Pacifico: It's like Wildfire

By now you have seen some pictures of the area that we work in.  On the exterior, it really isn't much to look at; mainly because it is a shanty town in the desert.  It's dirty, it's full of feral dogs, and if you could smell it you would agree that it stinks.  

Yet, it is in this community that God has raised up an amazing body of believer's.  

The name of our Church community is "Oikos."  It is a Greek word that has several significant meanings.  Generally speaking it is often used in the Bible to reference "household."  More specifically it is used in reference to the extended family of a household as well. Having observed the interconnectedness of the families in Pacifico, the name of our community just makes sense.  It seems like everyone is related to each other.  So what God has shown us is if we go after the households,  we will get the extended families, and their households, which will bring their extended families... that's how a spiritual wildfire starts isn't it?

God has put the vision in Mark and Anna's heart to have Pacifico turn from a sin filled squatter town, into a place where everyone leaves their doors unlocked because the presence of God is so evident.  We all believe God will do that through reaching the household.

But does it work? Can it be practically explained?  We think so, and we want to show you an example of how it is currently happening in the community.

In June of 2010, a wonderful woman named Belen accepted Jesus Christ and the fullness of His love, into her life.  As a result, her joy started to bubble up.  She began telling her children about Jesus.  So Marcelo, her oldest son, gave his life to Jesus also.  Then his little sister Nicole did too.  Their little brother Rodrigo, started coming around too to learn more about God (and hang out with the other kids).  

As God began to grow and shape Belen's, she kept sharing Jesus with her extended family. She had hope and they needed to know it. As a result, her nieces and nephews started coming around.  In September of 2010 Belen was baptized.  Then because the Church was growing, and there was not enough space for the people, Belen offered her house as a place where our celebration Sundays could take place.  

This was all before her live-in husband Jaime accepted Jesus.  

Talk about faith.

Well, those little seeds of faith planted in Jaime were watered through the times of worship and the spoken Word.  In December of 2010, Jaime gave it all up and believed!  Not only did he believe, but in time Belen and Jaime were convicted to be united before the Lord in actual marriage.

The flames continued in 2011.  

Starting in April and May, two of Belen's sister-in-laws started going to the discipleship groups during the week.  They too were excited about this new hope.  

Don't worry, it gets crazier.

Part of our prayer time and hopes for the shanty revolve a lot around healing bad situations.  Belen and Jaime were in one of those situations with their next door neighbor, Karina.  As is normal in shanty towns in Peru, there was some extremely bad blood between Karina and Belen.  Well, in the midst of their dislike of each other, God began working in Belen's heart.  That work seemed to overflow into Karina's house.

One night Belen had a dream that she need to make up with Karina and forgive her.  In the dream it was clear that they needed to make amends to each other, and move on.  Here's the crazy part:  Karina, who is not a Christian, had the same exact dream.  Needless to say, we were all shocked when this took place.  This just happened in September, so who knows what will happen there.  This just happened in September, so who knows what will happen there.  So we are making it a consistent goal to visit with Karina and her pretty little daughters as well.

We think it is pretty awesome how God is working, and it is really spreading like wildfire.  The point is, we are going after the households, and any person that they can touch in which they have a deep relationship.  Whether it be neighbor, co-worker, or family member, we are seeing the love and salvation of Jesus spread like wildfire because God is that big.
 
Currently Amanda and I are in charge of discipleship and worship for Pacifico.  We do a lot of teaching (Shaun) and singing (Amanda).  We continue to follow with the vision God has given us about empowering, not replacing.  There are definitely some challenges, which you can read here and here.  However, it is so clear that we have so much to learn about God and His love for us during this process!