How to start a church under a tree….

#1 – First you need someone with vision. Pastor Willy and his wife Narahi have a huge vision to bring the gospel to the villages of southern Mexico. They are great at sharing their vision so others “catch it.” Pastor Willy interprets for Phil and I when we speak. Like Phil’s brother Jon said, an interpreter makes your message really good!  

#2 You need a team of people to catch the vision and pray. The group that we are humbled to be working with have been praying for this church plant in Santa Maria Huatulco for 2 years. The woman in the red dress is Magali and the man next to Phil is Julian, these two started a church under a tree almost a year ago in an unreached people group called the Chantal. The village is about an hour south of Huatulco.

Magali and Julian are starting another church in Huatulco, in Magali’s home. We were privileged to join them for discipleship class #5. I’ll never forget Magali’s joyful account when we first met her…”we started a church under a tree!”

The vision begins in these southern Mexico coastal villages with a Samaritans Purse Christmas Child Shoe Box give away. Then 12 weeks of discipleship class, “The Great Adventure” for the children and their mamas. The outreach ends with the families invited to a graduation celebration where the parents hear the gospel and are given the opportunity to accept Christ….and here a church is born!

 #3 You must speak their language, literally. Pastor Willy does a great job with converting our very American speak to something that makes sense in Spanish. We have also learned to use google translate but Pastor Willy is much better so I call him our “i-phone” he he.

You must make it applicable to their lives. Phil had a great intro to our lesson on love…”How many of you ladies were born knowing how to make tortillas?” He quickly grabbed and opened their hearts! “so we must learn how to live in God’s form of love, we learn it from God’s Word.” I love Phil’s unique gifting of humor in speaking. He has an amazing ability that captures people’s attention and opens their hearts.

#4 You must be willing to be vulnerable and share your story of God’s love for you. God’s Word does not return void so you always use God’s Word. Today we used Matthew 22:37, 38

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

You must also teach God’s version of Love, 1 Corinthians 13 of course.

Phil ended with truths about God’s forgiveness, from 1 John 1:9. He emphasized that we don’t need a priest or a person to go to God or confess our sins to, we can go directly to God and He forgives us!

#5 Most important is to give people an opportunity to respond to God’s Word. I shared a personal story of forgiving a deep wound and led them through the process of forgiving that wound, releasing the person/people who hurt them and receiving Jesus sacrifice on the cross as payment for the sins committed against us.

They repeated after me with passion, some almost shouting. There’s nothing like freedom from unforgiveness.

Then we received God’s forgiveness.

 #6 You don’t send the children away. They see the parents and imitate them. They are safe with parents close by. They learn about God and see their parents also learn and respond to God’s Word. The children’s class is about 50 feet from their mamas. Yes it can bring some distraction, but there are no worries about safety or abuse and the children also learn by example. Notice this little boy has his hands raised like his mama.

#7 Meet practical needs. Incomes here have been eliminated or completely eliminated due to the shutdowns of travel and hotels.

Children are fed at classes and the mamas are given care packages of staples and personal items from Huatulco Food Bank.

The ladies in the team have a ministry, “Manos de Esperanza” to help the mamas learn sewing skills and bring money into the home as the learn more bible truths, have Christian mentors and develop godly relationships. 

About “Manos de Esperanza”

#8 God gives you a place for the church to meet. God has provided an amazing “Casa” with 2 bedrooms, a large kitchen, a very large courtyard for meetings. It is in the perfect place right in the neighborhood we have been meeting in; convenient for the families to walk to church.

I love the Santa Maria team’s heart…”while c-vid is shutting down churches we are starting new ones with new believers.

We were not aware that while much or possibly all of Mexicans have catholic roots, most Christians are first generation, and a few second generation. New concepts, and also new enthusiasm as they experience God’s love and power and provision.

#9 You continue to pray and invite others to pray for the Team, the Families and the new body of Christ in Santa Maria Huatulco.

The Church Under a Tree is using the wonderful system by Samaritan’s Purse to introduce children to a personal relationship with the one who loves them most, Jesus Christ.

Our team had a vision to reach the mama’s who bring their children to the 12 week discipleship class.

It has been very effective. Mama’s being saved and discipled right along with their children, developing relationships with like-minded people and eventually becoming the foundation of a new thriving church.

Learn more about Samartin’s purse: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/the-greatest-journey/