It’s About Time

Preparing to dismantle the old building.

Every week for the past couple of months we had been wondering how much longer the small group could continue meeting under the shelter that they used for church meetings over the past few years. The rusty tin roof leaked in several spots. There was only a dirt floor. Most of the wooden benches were broken. The worst part was that the termite damaged poles holding up the roof were no longer trust worthy to keep on standing. There was an increasingly real risk that the building would fall down at any moment. It was necessary to take the building down before it fell on someone.

The Las Cuchillas congregation has been struggling lately especially since pastor Reinaldo had passed away last year. Reinaldo had been serving the congregation by going out from the Shalom Church twice each week to teach and preach in the small rural community. Reinaldo's dream was to some day have a respectable building that could be used for the Lord's work. Unfortunately, the congregation could not afford to purchase materials to replace the building. Every week they were becoming more discouraged.

CHE volunteers from the Shalom Church visited homes in
the Las Cuchillas community. 

First service in the new building. 

The Shalom church leadership decided to renew a strong effort to support the small congregation. The first step was to send a group of Community Health Evangelists (CHE) into the community to find out what needs existed. The CHE volunteers were prepared to respond to a variety of situations. As a result of a few hours invested on a Saturday morning 12 people accepted Christ and many others expressed interest in having followup visits. 

There was optimism that things could be turned around and a new building would be the center of the vision for real transformation in the community. Funds for materials were raised both from the local Shalom congregation and from friends in the States. The old building was torn down and a new roof is now in place. Soon, when funds are available, we will pour a concrete floor and build new benches. 

See a 19 second video clip of the demolition of the old building.