We will start our labor in Colombia with the goal of planting a church with a missionary heart, soul winning, give out tracts in then neighborhood, etc. We will rent a house that we can use for the church and for my family.

The step by step plan goes like this

We will move back to Colombia from Peru

Get settled in, in Bogotá in a rented house that we can use for us and the church so that we can start a church with the contacts that we have.

Begin a ministry of evangelism and discipleship in the neighborhood wherever the doors will open

Get a group of candidates for leaders and start from there by starting to train them in theology and practice to be future pastors and missionaries that will plan more churches all over the nation of Colombia

Start a Bible College where we will be able to train men and women for the work of the ministry.

Atentamente: Jaime, Margelis, Ray Andrés y Sara Sofía Benítez Betín.
E-mail. incacaribe@hotmail.com

http://jaimebenitezbenitez.wordpress.com/

Skype. Jaime.benitez2

We are able to help you get your monthly support to Jaime. They are in desperate need. This is a great investment for your missionary dollar. Will you consider helping them?

from austingardner.net

Planting churches in Colombia

Why should we plant churches in Colombia?

The main reason that I see is that there are not that many Biblical churches in this great country of forty million inhabitants. In Bogotá that has nearly 6,000,000 the presence of Biblical churches is laughable, you can count them on your fingers.

There is a great need for churches that preach the gospel from a Biblical perspective with sound doctrine like those that have given their lives over the years. The last thing Bogotá needs is new and strange doctrines.

Due to violence like the problems between the paramilitary and procommunist factions the country has nearly been off limits for several years by foreign missionaries.

If there were at least 200 good Biblical churches in Bogotá then I could not ask you to help us open another but that is not the case!

Colombia is nearly virgin territory for the gospel.

Here are some advantages as to why we should go to Colombia:

Religious freedom

The people are very receptive to the gospel

The violence has caused people to want to seek another alternative for their lives

Family problems, drug addiction, etc. are causing parents to seek spiritual help

Migration from the rural areas to the cities

An enormous population that doesn’t know about salvation by faith and not by works

A Roman church that has lost much of its influence over the people due to the pedophile scandals

These are the words of Jaime explaining why he is returning to Colombia. Will you please pray about helping him on a monthly basis for at least two years.

You can contact him for more info at

Atentamente: Jaime, Margelis, Ray Andrés y Sara Sofía Benítez Betín.
E-mail. incacaribe@hotmail.com

http://jaimebenitezbenitez.wordpress.com/

Skype. Jaime.benitez2

from austingardner.net

Colombia is a very needy country. I will give you in Jaime’s own words the reason he is wanting to plant churches tomorrow, but today I just wanted to ask you if you would be willing to help him!

He will need monthly support. He is a proven church planter. I would be glad to talk to you and explain his ministry if you need.

He asked me to see if I could find some people who would help him for about 2 years. He will need about $1200 a month minimum.

You will not go wrong supporting this man. Would you pray about it? Would you contact me with any questions you have at 770-500-8021 or gardner @bcwe.org?

Jaime and family would be a welcome addition to your mission’s family.

You can contact him personally via the following options:

Jaime, Margelis, Ray Andrés y Sara Sofía Benítez Betín.
E-mail. incacaribe@hotmail.com

http://jaimebenitezbenitez.wordpress.com/

Skype. Jaime.benitez2

from austingardner.net

The indigenous church is not mentioned in the New Testament. It is, however, obvious in the sense that the church took root and grew naturally. In the New Testament we see no outside involvement and help. Paul and others were planting churches but they did not stay long enough for the people to become dependent. The one time that Paul does stay too long he apologizes because he has caused them to be an inferior church. In staying he had worked another job, making tents, without having them pay his salary. They had a church that cost them nothing. That meant Paul wasn’t burdensome (didn’t cost them anything) and this caused them to be inferior. It is expected that a pastor who is so valuable to the church and ministry would be costly!
2 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.”

Paul had worked among these people and not been a burden to them. He had not charged them anything including a salary. They were the people who least respected him. They took advantage of him. That would be the biblical basis for this study.

Here are some of the proponents of the “indigenous principle” that should help you to learn the necessity of achieving the indigenous principle. You can learn from the mistakes of others and from their wisdom.
Henry Venn (Anglican) and Rufus Anderson (Congregationalist) developed a strategy of indigenization in response to the extreme paternalism that had been exercised by western missionaries in the 19th century. It was obvious to them that “rice” Christians were only loyal as long as they received the free food. The missionary acted as a parent and expected complete authority and control.

Dixon Hoste who followed Hudson Taylor as director of the China Inland Mission is credited with making the Chinese churches apply the principles of self-government, self-support, and self propagation. Melvin Hodges (Assemblies of God) believed that foreign money created dependence and established the paternalistic pattern that created an unhealthy, anemic church.

Consider with me, each of the three principles and how they are applied. We will get into much more depth in the following chapters of how to apply these principles. This will simply be a stating of the principles and how they are to work.

First, the church is to be “self-governing!” That means that the church will develop leadership from within as the Holy Spirit works among those that He has saved as in Acts 13:1-3. The missionary or church planter ceases to be the leader. The national leaders are trained and the missionary is phased out. The church has learned to make its own decisions.

This can be seen biblically in how Paul trained and appointed leaders in Acts 14:21-23. Paul told the church to govern itself in the discipline of a member in I Corinthians 5:45. In Acts 6 the congregation and the apostles picked their first leaders, probably deacons.

Second, the church is to be “self-supporting!” That means that the church does not subsist on outside or foreign money. Each church should be able to meet its own needs. From the beginning God’s people gave sacrificially to support their church and its ministry, Acts 4:32-37, 6:1-3. The Philippians supported Paul as a missionary, Philippians 4:10. If a church cannot pay its own way and must depend on outside supply then we will greatly hinder them, damage relations between us, and hinder the starting of future churches.
Third, the church is to be “self-propagating!” Self-propagating means that the church will extend its own ministry in its region and beyond without external help. If we are to evangelize the world in our generation then we will have to start churches that are able to start churches. There is simply no way that we can raise up enough missionaries to start all the churches. In 2 Timothy 2:2 we find, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” As those who hear find others that they can train we will be able to accomplish the task that we have been given.
Disciples must disciple. That is how we will get the gospel around the world. As go the disciples so will go the church. If you have a discipling church it will be a reproducing church. The discipling church will plant other churches.

Republished from austingardner.net.

I heard this statement recently while listening to an audio book.  I think it was Good to Great by Jim Collins.  I got to thinking about this in relation to discipleship.  In many churches and ministries I have noticed that generally discipleship is thought to take place when the people of the church listen to the pastor preach and are obedient to the preaching.  No real need to have a discipleship program, right?  However, almost everything in life has a structure to it.  A sequence if you will.  And furthermore, we will miss the point or get frustrated when that sequence is not followed.  School is an excellent example of this.  We learn to read and count, then we learn history and math.  It makes all the sense in the world.

Now imagine with me a new christian who is just starting to be faithful to church.  Every bible doctrine, every principle is new and without context.  Imagine how long it will take for that young christian to learn biblical principles and their application if no one will stop and guide him through the bible step by step.

That being said, I think that it could cause a great many christians to “mature” with some major gaps in their spiritual learning.  A deacon, for instance, that isn’t faithful to church.  A church treasurer that doesn’t understand missions or the great commission.  A christian that has attend church for years and never realized the importance of baptism.  I am sure nothing like this happens in a church…or does it?  I have seen all of these.

Back to the new christian in the pew.  What does he need?  He certainly needs the preaching and exhortation from the Word of God.  He also needs a strong christian to lead him through the study of God’s Word.  He needs discipleship and that in sequence–a structure for learning.  It will make all the difference in the life of that believer.

Here is my thinking.  First, in the world of business a judge of success is return on investment.  Many dollars are given to missions every year.  And rightly so.  But I think missions work success may often be defined incorrectly or better said would be incompletely.  Missions blogs and prayer letters will emphasis salvation decisions and attendance.  However, I find myself interested in know how many are being trained for the ministry.  It would be safe to say that the future of any ministry is found in those that are being trained now.  And could not be more true than in missions work.  Many missions philosophies point to the fact that their should be national leadership and a church planting emphasis.  I don’t think that these goals could be met without a plan to train leaders.  I would think that the best return on investment would be leader training.  This might be a strong statement, but the best gift a missionary could give his people is the ability to carry the work forward on their own.

Secondly…well I have probably bored you.  But what might be some consequences of  lack of leadership for the future?  Next time.

2.  The Methods

Method #1-A Strong Pulpit Ministry

I believe that the Lord has given special blessing to His Word.  And when His Word is “rightly divided” it will be a ministry of grace to those that hear.  I believe that when a prepared man gets up to preach and teach from a Point of Authority (the Bible) not his own with the intent to persuade that the Holy Spirit through that can work in the hearts of people.  This accentuates the importance of a missionary learning the language.  The pulpit ministry becomes the table around which decisions are made, questions are answered and believers are motivated to grow spiritually.  Without it being strong, vibrant and fresh, a ministry cannot expect to be moving forward spiritally or physically by size.

Method #2-A Strong Church-Centered Ministry

Jesus Christ himself ordained the church as His means to reach the world with the gospel.  However, too many missionary I feel go to a foreign country and do not focus on starting solid church works.  Orphanages, school, humanitarian aid etc are all good, but they are not what the Lord gave as a basic means of reaching the world.  I believe that without a solid church work to support them they are inaffective for reaching the world with the gospel.

Method #3-Strong Discipleship and Mentoring Emphasis

The method that Jesus used during His ministry most often was discipling.  I think that spiritual discipleship, also called mentoring, is most important.  It should focus heavily on “life on life” discipling.  It has been said that there are many spiritual disciplines and lessons that are “caught not taught.”  This would give rise to the start of Bible institute.

Method #4-Strong Evangelistic Ministry

Whether in the church or in discipleship training there should be vision for world evangelism that starts with the individual and his church and expands to include the whole world.  Training in personal evangelism and opportunities for missions support should be made available from the beginning.

Method #5-Strong Creative Opportunities

After the first four methods are established, there should be creativity in cultivating opportunities that would be available.  Each place in the world is different.  Medical clinics, orphanages, christian schools, shelters, and English classes would all fall under this heading.  In Colombia, there are a few factors to consider.  Colombia is a country of contrasts.  Some parts of Colombia are poor while others are wealthy. Some parts are well educated while others stuggle with lack of education.  Specific strategies will vary from region to region.  Colombia is also a country that has been in a long civil war.  This has left many cities and regions in dissaray (to put it mildly).  Much progress has been made to come to conclusion with it, but the war still wages on.  This situation has made the people there in most of the country poor.