News From the Field
Second Quarter 2007
Railson & Heidi Gil
developing Brazilian Community
building the Body of Christ
"We want this city for Jesus."
Students of the CTL, Igreja Fonte da Vida, Monte Dourado
Igreja Fonte da Vida dance ministry at the annual "Balada Gospel," a musical outreach to the community of Monte Dourado
Prayer Agenda:
Thank you for keeping us before the Lord in prayer. Here are some answers from our 1st quarter’s requests:
- Impact on the neighborhood: We have been able to develop excellent relationships with most of our neighbors, much more so than in any other location we have lived. Once we start a home Bible study, we hope that these significant relationships will translate into participation & salvation.- Intercessory times: We have been able to help start intercessory groups within the church. They meet twice weekly and pray for all church concerns and members’ personal requests. It has been powerful.
- Prosperity for Amaster: We are now able to support 4 workers and their families on the investment of our financial partners. Things are still very tight, but the future is bright. We will be expanding Internet signal soon to a nearby community.
Prayerfully continue to agree with us in the following areas:
- Protection
Our simple acquaintance with a local church turned into much more than we expected. But we shouldn’t have been surprised; it was a church without a leadership team and we were a leadership couple without a church.
Within our first few weeks in Monte Dourado, we began attending an upbeat community church, Igreja Fonte da Vida (Fountain of Life Church), since we knew that we would not be able to plant an Igreja da Vinha yet. Curiously, the new church lies within about 50 yards of our business office, and as such we were attracted to it by the familiar worship songs that wafted up to the office window at the start of each service.
Since becoming involved in the new church, we have seen how our arrival in Monte Dourado was in God’s good timing. Members of the church tell us that shortly before last Christmas, they actually prophesied over our house, extending their hands toward it, claiming it for Kingdom use and specifically for the hosting of cell groups. At that time, the house was vacant and boarded up. As you may remember, it was in December, too, that we felt led to re-negotiate renting the house, despite having been turned down previously. When the church discovered where we live today, it was overjoyed—as were we to hear this powerful testimony!
Suffice it to say, it was a brilliant match. There is a men's cell a few doors down from ours which Railson helps lead, and the women's cell which Heidi attends will soon multiply leaving Heidi in charge of the new cell, probably in our home later this year. The Lord is also using us to teach on worship and discipleship, drawing from the Vineyard model.
Please pray for the young pastors, Perges and Darlene, who are giving
100% of their effort toward the development of the church. They have almost
single-handedly administrated the various church ministries. Darlene is also
completing post-graduate work in Macapá, which, due to the travel and
academic demands can be dizzying at times. It has been a tremendous
privilege for us to be able to support this couple and help relieve some of
their ministry-related stress. (Boy, do we ever know what that’s like!) It
is so wonderful, too, to have this dynamic couple nearby to share coffee,
ideas, tears and joys with. Praise God!
(right) Pastors Perges and Darlene Santos have greatly encouraged us. Darlene is from Santarem and Perges is from Rio de Janeiro.
Pastor Perges strongly considered affiliating the church with the Vineyard movement after hearing our vision for church planting, but has since decided to affiliate the church with the Paz movement (based in Santarem) due to former ties. Even so, we remain "at home" with our teaching and worship style and are given great liberty to minister based on our vision. God had it all planned out. We fitted ourselves into this church as easily as one slips on a familiar boot! That is a gift!
(left)
Prayer ministry during a Sunday service. We have seen beautiful fruit borne
of these times of personal ministry.
CTL: Training Future Leaders
Together with Pastors Perges and Darlene of Igreja Fonte da Vida we desire to see church members grow in their preparedness for reaching others for Christ and in their ability to accompany new converts to maturity. To this end, we began a 10-month training course (Curso de Treinamento de Líderes or CTL) based on excellent materials prepared by the Igreja da Paz in Santarem. Similar discipleship materials are currently used with Igreja da Vinha, something which greatly facilitates our personal preparation for lectures. We four pastors will rotate 3-hour lectures on Sunday mornings, probably until March 2008.
The objective of the course is very specific: each student will become a discipler and, hopefully, a cell group leader. Some may move on to cell supervision, while others may be encouraged to step out into new forms of ministry and evangelism.
Some of the subjects covered will be: the certainty of salvation, prayer, discipleship, sanctification, spiritual warfare, family life, local church strategy, and apologetics. Please pray for our 20 students as they expand their understanding of these subjects. We hope to open a new time block later this year for students who were not able to get in on the beginning of this first session.
(right) The 2007 Balada Gospel drew many people young and old, and united churches which yearn to break out of traditional worship molds.
In early June, our church hosted a city-wide musical event, which we call the Balada Gospel. By means of explanation, it’s not what many assume to be "gospel music," rather Christian contemporary and worship band music. Many churches participated in this year’s event, some with song presentations, some with corporate worship, and others with dance—even street dance!
It was a fun time for those who participated, but more importantly, it served as a spiritual challenge to dry religiosity in the city. Unfortunately, many churches here do not believe in contemporary expressions of praise and worship. Even more unfortunately, many do no accept certain cultural expressions of worship, such as the use of native Brazilian rhythms and dance, having adopted traditional western styles in their place.
The Balada Gospel provided an opportunity for this generation’s seekers
to expose their artistic forms of ministry and to enjoy a special time of
fellowship.
(right) Curiosity: TV antennas stand courageously above seasonal flood waters on the skirts of the Jari River.
Many Reasons for Thanks
We thank the Lord for His sovereignty over our lives and work. Here are a few things He has done lately:
- Christian friends in Monte Dourado to stand alongside us, encourage us and challenge us. We have never before lived in a city where we made so many meaningful relationships with professional people who yearn to serve Christ. Our new friends inspire us!
- A long-awaited motorcycle for Railson. We were able to purchase it from a friend at reasonable cost with a surprise lump of money from one of our internet equipment suppliers. The motorcycle greatly reduces our work-related transportation expense, and Railson feels great having his "wings" back!
- Laptop computer. We acquired a used laptop for Amaster which has greatly increased the efficiency of our installations on-site.
- The anointing of God over Railson’s life. He has always longed to see more signs and miracles. We were both tremendously encouraged when, after one of his recent messages, 11 people were spontaneously healed. We want to see more, Lord!
Thank you for keeping us in mind as you plan your giving.
In case the Lord has equipped you to help further, consider giving toward the following areas:
1. monthly financial support (through the Xingu Mission until Dec 2007)
2. financial resource for vacation and visits to supporters in the US
3. a laptop computer for our personal use
4. a car or van for our family transportation needs
