It’s 11:31 p.m. as I write this, and the sounds of childish laughter and play still drifts through our windows, as neighborhood kids chase one another across the grassy area in front of our house here in Chile.
Our own children are asleep, as they are most nights long before this late hour. That was not the case on Friday night, however, as we pulled up to our house at half past midnight with three groggy kids in tow! The special occasion on that night was one that will be repeated weekly as we have now committed to join a small group Bible study some forty minutes away from home.
Our colleagues, Brian and Crystal Salsman, are planting a new church in their neighborhood. Ciudad Satélite might be called a “city within a city” – a neighborhood on the outskirts of greater Santiago with its own schools, grocery stores, etc. The church is barely in its infant stages, and on this past Friday night our Bible study consisted of four adults and two child members of that community, in addition to the leadership team and our family.
The backgrounds of the attendees varied from a single mom to a professor of theology, but all arrived with the same purpose of studying the Bible together. For the next eight weeks or so, we will be studying the gospel of John. John’s gospel states as its purpose that the readers might know Jesus Christ, and recognize Him as Savior and Messiah. It is our desire that this purpose will be carried out in the lives of those who participate in the coming weeks!
Yes, it will mean very late nights once a week, as the study doesn’t begin until after 8 p.m. But as we drove through the streets of Ciudad Satélite on our way home last night and saw the dozen of teenagers milling around the liquor stores and darkened plazas, we were reminded that the need truly is great! And it is a privilege for us to play what small part we can in this new ministry …
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