored on the Taruma river and travels down the rivers in the Amazon visiting tiny riverside communities which are pretty much cut off from the rest of the world. It administers vaccines, treats a variety of illnesses and health problems, and also has the facilities for dentistry. Volunteers come from Brazilian churches and overseas to spend a week on the boat; some medical professionals, others people who chat to the communities about God, play with the kids, etc. Jan – March the boat goes out once a month and April – October it goes out 3 times a month. In 2011-2012 36 villages were visited with 17,000 people given medical treatment. The church has a good relationship with the government, which is necessary to do this work – they could easily tell them to stop. However the government appreciates the good work being done, and even sends a member of their health team on each trip.
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After this we visited two Methodist Churches – one of the larger ones and one of the smaller ones. The smaller one is based in a deprived community rife with drugs and violence. We met with the Pastor, Katia who shared her heart with us, talking about her dreams for the church and the area, and also the struggles she is experiencing in this work. When Katia arrived 4 years ago the church was in a sorry state – there had been some issues with three consecutive church leaders and the church had been abandoned and had a very bad name in the neighbourhood, receiving regular threats. The church has grown but is still pretty small, with less than 30 members. However, Katia is running a successful and worthwhile ministry among children and young people, with 50-70 children enrolled in the ‘Shade and Fresh Water’ project which provides education and healthy food, and 150 teenagers attending a programme educating them about the dangers of drug abuse. I asked Katia who helps her run these programmes, and she introduced her to her one helper. That’s right, just one. I could hardly believe this, so I asked Flavia, who translates for me, about it. She explained that in Brazil they don’t have a culture of volunteering and social responsibility in the same way that we do in Great Britain – ‘in Great Britain children are brought up with a heart to help other people, but that doesn’t happen here’. Even in churches, volunteering is not a part of the everyday culture. It broke my heart to realise that Katia does so much good work with so little support from her congregation. We’re quick enough to moan that we work too hard, that we don’t have enough helpers, but really we are so blessed to have a culture of volunteering, and an understanding that using our time for the benefit of others is a part of our calling as Christians and a part of our discipleship. I thank God for every person who makes the snacks for the kids club , or hands out the hymn books, or does maintenance on the building. Thank God for all those who use their gifts for our church and our communities. Imagine working with 150 young people who are possibly involved in drug taking and violent behaviour, and having just one helper. We prayed for Katia and I assured her that people in the Great Britain would pray for her when I told them about her (I hope you will, now that I’ve said it!!).
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Tuesday also involved a stop off at a road side stall selling gorgeous tropical fruit, most of which I’d never seen before, and barbequing a massive fish for lunch!!
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Pushing a VW campervan down a hill in Manaus at 4.45am to bump start it is not how I ever imagined I’d start a day – and little did I ever imagine the following events of that day! This was the start of our journey to visit a riverside community deep in the Amazon. We joined a man called George who has travelled into the rainforest on a weekly basis for two years building a relationship with the people in one particular area, telling them the message of good news in Jesus Christ, and walking with them in the journey of living as disciples of Jesus and becoming ‘church’.
We drove for 3 hours – the last hour of which, a VW campervan is in no way designed for! I honestly can’t believe how far we go in that van, but time and time again the campervan proved my doubts wrong. After being thrown around the van, it was actually nice to discover that the road had been broken up by recent rain and we would have to walk the rest of the way. We walked for around an hour, first along something like roads, then as we went further into the rainforest, weaving between trees, squelching through mud and balancing on logs across waterlogged ground. We discovered that we were going to take a boat to get to the riverside community, and waited for the boat at a lady called Josephine’s house. Met some jungle chickens!
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Four of us perched on two benches in the first little canoe, plus George manning the engine at the back and Josephine manning the paddle at the front! [[posterous-content:GBcvhkDhBJfvBckreogh]]
The canoe took us down little rivers which broke through dense rainforest, trees often touching overhead. The sound of the rainforest around us was amazing - a constant cacophany of who knows what creatures. The rivers are very shallow in some places so a small canoe type boat, called a ‘habita’ is the only kind that can be used. The water is just a couple of centimetres lower than the edge of the boat so you have to sit very still so it doesn’t rock, and you have to bail water out regularly. A motor can be used most of the time, but the paddle is crucial to avoid the random branches sticking out, and to go around the sharp corners. At one point we got stuck on a tree, and George had to get in the water to shove us off. When the shoved, the boat tipped, water poured in and I nearly fall out! Big gasp, life flashing before my eyes, but luckily George steadied the boat quickly and I got away with just one very wet leg! Having visited the Amazon room at the Sealife Centre, I was very keen NOT to go in that water!
The Methodist Church in Brazil has committed to buying 25 habita boats, which cost £230 each, and giving them to missionaries to travel into the Amazon and meet with the communities there. George will be one of the missionaries to benefit from being given one of these boats. Up until now he has had very little support from his church so he made contact with the Methodist Church who are keen to support him both by providing a boat and in other ways. This project is in the very earl y days and our visit was the first time the Methodist Church in Brazil had visited the community so a very exciting time to be there. The photo below shows George with a habita.
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We expected the boat trip to take about 10 minutes ... 1 ½ hours later we arrived, very numb in certain places! The river had widened out and more resembled a lake at this point. We jumped out and went to meet the community. We were meeting in the house of one of the families – a really cool house on stilts. When it’s the rainy season, the river comes up very high, so they build up!
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We arrived at 10.30am and stayed for 3 hours, first of all looking around the house and getting to know the people (about 10 including children) and waiting for the second habita to arrive. When it came, we have a sort of church service, where we each introduced ourselves (and I gave the customary gift of a box of toffee from Weymouth with greetings from the Methodist Church in Great Britain!), then Pastor Juliao gave a sermon. As part of this he told us that when Leo Osborne (ex President of Conference) had visited Manaus he had spoken with him about the dream of starting a project working in the hard -to-reach communities of the Amazon, but had no idea of how this would be possible. Then George got in touch and now just one year later the project is underway. Pastor Juliao encouraged the community telling them ‘you are the fruit of the dreams in our heart. You are a gift from God’. It was lovely to see these people being told that they were valued as they spend much of their life cut off from the rest of the world. Then we prayed, they took up an offering which they asked me to pray for, and they shared some testimonies with us. One gentleman told us about how he used to drink a lot and wander around the rainforest, not letting his family know where he was going or when he’d be back. One time he was drunk in his boat and he started seeing things, thinking he was being chased by policemen, and he fell out of the boat. Later he woke up under a tree with no injuries. He said ‘God had saved me. I am very grateful to God and the church for all you have done for me, it has changed my life. Now I am safe.’ A lady told us about how when her son was little he became very sick, and they were very worried because they live far from Manaus. She had heard something about Jesus, but didn’t know him, but she prayed and asked him to save her son, and he got better and is now 5 years old and totally healthy. She cried as she told this emotional story, and said to us ‘I will never leave God’. It was amazing to hear these stories and know that God is doing really great and loving things in people’s lives in places I’ve never even heard of! I think God is so kind to us.
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We travelled back the same way, but with an extra two people in the boat for some of the journey, which really scared me as the boat was so low in the water and nobody could move for fear of it tipping. Thank God we got back safely. It poured with rain on the way - rain in the rainforest! Then the long walk, and the long drive. We got back to our host families house at 6.30pm, exhausted, aching, dirty and smelly. I Skyped with my lovely husband then we went out to this amazing pizza restaurant where the waiters walk around and bring never ending pizza to the table. And the best thing was, they had sweet pizza! It was AMAZING! Pizza with banana and toffee, pizza with pineapple and some sweet saucy stuff, pizza with chocolate and finally pizza with a scoop of ice cream. A very good ending to an adventurous day!d i
