
Happy Easter! Praise the Lord for He has risen!
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Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you for your prayers and support. They have been greatly appreciated.
Things have been going great here at Vineyard Viva! This month we had the honor of ordaining our first assistant pastors, Sarah and Silas. We have been walking very closely to Sarah and Silas for the last two years and they have been a huge blessing in our lives. I often think about how much more difficult things would have been if they had not walked into our lives prior to planting this church. They are both extremely gifted, extremely committed to practicing what they preach, and are committed to pastoring people. Ordaining them was the natural next step in their lives as well as within our church. We are so excited to see what God has in store!
Ordaining Sarah & Silas
Us with Sarah & Silas
This last month I was asked to write an article for the Xingu Mission Field Report about our first church plant. I wanted to share the article with all of you. Please find it below.
Denise and I are doing well and thoroughly enjoy watching Jonas grow up in every way! We look forward to visiting OHIO in the fall on our furlough. It hard to believe that 2 years have passed since our last trip home.
Jonas
Jonas showing off his new teeth
Prayer Requests:
Thanks again for you love and support. We miss you, love hearing from you and hope you have a wonderful Easter celebration!
In His Service,
Christopher & Denise
Contribution Link: https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/
FIELD REPORT – April 2019
It’s been about 18 months since my wife Denise and I planted a church here in the city Macapá. To say that this has been a learning experience would be an understatement. Although we have definitely had our ups and downs, these last 18 months have taught us so much. It has become clear to us how easy it would be to make the goal of church planting to gather and grow the church. Over and over, God has made it clear to us that that is the byproduct. The goal needs to be, has to be pointing to Jesus and learning how to walk in step with Him. After all, it is His church, he is the great Shepherd and we are all sheep in His pasture.
The number one thing that has become more and more obvious is that people desire real connection with God. Increasingly, we have focused on how to organically bring this about in our church. One of our values we emphasize at each gathering is leaving a chunk of time and space for the Holy Spirit to come minister. An example would be our Sunday service as we deliberately keep our sermons somewhat short so that we can have more time to pray for one another and to invite His presence. We don’t want this time of ministry and prayer to be an afterthought, we want it to be a focus. Leaving room for the Holy Spirit’s movement is a huge priority in our small groups as well.
A person can gain many things being part of a church. They can grow in their understanding of the Bible, be encouraged during difficult times, live with healthy accountability, and much more. These things are good and should not be overlooked. But, above everything else, our desire has been for a person to encounter the real living God. As I said gathering and growing a church is a byproduct. A very necessary God ordained byproduct! It naturally happens when people grow in connection to Him.
Another strong emphasis of the church has been is to acknowledge how much people desire to connect with one another and to feel part of a family. This year we have been amazed by the number of people who struggle with severe loneliness and feelings of isolation. Although many of these people are regularly surrounded by others, they still feel isolated and as if no one truly knows them. For that reason, we began to invest heavily in small groups. We wanted safe places for people to come together, eat together, open up together, encourage one another and allow God to come minister. Small groups have been a huge value in our church from day one and because of this over 90% of our church are regular attenders of a small group.
We realize that these are not new concepts. That connection with God and connection to Christian community are central themes throughout the church and church history. I guess we have just realized these needs in a more profound way, now that we are pastoring a church. Although there are always decisions to be made and questions to be had, we feel that the key will always be about connection.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:37-40
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Dear Friends and Family,
As always, thank you for your prayers and support. They are greatly appreciated.
Things have been rolling along and going great here in Macapá. The church is growing, we are developing new leaders, and we now have a total of six small groups. Denise and I feel like we are stepping into a new season of the church’s development and we can’t wait to see what God has in store.
Group that we lead at our house.
Denise’s Women’s Group
Another group we lead in the nearby city of Santana.
Once a year Xingu has a Missionary Retreat. This is a time for us to get together, relax, have fun, and receive ministry from guest pastors or speakers. This year was especially exciting because my parents were the guest speakers!
Our missionary retreat
And Denise’s parents were able to stop by for a few days as well. This was the first time both of our parents were together with Denise and me since our wedding!
Our family
Prayer Requests:
Thanks again for your prayers and support. We love hearing from you!
In His Service,
Christopher and Denise
Contribution link: https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/
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Hello to our Friends and Supporters!
I want to start by thanking you all for the incredibly gracious words we received from so many of you after the news we sent out last month. It was very hard to explain to everyone what was going on, and you all made us feel very loved and supported. Thank you again.
We want to let you all know as well exactly where we stand as a family. Please understand that Ronã and I are very committed to each other and to do whatever is necessary to take care of our family. I think the beginning of marriage is often hard for most people because of all the changes. There is a lot to learn about each other and how to live with one another. For us, we have had to deal with that as well becoming parents, several moves, working as missionaries, an age difference and a cultural difference. All those things together have created a lot of pressure that we just weren’t handling very well. We needed space to grow and learn how to do life together.
Over the past month, we have spent a lot of time talking with each other as well as our pastors and leaders to decide exactly what our next steps should be and what our options are for moving forward. It is clear that the best thing for us is to go back to the States. However, this requires us to go through the immigration process. After a lot of research, we determined that we need to do the entire immigration process here in Brazil in order for Ronã to receive a green card before going to live in the U.S. This process could take as long as 2 years, however, we do not believe it will take that long for us. We have a friend who also married a Brazilian, and they both live in the U.S now. Their process took 10 months to complete. Of course, there are no guarantees, but we hope that our process will take anywhere from 10 months up to a 1 year.
As we explained before, the Xingu Mission is allowing us to continue to receive support until June 30, 2019. This is for the purpose of allowing us time to transition into our new lives. However, as you can see, our situation is a little bit different because Ronã is not a U.S. citizen. Because of the legal restrictions of receiving support through the Xingu Mission beyond June 2019, we have asked our home church, Vineyard Tuttle Crossing, for help.
Fortunately, we are able to continue to receive support through the church without a time limit. We are asking that our supporters would continue to give to us financially until we are able to receive the green card and start a new life in the States.
This process is the following. *Please note that if you are already giving through the Vineyard Tuttle Crossing church, there is no need to make any changes.
1. You would need to cancel any reoccurring donations that you have been giving through the Xingu Mission website. Contact Patty.Fultz@xingu.org in order to do that.
2. After the cancellation process is complete, set up a new reoccurring donation at Vineyard Tuttle Crossing website http://www.vineyardtc.org/egiving
3. Enter the amount you would like to give and be sure to select the option for “Missions”. Follow the instructions to complete the donation.
During our interim, we are doing what we can to cut down our expenses. We are also setting aside funds to pay for the green card process, as there are many fees and expenses involved. You may remember that I had started a hairstylist course in order to meet new people in the city. We have decided that it would be best if I continued with the course in hopes of possibly getting a job as a hairstylist in the future. Ronã is also going to take a course that trains airport attendants. We are doing these things as a way to help prepare us for a new life in the States. We are going to continue to be apart of the small church starting here in João Pessoa, but we will no longer be involved in active ministry.
We still have a lot of unknowns ahead of us, but we are taking one day at a time and trying to do our best to prepare ourselves for the future. We ask for your prayers for God’s favor and direction during this season of our lives. We thank you again for all of your faithfulness and sacrifice for our family. We are truly blessed because of you.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Love,
The Moura Family
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When I went to the jail this week I was surprised to see that the cell where I go was packed. Thirty-one guys are crowded into a one-room cell with a closet and an open bathroom. After the guards locked me in through the last double gate and walked away, I looked around. They were all new. No one knew me. All the old crowd had been sentenced, freed, or transferred to another prison. I explained who I was and they offered me a bucket to sit on. I hesitated because there were only a few buckets to sit on, but they insisted as they all sat down on the raw cement floor.
I explained the Discovery Group format in a couple of sentences, and passed the page with questions to one of the vocal guys. Everyone participated. They were all curious and respectful, and many responded to each question. Several said what when well for them that week, (Question 1 in our study). One of the guys saw the moon the night before for the first time in six months. He was transferred from another jail where he could not see outside. This cell has a two inch gap in the skylight area. Many commented on how cool it was to see the moon. Then another guy started thanking me for “coming to the most dangerous cell etc. etc.”. Finally I stopped him. “This might be dangerous, or maybe not. It doesn’t feel dangerous. I can sense the presence of God stronger here . . .”. I wanted to say “stronger here than I feel it in church” but I got interrupted. Everyone burst out cheering and clapping so loudly I couldn’t keep talking. Finally I cheered and clapped too, and then we carried on with our study.
The story was about when Jesus went to Simon’s house, and the prostitute washed his feet (Luke 7:36-50). They reread and retold the story a few times, and then tried to imagine what if they were at a pastor’s supper, and a prostitute wanted to wash their feet. Some of them had been to meals with pastors. Then the conversations shifted. “I went to a church to see this one pastor I knew. As we were talking a poor person came in. The pastor asked that person to leave the church building. If that person had been well-dressed, the pastor would have treated him differently.”
This triggered another story. “One time I went to a church, wearing a R$900 (about $300 – an extremely extravagant amount for this crowd) blazer. Of course, I never paid for it. I stole it from (a well-know big store that everyone knows). I wanted to look nice for the pastor.” I interrupted him to verify that I was hearing correctly. Everyone is all ears, of course. These kind of bible studies are interesting. After he confirmed his story about how he was wearing his stolen R$900 blazer, he kept talking but I missed the rest of his story, as I was still trying to imagine the scene.
As the group got to comparing pharisees and pastors someone says in a kind of discouraging voice, “It’s all the same. Everyone is the same.” Everyone was looking at me to see how I would respond to this. I smiled as I looked back at all of them. “Hmmm. You think everyone is same?” They were starting to nod as I continued. “You think that this prostitute got forgiven, became a pastor, and started treating poor people badly? And that you would do the same if you got a chance to be a pastor?” It got real quiet. This wasn’t exactly what they were thinking.
This group of criminals was recently thrown together from about 10 of the surrounding towns. A few are from Marabá. They all await trial, so they have hope. The bad things that happened last week (Question 2 in our study) have to do serious arguments among themselves. They are just getting to know each other. After a long pause I carried on. “I have a dream. I would like to help you guys start Discovery Bible Studies like this in your home towns. You guys have credibility among your people. You are God’s best choice to help lead them to Himself.” It got quiet again. I gave them my WhatsApp number so we’ll see what happens. I have no idea how this could work out, but these guys consider themselves fearless so if God can get hold of them who knows how far they can go? Hopefully there are some Apostle Paul’s hidden in the group.
As I was leaving one of the guys asked me, “Would you call my aunt and let her know I’m here?” She lives in a town 400 kms away, where this man was in jail before he got suddenly transferred. He gave me her number. When I got home I called her. After many rings a woman answered. After I introduced myself she asked me to call back. “So and so just died, and I am in a funeral procession.” She sounded torn up and defeated. Someone at the jail earlier that morning said to the group, “It is hard to be a Christian.” I’m thinking the opposite is more true. It is hard to be a not-Christian.
All this confirms my belief that we are living in a region that is ripe for a church-planting explosion. Please keep praying for us.
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Dear Friends and Family,
As Denise I enter into this holiday season, we have been reflecting on this past year.
We are thankful for so many things:
– For our beautiful son, Jonas, who has filled our lives with so much joy.
– For God’s provision, mercy and blessing on our first church plant.
– For God’s never-ending love, gentleness and guidance as we try to do his work.
– And of course, for all the prayers, encouragement and support we have received from YOU, our church, family and friends in the States as well as here in Brazil.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Christopher, Denise and Jonas
Contribution Link: https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/
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