Mission Peru

As a leader of one of the Mississauga Chinese Alliance Church, I was lucky enough to be invited to a pastoral meeting held by the local alliance church.  As I walked under a sign that said ZONA RESTRINGIDA I entered into a room full of pastors and leaders.  After some brief introductions on our part in Spanglish, the pastor was gracious enough to breakdown the strategy of his church while Jeff was gracious enough to translate.

The statistics:

• Seven years ago, there were 40 cell groups in this church.  Today there are 720 cell groups (no, I did not accidentally add an extra 0 to that number)
• 40, the number of people who come to Christ every Sunday
• Six years ago, there were 1300 adults in the church.  Today there are over 3000 adults.
• 350 students enrolled in the Christian school, of which 40% are Christians
• Five services every Sunday
• Sister churches located around the area

The main church will plant sister churches but the sister churches do not act independently from the main church.  The pastors of the sister churches are paid by the main church.  What they discovered in Peru was that if a sister church runs independently too soon, they tend to die quickly.

Now onto strategy.  I wish Pastor John was here to sit in on this meeting.  

How Do We Win People for Christ?

As attractive as the numbers are, I want to concentrate on how this particular church does not simply abandon people once they know Christ, but takes the time to really develop these new brothers and sisters into full blown spiritual leaders.  The Head Pastor said that the key to growth, and the foundation of this Peruvian church, was the cell groups.  As I write the next few lines, I want you to keep in mind the Great Commission:

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

For the Peruvian Alliance church, they place emphasis on edification and evangelism while covering topics such as doctrine, marriage...etc.  Flyers are given out for people to invite their neighbours, friends, and family to themed events, cell groups or church services.  In Peruvian culture, people tend to come to these events as long as someone will invite them.  Once people are saved, they attend a cell group.  They take a course called "My New Alliance With Jesus" (clever name!) for four months and then they get baptized. In one year, they become leaders of a small group.

The Christian brothers and sisters receive training at different camps or retreats for women, men, evangelism, edification.  There is a leadership retreat for the cell group leaders and leaders of the church.

In addition, the church places heavy emphasis on missions, whether it is planting a sister church or supporting their members on mission trips. 

The church also runs a Christian school for Junior, Primary and High school students. 60% of the students are non Christians which means that one of the main objectives is to win these students over to Christ.

In addition, the church also runs a "school for dads",  teaching them how to be good fathers, but with the intention to win them over to Christ - notice the running theme?

At the meeting, Jeff shared with the pastoral team that in North America, people are less receptive to invitations to church events and asked the Peruvian church to continue to pray for their Canadian brothers and sisters, as we promised to pray for our Peruvian church family. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to ask any questions given the time constraints.

As I exited the pastoral meeting, I wondered to myself, is it possible for us to duplicate the successful model of the Peruvian Alliance church? Would this model, or a modified version, even work in Canada given our cultural differences? Or is there something else going on behind the scenes (right now I'm thinking of the Holy Spirit  in the the growth of the early church)?

On a side note, one of the cell group leaders was amazed that we have fellowships in our public schools and universities. As she put it, it was very hard for her to find fellow Christians when she was in school.  How lucky we are in Canada!

That's all from me.

Elaine (from MCAC)