Lima Team Newsletter

January 2020

High Peruvian Jungle

Those of you who have visited Lima have probably met Juan and Blanca. They have been an integral part of our church body since late 2010. I vividly remember meeting them and their children our first Sunday after returning to Peru from our extended stay in the States at the end of 2010. We hosted our Sunday morning gathering in our home upon our return for several reasons. Regarding meetings, it’s typical in Peruvian culture to arrive late. It’s rare to show up on time. It’s unheard of to show up early. So, at 9:30 on that Sunday morning, 30 solid minutes before our 10:00 start time, the doorbell rings. It was Juan and Blanca, a couple, who at the time, I had never met. So, it began: a meaningful friendship with this sweet, hardworking couple. Juan, at the time, was in seminary, studying because he wanted to move back to his hometown of Santa Rosa de Sisa in the high jungle of Peru. This town is located about two hours from Tarapoto, a city in north-central Peru.

Last week, nine individuals from our church body in Lima traveled to Santa Rosa. I had the privilege to take Cailyn and Corban with me for this one-of-a-kind adventure. The trip was meaningful for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I think we helpfully encouraged Juan and Blanca. They are going through a spiritually dry season. Those with whom they initially connected have mostly floundered, some still attending though sporadically and others altogether not participating. One bright spot in their ministry is the children. There are about a dozen kids who show up not only for church but also in the afternoons. Second, our visit caused numerous people to reappear and still others to attend church for the first time. I do not mention this detail to highlight the often-frustrating fact that people tend to gather when outsiders arrive. It is to say, however, that our presence presented the possibility for Juan and Blanca to connect more profoundly with these individuals. Third, Juan has been working nonstop to make improvements on his property. He worked diligently to put in a bathroom, which though it does not yet have walls, is fully functional. Tarps presently serve as makeshift walls for privacy. They also recently purchased the lot next to theirs, on which they will construct a meeting place for the church body. Most likely, for the foreseeable future, this means putting up a roof for shade, and eventually, protection from the rains during the rainy season. These projects are all things that Juan does on his own, at times with help from others at church. Therefore, in our time with Juan, we were able to help him with a few projects. These included cutting down the overgrowth on the new property and setting some posts for the church's new meeting place. Also, we moved dirt to support the new bathroom structure and built a base for their kitchen sink. Finally, we assisted Juan for the Sunday church service by leading worship and preaching. It was a beautiful time of being present and attentive, worshipping the Father in the outdoors, surrounded by the breathtaking greenness of the jungle.

Juan and Blanca certainly can use our prayers. They are fighting the good fight. They are trying to share the light of Christ in a place that has a lot of old spiritual beliefs. Most importantly, they continue to see God’s faithfulness, holding steady to the hope that God ever provides. May we see their example and live likewise, always giving glory to our Father in heaven.

Transition and Trepidation

I have recently found it striking how Jesus announced his departure to the disciples. The elements in the story exacerbate themselves in light of our upcoming transition to the States. They feel real. Jesus said, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer…Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later” (13:33, 36). Amid this discourse, he demonstrated calm confidence in his disciples. He gave them a new command, though it doesn't seem all that new: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (13:34). Then, he tops it off with: "You know the way to the place where I am going" (14:4). In essence, he had shown them how to live. He invited them to know him. He is, as we learn from the text, the way and the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through Jesus. Our lives we live through Christ.

Uncannily, the disciples barraged Jesus with questions. I’m almost certain there were more questions in their minds than what is recorded in the text. Lord, where are you going? Why can’t we follow you? In other words, what do you mean we can't follow you? Their questions exude uncertainty and trepidation. After realizing that Jesus meant what he said, you can probably sense questions like: Can we do this without you? Or why is it necessary for you to go in the first place?

Beyond the questions, however, I admire Jesus’s calm confidence. He knows he will send another Counselor (14:16). He saw how much the disciples had grown. He knew they still had lots to learn. I love how this section begins (14:31), "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him." Jesus never strayed from his purpose to glorify the Father. And the Father never strayed from glorifying the Son.

In no way am I comparing myself or my life stage to Jesus, but I find great solace from what we witness in John's Gospel. Peruvians ask, less now than before, many questions about our departure. There is an atmosphere of trepidation, but one that I feel the Spirit is overcoming. From time to time, one will ask if we really need to leave. More indirectly they'll ask if we're sure we can't try to find employment in Peru. There were periods when people would predict that our congregation would fold without the presence of missionaries. However, in spite of the trepidation, I have learned to trust the process. John 14:1 reads, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." The Lima Team has done as much as we have known to do in the process of passing leadership to our Peruvian brothers and sisters. In all our teachings, none have been more critical than the one that Jesus spoke at the announcement of his departure. “A new command I give you: Love one another” (13:34). If you walk the corridors of John 14-17, love reigns, not merely as the topic at hand but as the fundamental core to our identity as followers of Christ.

The season ahead will indeed contain moments of trepidation for our brothers and sisters in Peru. However, the unfolding story, I believe, is not one of fear or panic. It is one of mysterious growth. We cannot predict what Aliento de Vida will look like a year from now, much less ten years from now. But we can hope. More importantly, we can continue to love and believe that the Spirit will bring about his kingdom as we walk in step with the Spirit, as we love one another. Pray for your Peruvian brothers and sisters as the transition becomes more real with our upcoming departures.

Lima Team Newsletter

October 2019

Leadership Transition in Lima

When the Lima Team embarked on this incredible journey to be missionaries in Peru (2007), we dreamed of the day when local leaders would take on leadership. We envisioned a day when we would be able to fade into the background and watch as the Holy Spirit called others to lead. For years, this dream seemed distant. When? How? Honestly, some days ended discouragingly. Would this day ever come? Well, it is coming, and it’s coming soon.

Just before I went to the States in June, three of our Peruvian ministry leaders participated in a project to practice listening, learning, and discernment. The project challenged our leaders to listen to their brothers and sisters at ADV as they told stories about their favorite moments and ministries in their time at ADV. The project had a dual purpose. First, we wanted our leaders to practice listening to others in the church. We wanted them to practice being the guest in another person’s space, allowing themselves to be captivated by the different life-giving stories of people in the church. Second, we want these leaders to evaluate ADV’s vision in light of the stories they heard in the interviews. Eight years ago, the Lima Team created a vision for the congregation. However, they need to not only understand the church’s vision on paper but also see it played out in the lives of others as they step into a new future.

So, over the past four months, these individuals have listened to the life-giving stories of the congregation. The experience has invigorated these individuals as they can see the movement of the Holy Spirit throughout the church body. It has been an enjoyable experience. Also, as we near the end of this project, we are inching ever closer to the date when we will name four ministry leaders at ADV who will lead ADV into the future. The idea that was merely a distant dream is now becoming a reality. People are stepping up to teach, serve, organize, and love in many different ways. These moments are not only limited to Sunday mornings but also Wednesday nights, Thursday mornings, Friday evenings, and Saturday afternoons. Our Peruvian brothers and sisters finally seem cognizant of our near future departures from the field, and in some cases, ready to fly on their own. An official transition will happen before the end of this month. As we step into our future, or perhaps as Peruvians step into their future without the presence of foreign missionaries, I ask for your prayers. Prayers that those in the congregation will grow in their trust for those who will lead after the missionaries. It is a significant transition to move from founding leaders to the next generation. We must unite in prayer for these individuals as they step out in faith, especially among a young church body. Every member will respond emotionally in different ways; therefore, I petition your prayers for wisdom, spiritual maturity, and humility. God holds us in the hollow of his hand. To him be all the glory.

Missional Partnership: Bible Timeshare

Some of you know that I am working my way through the Doctor of Ministry program at Abilene Christian University. One requirement in this program is the Project Thesis, a ministerial intervention in a specific setting that integrates both theology and practice. In my project, I’m exploring the relational side of missional partnership between two partnering churches. Most missional partnerships within Churches of Christ are transactional, meaning that churches send funds to missionaries and have certain expectations of those missionaries. This side of partnership is necessary and helpful. However, the relational side of partnership is mostly limited. I think in many churches we say that we want to do more but simply don’t know what or how. Therefore, I created this project to lean into that question of how to bridge that gap.

At the beginning of August, I invited six individuals from Lima and six from Littleton to participate together in a practice called Dwelling in the Word. This practice is similar to Lectio Divina, a spiritual practice of listening to and meditating on a particular text. In this case, we have spent a significant amount of time in Luke 10:1-12, where Jesus sends out the seventy-two. The biblical text, in this case, serves as a way to get to know the participants from the other church. We listen to how others are hearing the text and how the text intersects with our lives. We also look for what emerges that piques our curiosity and how the Spirit moves in our lives. The bilingual conversations are both emotionally deep (laughter and tears) and spiritually profound. We walk away from each meeting with an opportunity to pray for one another in our daily lives. The experience moves us into a sacred space of journeying for an extended period with brothers and sisters from our sister congregations on separate continents.

I have been overwhelmed at how this experience unites strangers and alters our perspectives about other people. I have lived as a missionary in Lima for ten years, and this experience continues to be the most positive interaction between missionary partners in which I have been involved. My two worlds – my American people and my Peruvian people – collide in powerful ways. As a missionary, I feel engaged, even though the participants are not directly pursuing me. Instead, my people are investing in each other. It’s not a perfect analogy, but I liken the situation to a parent with children. Something powerful happens when a father witnesses the positive impact of another person on the life of his daughter. We also see it when a mother observes how the gentle and courageous examples of other men and women influence the decisions of her son. In this experience, the encouragement flows both ways. It’s not a one-way street but a display of mutual partnership in which all are moved to adjust and grow through the processes of dwelling and listening.

Lima Team Newsletter

July 2019

All-Night Prayer Vigil

For this article, we will give you a taste of the night from our four perspectives, highlighting the things that grabbed our attention and caused us to praise God for all he is doing amongst our Peruvian brothers and sisters. On Saturday evening, June 1st, we gathered at eight o'clock in the evening and stayed until six o'clock the following morning. It was a time filled with prayer, worship, testimonies, food, and a whole lot of coffee.

Kami. I was most impacted by the testimonies during the prayer vigil. Starting with how Omar delved deep into experiences from his own life during his message, people really opened themselves up and were beautifully transparent. The original plan of two or three people sharing how God has worked and continues to work in their lives turned into the majority of our church family taking a turn to talk. Everyone was able to know one another more, to better understand each other because of where we have been. To share in hurts and rejoice together in God's goodness. To be able to encourage one another in this shared journey and become a more unified body of believers.

Mark. There are so many aspects of our first all-night prayer vigil that made me thankful for the way that God is working among our church family. The first and most important aspect is that God is the one working. Despite all of our sins, our past, our issues, and our short-comings, God continues to prove Himself faithful through the ways that He is renewing and restoring our church family. His faithfulness showed up again and again throughout the night in numerous and unexpected ways. Another aspect of the vigil that impacted me was Omar's sermon at the beginning of the night. He taught beautifully from Proverbs 3:1-12 and then proceeded to share a powerful personal testimony about how God had impacted his life. Omar's openness paved the way for nearly everyone in the group to share deeply personal stories of past sins, present struggles, and numerous examples of how God has been working in their lives. I was amazed at the level of transparency, as well as the level of acceptance, grace, and support that everyone in the group showed one another. Yet another impactful moment was when we split up into small groups to pray. I was in a group with Nelly, Lucero, Carmen, and Tatiana. As we went around the circle praying, I was amazed at how much each of those women had grown in their spiritual walks. We have known most of them from before they started walking with the Lord, so to see the contrast between the very first time that I met them and now was quite impactful. As they poured out their hearts to God, praying for themselves, one another, and the church in general, I was so thankful for how God has been working in their lives, drawing them closer to Himself. Which brings me back to my first point. God is working in powerful ways in the lives of many Peruvians, often in ways that we cannot perceive. We are so thankful that He is proving Himself faithful in carrying out the work of drawing Peruvian close to Himself.

Alison. It's always fun to try something new with your community of believers, and that's why our recent all-night prayer vigil was so great! Admittedly, Justin and I took turns going due to the fact that somebody had to be home with the sleeping kids, and I only spent the first few hours with everyone, but it was quite honestly one of the best experiences I feel like I've had with our church in a while! I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, and I wasn't even sure who all would show up, but we had so many people there that genuinely want to form a closer community and are seeking a deeper relationship with God, which was so encouraging! I was also there to hear one of our young leaders, Omar, speak to the group, and I'm not sure I've listened to a more personal and honest talk given yet by one of our members. It was so great to see him be vulnerable with our community and to receive such love from everyone there. In addition, the prayer and worship time was raw and real, and the church members seem to have really connected with God and each other in a new way through that. If I went into the evening unsure of the depth of some of the hearts in our church members, I definitely left feeling more certain, hopeful, and excited about the growth that has happened and the potential that is there for God to really come alive in our community!

Justin. As Alison mentioned, I arrived late to the party. Alison took the first shift at the prayer vigil while I stayed at home with our youngest children. When I got to the Clancy's house, the group was sharing testimonies. I heard a mix of old and new stories, listening attentively and joyfully to God's work in their lives. Story-telling became a contagious exercise late into the night as people got up one after another. Almost everyone shared and invited others to see life from their perspective. The brokenness, transparency, and humility most captured my attention. By the time the clock chimed six, I was full - full of hope and love. The Spirit reminded me of how God vibrantly paints these moments with the Spirit's movements. As I sat in the afterglow of the experience, I felt satisfyingly exhausted. Sunday mornings do not usually give me intimate time to connect with the others with whom I commune. I don't see or hear how God turns their worlds and invites them to participate in his ongoing activity. However, that night, I did. If I can be honest, I wasn't looking forward to attempting an all-nighter. I couldn't see just how much interaction would happen. I was wrong. Peruvians dreamed up something that I would not have given a second thought. Their leadership, transparency, and humility ministered to me. For that night, I was one of the crowd, and there was no better place to be!

Lima Team Newsletter

May 2019

Looming Transitions

With each passing month, our families get closer to moving to the States. It’s difficult to process. If I’m honest, some of my kids want to move. Others don’t. In four days, the Thompsons will officially celebrate ten years in Lima. It has been almost eleven years since we’ve lived in the States, a time when we were parents of one, wide-eyed and unaware of the adventure that would unfold.

The Church. Aliento de Vida (ADV) will be taking a big step in August. Mark and I will name leaders, and Peruvians will take over all responsibilities on Sunday mornings. We will move into mentoring and coaching roles, praying for and listening to our brothers and sisters as they discern the Spirit’s movement in their lives.

Some of you know that I am working toward a Doctor of Ministry degree. The joy of this journey has introduced Mark and me to essential concepts and tools for transitioning leadership at ADV, all of which I have been able to implement into ministry in Peru. This summer, or winter in our case, our leaders will practice listening to church members through interviews, asking those they interview about their most positive, life-giving experiences at ADV. As a part of their transition, our leaders need to discover their identity. Of course, Mark and I, along with our former teammates, forged an identity at ADV, yet our leaders are at a deciding point in which they need to put their fingerprints on this vision. This practice of listening will hopefully open their eyes and hearts to the movement of the Spirit around them and spur them to be better leaders for those who surround them. This next Sunday will be our first meeting as we set out on this journey together and as they inch closer to leading on their own.

Specifically, we have focused on four aspects of our life as a community: 1) prayer and worship, 2) studying the Word, 3) evangelism and 4) growing as a family. We don’t do these things perfectly, but our people sure do put their hearts on the line. I love their zeal. When it comes time to say “hasta luego,” I am going to miss seeing their faces on a regular basis. I am going to miss my Peruvian family something fierce, but I am also going to rejoice at the work of the Spirit in their lives, in the life that springs forth when they depend more fiercely on the Spirit’s movement in and around them. I will miss seeing it with my own eyes but will intently wait to hear the stories that emerge from within.

I am reminded that this journey is not ours alone to celebrate. It is yours and ours because the story belongs to God, and he has included us in it. We have partnered together, and together we have partnered with God in what has been his work from the beginning. Our brothers and sisters are taking flight. As we release them in the power of the Spirit and bless the adventure awaiting them, we ask that you join us in lifting them up, praying, petitioning, asking the Father to move even more deeply and profoundly that he has thus far.

Spiritual Growth

By Mark

Over the past several years, our team has been able to witness numerous members of our church family experience spiritual growth in ways that have encouraged us and given us confidence in the future of Aliento de Vida. We have seen this in their personal lives, as the Lord has given them greater passion for His Word, personal prayer, evangelism, and more godly interpersonal relationships. We have also seen this in their communal life, as the Holy Spirit has brought about greater unity, love, and strength to the entire church family. And most recently, we have seen this as numerous local Christians have continued to mature as leaders. Some lead powerfully through personal interactions, diligence in prayer, and often-unrecognized service. Others have stepped into roles of more visible leadership, through preaching, teaching, leading worship, and giving general leadership to the church family. As a team, it has been encouraging to see every aspect of this spiritual growth among so many members of our church family.

At the same time, we continue to pray for various people that have stepped away from their once-growing faith. Just as Jesus taught, some seeds inevitably fall on rocky and thorny soil, sprout quickly, but fail to thrive due to numerous factors. And there are others that continue to listen to the gospel message but have yet to make a firm commitment of faith. Our hearts long to see repentance, renewal, and commitment in the lives of many Peruvians that we have come to love dearly. So, as a team, we continue to ask for your prayers for all of our Peruvian sisters, brothers, and seekers. Pray that God will continue to teach and lead those that are growing in ways that we couldn’t even imagine. And please pray that God would continue to work in the lives of those that are struggling to give full, undivided allegiance to the only true Lord.

Names to Faces, Faces to Names

For some of you, there might be some familiar faces in this bunch. For others, perhaps not. Like all of us, there is a story to each person, and our biggest prayer is that each of these would make Christ the center of their lives. I challenge you to pick two or three and commit to praying for them daily. To God be all the glory!