Earlier this month we used the Brazilian Labor Day holiday, May 1st, to host an open forum with our church members, hear the positives and negatives about how the work here was going. Last week, on May 22nd, we had another holiday, Corpus Christi (Body of Christ). We decided to use this holiday to host another open forum with our church members to brainstorm solutions to the challenges and problems that were discussed on May 1st.
It was a very productive day! We divided into small groups, according to where each person perceived that God was leading them to be involved. Then each group outlined specific solutions and ideas to improve the work of the church in that particular area. The areas that were given most attention were communication, unity, ministry support, and our monthly celebration service for all the house churches. Praise God for the creativity He has poured out on His church! Now comes the next step...roll up our sleeves and take the ideas from paper and turn them into real life!