Posts for category ‘Ministry’

Last month I wrote about our first house of prayer. Before we could schedule our first visit to her home for prayer she tried to commit suicide again. She was at the beach with her son and took a bottle of pills (I don’t know the number) and drank a bottle of vodka to wash them down. She was lying on the floor nearly incoherent when she heard her five-year old son say, “Don’t go to sleep yet mommy. I’m asking Jesus not to let you go to sleep.”

Jesus answered her son’s prayer! We’re thankful to God for that.

She invited several people to her son’s birthday party, including one of our team members and his family. It was a very good time for the team member to get to know her family. There was a pastor there from some kind of church too. After everyone else left he spoke to her. He heaped guilt and condemnation upon her for all that she had ever done wrong. He will answer to God for that one day! This woman needs restoration, not condemnation. She needs mercy and grace!

She has kept the door open for us to enter her home and pray with her. Please pray for Lady V.

A second house has opened for prayer. This woman has a similar story, but we’re very glad that she hasn’t tried to commit suicide. She is finding hope and encouragement in prayer. She has also come to one of our home based Bible studies – it is a safe environment! Sadly, many institutional churches are not safe environments for people who have destroyed lives.

Our Houses of Prayer Ministry has two more members. One of them, a young lady who grew up in an institutional church, visited with these ladies and prayed with them recently. It was her first time to go. She visited with Lady V and prayed with her. When she left the home she was physically shaken. After visiting with in the second home and praying this young lady was physically sick. She is not yet accustomed to entering the world of those who do not know Jesus Christ.

We would appreciate your prayers for both of these homes – that God would bring salvation and restoration to these families.

Also, please pray for our team. A few more families have expressed an interest in having us come and pray with them. We are entering into homes in which only God knows what we will encounter. Also, we may be adding some new team members in another part of the city. So, please pray that God will direct us as these team relationships develop.

In Brazil, there is something about Mary, and the saints, that holds incredible sway over Catholics. I was talking with a young lady at house church about this very subject. We were expressing praise to the Lord that another family has realized that they can no longer follow Mary and the saints. This young lady told me that it took three years from the time she first heard the idea that praying to Mary and the saints is idolatry to the time she realized that was true. The family has been studying the Bible with us for about six months. We praise the Lord that He has opened their eyes to see this truth.

We have not discovered any specific amount of time that is necessary for people to realize this truth. Since we discovered this barrier to proclaiming the gospel among our people, we have become more intentional about addressing idolatry in our teaching. With a belief that is so much a part of who Catholics in Brazil are, we must take the time necessary to present the truth in love. We must also give them time to count the cost of following Jesus.

If you approach a post-modern person and proclaim that an absolute truth exists for all people, you probably will have only one opportunity to speak to that person, and you probably will not convince them. If you approach a Buddhist and proclaim that there is only one path to God, you will probably only have one opportunity to speak to that person, and you probably will not convince them. The same holds true with Catholics in Brazil. If you approach a Catholic in Brazil and proclaim that it is necessary to abandon Mary and the saints in order to follow Jesus, you will probably only have one opportunity to speak to that person, and you probably will not convince them.

We have learned that this particular barrier to the gospel among our people will usually only be overcome by investing time and love in teaching the Bible to them.

This is just one insight we have gleaned from our time working here in Brazil. Thank you for taking the time to read it. Please pray that God will ever keep our eyes open to see barriers to the gospel and that He will give us ways to overcome these barriers.

If you would like to know more about our approach to making disciples, you can read my article entitled “The Challenge of Evangelism in Latin and South America”.

I have just added an article entitled “Our Mission” to the articles page.

This is an article that I wrote as part of the study on Acts that I use for discipleship, leadership training and training church planters. I find it important for the people around me to understand what is going on in my head when I talk about “our mission” and the work here. It was originally written in Portuguese and I translated it into English to post here.

Since I watched the Verge2010 Conference on the Live Stream, I realize that there are churches and leaders in the US who share many of the same ideas I’ve expressed in this article. However, this is my own explanation of what I believe the Great Commission really means.

You can read the article by clicking this link “Our Mission“. Or, you can read it from the articles page and see what other articles are there too.

Also, I’d like to say thanks to the folks at Verge2010 for making the Live Stream available, and for free at that, to those who could not be there live! That was extremely cool of them!

Later this week we’ll be launching a new aspect of our ministry here in Joinville. We’ll be asking people to open their homes for teams to come and pray with them. In many places in the world, houses of prayer play a very important role in house church networks. I have not done any research to learn what exactly those houses of prayer entail. In fact, I had heard about two different places using houses of prayer. I thought, “That’s there. That isn’t here.” And, I did not pursue the idea.

After I had let the idea slip into the back of my mind (actually, I had completely forgotten about it), God brought the idea back to my mind. That’s when I knew it was God’s time for houses of prayer here. I didn’t know when, where or how we would start houses of prayer. That’s where it is good to have team members. God was giving those answers to members of our team.

A few years ago, when I was on staff at a church in the US I had a small group that met for prayer. Our prayer time there was developed from a prayer group in which I participated in Bulgaria. The houses of prayer that we begin here will be based on both of those prayer ministries, though it will not be a copy of either. “Prayer is learned by praying.” I do not recall who wrote that sentence, but it is true. So, we want to teach people to pray through houses of prayer.

I’m adding an article to the “Articles” page here on the blog. I wrote it in 2002 and never put it online. However, I’m making it available now so you can understand a little better what I hope God does through houses of prayer. Please read “How Our Small Group Prays” on the articles page or by clicking this link How Our Small Group Prays.

Blessings – Stan

For us, 2009 proved to be an eventful year. We were able to take our vacation in June in the states this past year which was an exciting time for us as well as a good point of transition for our move to Joinville, Santa Catarina. We moved to Joinville in July 2009 and have spent a wonderful time getting to know the city and the people in the region.

Our current job assignment is planting churches in the northern region of Santa Catarina. We have been visiting the various cities in our region and below is a recap of those visits and what God has been doing in each of them.

Joinville is a city of over 500,000 inhabitants with only 6 Baptist churches which together have about 600 members. Of these 6 churches, we have found only 2 thus far that have sound doctrine. We asked you to begin praying for a “man of peace” in this city. A new pastor moved into town around the same time that we did. He heard about Stan and what he was interested in doing to reach the city and he came looking for him. He showed up at our gate one morning and wanted to begin sharing with Stan the vision God had laid on his heart. God began showing him that he would never reach Joinville by continuing to “do” church the way it had always been done. This pastor, Valter, has committed himself to helping begin a house church network in Joinville that will touch the whole world. He and Stan have joined together to teach the existing church how to lead evangelistic Bible studies that will hopefully be house churches one day. Stan began a study series with the church on the Book of Acts to show them what the word “church” really meant in the New Testament. In December, the first training session for evangelistic Bible studies was completed and 9 couples have committed to opening their homes in 2010 for evangelistic Bible studies. One of the things Stan and Valter have been praying about is how to reach the lost in the city when everyone lives behind walls and gates. One way of course is for the evangelistic Bible studies to reach into each person‘s circle of influence. In other words they begin with their lost friends and family. God also answered that prayer in another way. Four schools asked our team to begin ministering to the families connected with the school. This new project will begin in February when school begins again which will give our team access to 3,000 families.

Prayer Requests for the Work in Joinville

1. Pray for Valter and his family. He and his wife have three children. Pray that they will remain obedient to God’s call on their lives and that God will surround them with a veil of protection as they labor for God.
2. Pray for the nine couples who have agreed to open their homes in 2010 to begin evangelistic Bible studies. Pray for the people who will participate and that they will have ears to hear the truth of God’s saving grace.
3. Pray for the church, Aliança, as they continue to learn what church should really be and that they will commit to following God no matter where He leads them in reaching their city for Christ.
4. Pray for the new project beginning in February. Sometimes it is hard to be patient and allow God to open the doors. Pray that our team will be patient as we get to know the families.

São Bento do Sul
We were invited to visit with Pastor Airto to get to know him and his family and the work they do with Igreja Batista de Paz. He too believes that his city will never be reached for Christ if they continue to “do” church the way they have always done it. This church is one of the strongest Baptist churches in northern Santa Catarina and has a very strong ministry to married couples. They began family groups a few years ago where the church is meeting in various homes during the week. They also teach sessions for married couples to reinforce godly relationships and godly obedience. A huge problem in Brazil, even among Christians, is extramarital affairs. Stan has offered to help in any way he can. The pastor is still getting to know Stan so the process is slow. Stan is providing him with his study materials on the Book of Acts to reinforce the idea that we need to take a serious look at what the Bible says about “church.” Pastor Airto has tentatively invited Stan to meet and discuss evangelism, discipleship and small group ministry.

Prayer Requests for São Bento do Sul1.  Pray for Pastor Airto and his family as they move in the direction that God would have them move in reaching São Bento do Sul for Christ. 
2.  Pray for the families that they work with that they will commit themselves to godly marriages.
3.  Pray that a relationship of trust will be developed between Stan and Pastor Airto so that they can partner together in reaching Northern Santa Catarina.

We recently were able to take a trip up into the mountains of Santa Catarina. We were amazed at the beauty and diversity that met us. Many of the cities in this mountain region have Ukrainian Orthodox churches that still hold services in the Ukrainian language. Not only did we find Ukrainians but also Austrians, Germans, Italians and Polish, just to name a few.

We ended our trip in the city of Porto União. We were invited to visit the local Baptist church there. We had a wonderful two days visiting with the church and the pastor. As Stan began to share with the pastor his vision for house churches/simple churches that are culturally relevant and his desire to see people truly discipled, the pastor’s eyes lit up. Pastor Vilmar had already been thinking through and praying through what it would really take to reach Porto União for Christ. Pastor Vilmar said, “The way we “do” church will never reach a city which is technically more culturally European and not Brazilian. It simply is not culturally applicable.”  Stan explained the evangelistic Bible study set and Vilmar explained that he was already using a similar set that he had developed. He had just come from a meeting with the pastors of their Baptist Association who had come to the conclusion on that very day that they needed a better way to equip workers because “church” as they were doing it was not producing equipped followers of Christ. He asked Stan to share his ministry with the church that evening.  Stan shared about evangelistic home Bible studies, simple church, the Acts studies, and his commitment to equipping the saints to plant churches that truly reach the culture. Several people already want to know when they can begin training because they also want to reach their city for Christ. Because it takes us 4 hours one way to get to Porto União, Stan is working with the pastor hopefully to begin monthly weekend trainings early in 2010.

As we were leaving that evening, a young man pulled Stan aside and asked when Stan could begin training him to do this work. The young man is a professional soccer player. He has a burden to reach other soccer players but has had a very difficult time doing so because he said they refuse to step their foot inside a church building. He loved the idea of evangelistic Bible studies designed to reach them in a culturally applicable way and also felt it was the answer he had been looking for because it is something he could reproduce anywhere rather than tying anything to a local church.

Prayer Requests for the Northern Mountains of Santa Catarina (Porto União)

1. God has burdened our hearts for the various people groups we have encountered. Our pray request is that God will open the door to reaching the various people groups living in Santa Catarina.
2. Pray for the training sessions that will begin in 2010 as we train people to lead evangelistic Bible studies that will hopefully transform into simple churches.
3. Pray for Pastor Vilmar as he leads his church to commit to reaching their region for Christ. It is a difficult door to walk through because many times it is just easier to remain where we are comfortable rather than changing the way we do things for the cause of Christ.
4. Pray for China Man, as the professional soccer player is known, that He will continue to follow God’s leading in reaching other soccer players for Christ.

Prayer Requests for the Meadors1. Pray for Stan as he continues to finalize the first series of evangelistic Bible studies and begins working in more depth on the second series. Pray that God will use the people around us to show him where the studies need to be adjusted to reach people in a culturally applicable manner.
2. Pray for the Acts study that continues in one church and hopefully will begin in two other churches in our region in 2010.
3. Pray that we will remain strong and focused as a family and that God will protect us.
4. Pray that we will allow God to lead in all things and remain faithful to his calling. Sometimes it is easy to allow our agenda to get in the way. God has a plan and we need to remember that even when it doesn’t look like we thought it would.
5. Pray that God will begin a house church network in Northern Santa Catarina in 2010.
6. Pray that God will continue to draw Ariana to Himself. She is asking many questions.

Words can never express how much you mean to us and how grateful we are for your prayers, love and support. Thank you for giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this year. If you haven’t had time to do so yet, please make sure you do. Your gift to Lottie Moon keeps us on the field each year. There is so much work yet to be done and God definitely isn’t finished using us here in Brazil.  Your faithful giving will only not only allow Brazil but the world to hear of God’s saving grace.

We pray that God will bless each of you in this new year. We are excited about what God has in store for 2010.

Blessings,

Stan, Wendy and Ariana Meador

Since our move to Joinville 3 months ago, we have been doing more observing than anything. Why, because we can’t assume that what we know about planting simple churches where we were will work in the cultural context we find ourselves in now. What we are finding is that even though Joinville was founded by Germans, the city itself is very Brazilian with an international feel to it. Some of the cities surrounding Joinville also have distinct cultural identities.

For the past 5 weeks or so, we’ve been getting to know a house church in a city about an hour from Joinville. In the past, we said that we have experiences from which they can learn and that they have things to teach us as well. This past Sunday they invited us to share the Lord’s Supper with them. It was a great day – we shared a meal together, praised the Lord together, and continued to get to know each other. It has been very good seeing the way they share life together. The leader of that house church was talking with another guest they had invited that day – we were sitting around while the food was cooking. He said something along these lines, “I don’t know Stan yet. All I see is the perfect Stan who comes to visit. The others in house church I know because I am with them all the time.” He was not slighting me in any way, but rather stating the reality of our relationship. Only when we spend a lot of time together, hours a day, week in and week out, do we get to know the real person. This is life together. This is what house church is all about. In fact, it is Christianity as Jesus intended it to be.

In our three visits with this house church, maybe 15 hours together, God has been showing us how He wants us to go about planting simple churches in Northern Santa Catarina. We want to plant organic (Brazilian), reproducing, simple churches through the making of disciples. Do we have it all worked out? No, but we are getting there. God still has a lot more to teach us, but He is answering your prayers already.

We asked you to pray that God would bring us a man of peace in Joinville. We believe that God has brought him into our lives.

About two weeks ago I received an email from a colleague. He had been at a meeting of Baptist pastors. On Friday, September 18^th, he sent me contact information for three pastors in this region who were interested in meeting with me to see if we might be able to work together. To my surprise, the following day one of those pastors (who lives in Joinville) was knocking on my door. I met with him yesterday (Wednesday, September 23).

Normally when I explain house church to members or pastors of institutional churches here in Brazil they look at me with blank stares, as if I were speaking another language. But, I really am speaking Portuguese with them. The blank stares almost always turn into rejection of house church as a valid form of church. Very few Brazilian pastors, in my limited experience, accept that house church is truly church. And, of the few who accept it as legitimate church, none that I know have embraced it as the path they want to follow for church planting. So, I was not overly encouraged going to meet with yet another pastor to talk about reaching Joinville through house churches.

I was well received by this pastor. He truly has a desire to see Joinville reached. He’s been reading a lot about how to go about that task. He already understood that the usual approach of institutional churches in Brazil isn’t going to reach the city – the birth rate minus the death rate is still greater than the growth rate of the institutional churches. So, he had been trying to figure out if the answer would be found in small groups, a cell church model, or even in house churches.

I laid all the cards on the table. I walked him through house church in the New Testament. I explained what I see as God’s purpose for the church and how that is fulfilled in house church. I explained how leadership functions in house churches and house church networks as I am learning it from the Scriptures. There are still a few places that I’m sorting through things, but much of it is coming together. Usually when I lay this all out people just don’t get it. This truly is a different language than the language of the institutional church. Each step of the way he either had already seen what I was explaining in Scripture, or understood it as I was explaining it – the pieces were fitting together, the light bulbs were coming on.

When I finished explaining these things to him, he simply asked how we get from where he is – institutional church – to what we see in the New Testament – house churches networking together to make disciples in cities and regions and among all the peoples on earth. That’s the part I didn’t have an answer for yet. Nonetheless, he wants to walk this path together. He wants to reach Joinville with the gospel of Jesus Christ and he is willing to lay down his traditional ways of doing things in order to accomplish this task. He asked if we could start next week.

I believe God has given us this man of peace in Joinville. But, God did not give us this man of peace until He taught us some very valuable lessons. God’s timing is perfect in every way. This pastor is new in town. God brought him here about two months ago, just about the same time He brought us here. The road ahead will not be wide and smooth, but narrow and rough. But, the burden of my Savior is light and He does not leave me to walk it alone.

Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for us. We will keep you updated as we walk this road.

Blessings – Stan, Wendy and Ariana

Hello everyone! I hope your week has been a good one.

Last Monday we went to visit with some house church leaders in a city about an hour from Joinville. They had contacted us about 2 weeks ago, the day after I put contact information on the Portuguese language blog. However, we were all sick then. After getting well, we called them and set up a time for the visit.

We spent about 6 hours with them, including a tasty lunch that they served us. It was so very good to talk with folks who understand house church and the struggles that come in Brazil from pursuing that return to the New Testament church. It was a great time of mutual encouragement. They were able to confirm some aspects of the culture in Santa Catarina that I thought might have been different from the culture in Rio Grande do Sul, where we had been working to make disciples and plant house churches. Even though they have been meeting as a house church for a couple of years, they don’t have much experience outside their own house church. Since I have been through thick and thin with several house churches, I was able to share insights into questions they have been struggling through. It was a great time.

In the past, we’ve noticed that a sticking point in developing a house church network was the lack of biblically qualified leadership in the house churches. The Brazilian culture does not lend itself to nurturing the kind of men Paul described to Timothy and Titus. From all appearances and throughout our time last Monday, it is apparent that God has raised up several families in that town who want to be more like Jesus every day, and not just in word, but in deed. This is an incredible answer to prayer. In our meetings last month with our colleagues, this was my prayer request – that God would give us biblically qualified men to lead the house churches.

When we scheduled our visit for Monday, we did not realize that their house church meets on Monday night. That night, the leaders shared with the house church many of the things we had talked about during the day. The information was well received by all.

This small group of believers has a vision that goes well beyond their own group, beyond their own city, beyond their own state, and beyond their own country. They have some ideas about how to develop house church networks that I had not yet considered. And, I have some ideas about training house church leaders that they had not yet considered. So, there are a lot of ways that we could work together in making disciples and planting house churches. I’m not sure exactly when we will visit this house church again. And, I’m not sure what God will do through this connection. But, we are in contact on the phone and by e-mail.

Please praise the Lord with us for His making this connection. Please pray that all involved will be able to discern what God wants to do through us.

We are so glad you dropped in.  We are currently rebuilding our website in a blog format.  Please continue to check back often as we load new things.  We are currently in a transition.  We have transferred to Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil and will be moving there in July to begin our new ministry.  In the next few weeks we will begin sharing with you about our new job and the area where we will be located.  We appreciate your prayers for us and our new ministry.

Blessings,
Stan, Wendy and Ariana Meador