I just wanted to post a quick update. We had a great time with a team from San Antonio, Texas last week. I’m writing up a summary of the week that I will confirm with Pastor Valter soon. We’ll post that summary here for you all to enjoy.
Blessings!
Please forgive my blog silence. I’ve been traveling a lot lately and training folks in several parts of Brazil in everything from evangelistic Bible studies to cross-cultural missions. I’m back for a while and hope to be back in the swing of things shortly.
Blessings – Stan
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”.
We just wanted to let everyone know that we’ve added an Articles page. On this page we’ll be posting articles that Stan has written. So far, we’ve posted two articles there. The New Testament Concepts of Church and The Challenge of Evangelism in Latin and South America. If you haven’t read them before, I’m sure they’ll be of interest to you.
The Challenge of Evangelism in Latin and South America was posted on the SBC Impact blog. It was also well received and affirmed by numerous colleagues working in Latin and South America. It should be helpful for those planning to work in Rio during the 2012 Olympic Games too.