"Mobile" Church

In a email I sent out last week, I talked a bit about Dariu (Darius in English) and Mara, a couple that are friends of Renato and Branda in our house church. Dariu and Mara opened their home to us this Sunday to see what the church is all about. They have been friends with Renato & Branda for many years, have attended one or two church events in the past, but have never been really interested in knowing more about Jesus - until various circumstances in their lives recently opened the door to their curiosity. Dariu & Mara came to our most recent couples meeting, where Waleska & I met them for the first time. When they learned from Renato & Branda that we meet as church in our homes, they became very interested and invited our group to spend a Sunday in their house, to have a time of worship and a lunch together. We gladly accepted this missionary opportunity! This is the kind of opportunity I have been praying and waiting for as house church - the opportunity to take church to people who are seeking God yet possess a certain skepticism basd on what they have experienced in institutional church.

We had a time of singing, a time of prayers for request and for thanksgiving, and a time of discussion centered around one of my favorite passages - Luke 24, where Jesus encounters the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The central theme of our discussion was that Jesus meets us where we are, and leads us to where we need to be. Our brother John Spencer did a fantastic job explaining the meaning of the Lord's Supper as practiced in a family home setting, in simple yet profound terms. Our sister Inês also contributed with some very meaningful and personal testimonies about her walk with Jesus. By the end of the meeting we could tell from their verbal and non-verbal expressions that Dariu, Mara, and Mara's mother Flavia (who lives with them and participated) were very touched and had been given a lot to reflect on!

In true house church fashion, we continued the fellowship with our lunch, a delicious barbecue prepared by Dariu himself. This guy has not one, not two, but three barbecue pits in his house! He works for a bank and is usually on the road during the week visiting clients around the state, while Mara takes care of their three daughters Bruna, Fernanda, and Isabela. They are both very outgoing, expressive, and energetic people, they love to talk and talk! Waleska & I really enjoyed being in their home; I was amazed by how hospitable and friendly they are. They are the kind of people you want to be around, because they just make you feel so at ease. I was thinking about them as we drove home yesterday afternoon and how they strike me as people who, upon dedicating their talents to Jesus, would be tremendous servants in the kingdom.

So what is next? We are praying that God will show us the way in terms of continuing to build our relationship with Dariu, Mara & their girls, and integrating that relationship into our church family - perhaps through a couples Bible study, more home church events, or something else we can't yet envision. Let's ask God to continue opening the hearts of this great family to the gospel and that this openness will result in response and transformed lives!