The Changing tides of Ministry

 While the shifting tides of the pandemic have left many out their element like fish out of water, they have also brought renewed clarity and new opportunities to the surface that weren’t previously there. Many ministries and churches have had to expand and contract in response to the pandemic, others have been left on life support. But the state of flux caused by the pandemic has also allowed many of us to pause and reflect, and hit the reset button. 

Our ministry has also been going through changes this year, and what it will look like still remains to be seen. While we were astonishingly busy with Bible teaching online during the 2020 lockdown, a combination of social media censorship and waning viewership led Rebecca and I to redirect for of our resources towards face to face discipleship and Bible teaching. In October of 2020 we restarted our in-person meetings in our home, but most of the people that had used to come preferred online meeting only, suddenly Rebecca and I were meeting with people for discipleship and coffee and impromptu visits, but not for our bible study ((it really felt like we were starting all over again)). But as things always seem to happen with the LORD, while one door was closing, there were others opening in totally unexpected areas.

During our trip to the US in January of 2020 the LORD had spoken clearly to us – we needed to be refreshed, and we needed fellowship and accountability on the ground with us in El Salvador. Not only did God want us to avoid burnout, He wanted us to thrive. Years ago some missionary friends had invited us to an international English-speaking church for missionaries, but we had had our plates too full. But in February of 2020 when we returned to El Salvador we started getting involved in their Men’s and Women’s groups, and continued to stay connected during the lockdown. We couldn’t believe the blessings that we had been missing out on, and it was this new fellowship with other missionaries that sustained us throughout the pandemic. We knew that the LORD had lead us there for fellowship and expected Him to move, but we were surprised to also find more ministry there too, and suddenly we were pouring ourselves out discipling others at this church too. 

The senior pastor of the church (himself a missionary for 25 years and the founder of a Children’s home) surprised us even more with his humility and kingdom-mindedness – when he openly invited Rebecca and I to help with pastoral care and Bible teaching in the church. As we were struggling with the changes in our own ministry, God was opening the door with another group of people hungry for Bible teaching and discipleship.

As we sought the LORD in prayer, it became clear that He had lead us to this church not just to receive, but to give as well, and so we began splitting our time between our Spanish language ministry, ReGeneración – with discipleship, Bible teaching and latino-missionary mentorship, and Union Church of San Salvador – pastoring alongside their leadership team and praying about what the future may hold there in the long term as they look to pass the torch of leadership to the next generation. For now we are still figuring things out – but we can that miraculously, splitting our time has actually doubled our blessing instead of lessened it, and were excited to see how both ministries can benefit from each other.