As a team, we consider ourselves extremely blessed, in particular, when it comes to our supporting congregations. While we all presently have our supporting churches, this wasn’t always the case. Something that many missionaries don’t receive before stepping foot on the mission field is support from a congregation- both financial and spiritual support. Our experience, however, was different. In early 2007, the A&M Church of Christ, which at the time was in the process of changing their involvement in missions, decided to fully support all five of the families on our team for one-year while we trained and prepared for the mission field. To say that we were blessed during this time of partnership is a strong understatement. What the A&M church did for each of our families during this time of partnership was monumental, as it gave our families the ability to train together and strengthen our bonds as a team. As with any team, time together strengthened our bond, and, I believe, made us so much stronger and better prepared us for our work together in Peru. I believe that this time was the Holy Spirit’s work through the body of Christ, in particular through this congregation of believers.
As it happened, our team was the first team for the A&M church to support in this way. Immediately following our group, they supported another team which recently arrived on the field in Thailand. Now, they are onto their next team – a team going to Concepción, Chile. This past Sunday, during Sunday morning worship at the A&M church, our team had the unique privilege of joining the A&M church (with the Concepción team in attendance) along with the Thailand team (all of us in our respective countries) via the internet. It was a great blessing to share in their worship. I can’t say that it is always at the forefront of my mind that there are millions of other Christians worshipping throughout the world on Sundays, but on this past Sunday, I was reminded about the beautiful reality that the Body of Christ exists throughout the world. To God be the glory!
Below is a view of what we saw on the computer screen: on the left is the A&M church; on the right is the Thai team; and in the center on the bottom of the screen is the Lima team
