Obtaining land for ministry purposes in these developments, however, is difficult. Available land is almost non-existent. In the case of the first church, a small house was purchased and gradually modified. In the case of the second church in Jesús María, we began soliciting a plot of land on the basis of signatures and the authorization of local authorities. We though we had proper authorization to put a chain link fence around a small piece of community property. Well...we didn't.
Last Monday at 9 p.m., the night before Samuel and I left for Chicago, we had a meeting with about 5 neighbors, seeking a compromise. Unfortunately, no agreement was reached, and we agreed to take down the fence. We did this yesterday.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 says, For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.
Through this whole complicated process, I have learned more than I cared to understand about local politics and leadership in general, and the church has become unified in ways that it would not have been had it not been for these past several weeks. It's time to step back, re-evaluate, and dedicate ourselves in a deeper way to prayer. What's next? Well, we have some ideas, plans that have been tempered by what we have learned.
We have a leadership meeting tomorrow evening. During this time we'll be scheduling preaching and direction for the future, very likely involving new people in the process. After finishing up the gospel of Mark soon, we'll begin preaching through the book of Nehemiah. Certainly relevant. We're in the process of forming our own civil association. We'll be talking about various ministries, and future studies. We would ask for your prayer as we press on!
We still had fun taking down the fence!
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