Mars Hill, you’re a part of a global effort to see Jesus preached and known in every nation. We recently received an update from one of the church planters we partner with in South America. Here’s a dispatch from Doug Kallestad on what Jesus is doing in Ecuador and how you can be praying for Jesus’ mission there.
Recently, a young church-planting couple, Luis and Karen, were sent out from one of our other churches in the Guayaquil area to Curia to begin a brand new church. They had been doing a great job in reaching people for Jesus and now have a small congregation, with a couple of home small groups in three villages of this coastal region. Over a month ago, because of a complicated pregnancy, they returned to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, to have their first baby.
30 days, 90 converts
While Luis and Karen were gone, the pastor of the church that sent them went to Curia to help keep the church plant going in their absence. The pastor, Geovani, met a believer from the church who was passionate about sharing his love for Jesus throughout the region and invited Geovani to meet some of his friends. They began visiting other small villages along the coast. Within a month, over 90 people had given their lives to Christ and seven new home groups had been established with the new believers studying the Bible and the first steps of following Jesus.
Luis and Karen returned with their new baby to find that their small congregation of 25 members and two home groups had exploded to over 100 members and nine home groups needing oversight and teaching. These new home groups are spread out between seven different towns along the coast.
A renewed dependency
The Lord’s timing was beautiful as Luis and Karen came back to this expansion in their work with a renewed dependency upon Jesus knowing that the church belongs to him—not them—and that he will help them develop the strategies necessary to continue to expand his kingdom throughout the coastal region of southern Ecuador. Luis is now visiting the new believers and teaching a study from the Gospel of John in each one of the new groups.
Geovani has returned to his own church with a renewed commitment to train more leaders to be sent out into God’s harvest field. We ended the week at his church with a worship service. The church Geovani pastors is also a relatively young church with many needs, yet they’ve already sent their own missionaries out to plant new churches. Even that night at the worship service, Geovani challenged his church to bless the ministry of a fellow pastor through a special offering so he can start a new work in the rural area of Baba.
The harvest is ready
God’s harvest is ready. Jesus commanded us to pray that more workers be sent out into his harvest field, and our brothers and sisters in Ecuador continue to make disciples of him. Pray for Luis, Geovani, and their families. Pray that God would could continue to raise up more workers to be sent out into his harvest for his glory.
Prayer requests
Here are a few ways you can pray for the mission in Ecuador this month:
- The church plant in Curia and that the new believers would become strong committed disciples of Jesus
- Wisdom, strength, and resources for Luis and Karen as they lead the church in Curia
- Wisdom as we expand our leadership training program to three new locations this year
- Wisdom and resources for a new church plant in Maipú, Chile, this year
- The health of our workers in Sierra Leone as over half of the team has been struck with malaria over the last month
