Raising up leaders and preachers in Saraguro
Ecuadorian leadership says 'alone at the top'. We seek a different way forward. The Saraguro church is changing - not go back to old way.
Last year, a radical change /forced/ the church members to take a more active role in /‘being the church’/. [After a time] they were offered an easy way out - a ‘servant’ to come and take responsibility for the ministry of the church. I listened with bated breathe as they discussed the proposition. I could hardly believe it when they came to the conclusion: ‘we are still far from perfect, but we’ve grown so much in this past year, and we don’t want to go back to how things were before. We don’t want to hand back the ministry to someone else, to sit back while one person shoulders all the responsibility. We want to keep moving forward being active in our faith and growing together as a
So this year I’ve worked with the core church members to establish a leadership team. Challenging step - this is not how leadership is done in Ecuadorian culture. Adjustment process for the pastor to accept others to come alongside him, and for others of the team to catch the vision of what this looks like as they support the pastor and strengthen the rest of the church.
Along with affirming the value of active service in the church, it was decided that this young church should clarify/define its emerging identity, starting with clarifying their views on key doctrinal areas, so that they can better serve their community and receive new believers coming out of the confusing mix of animism, idol-worship and sects.
Training up lay-preachers in Saraguro
In 2023, our pastor had to leave Ecuador for medical treatment in Spain for his daughter’s leukaemia. Praise God she is fully recovered and they are back in Saraguro now. In his absence, I and a co-leader in the church found ourselves in the deep end learning how to preach for the first time.
We took the simple tool/format we were familiar with from Bible studies, and adjusted it for a preaching context. /It proved robust and accessible./ I have huge respect for my co-leader Polibio, who took on the challenge and used this method, despite having attained only a basic level of education in his younger years. Together we sat in his hardware store, dissecting passages between customers and … It was not always an easy road, but the tool proved robust and useful/accessible.
As I talked with leaders in the other congregations, it became increasingly apparent that there is a need for more believers who are able to rightly handle the Word of God, whether for preaching, discipleship, or their own spiritual growth. With that in mind, I developed a workshop for lay-preachers and ‘average believers’ to interpret and preach from the Bible.
Once again I found myself thrown into the deep-end - this is not my area of expertise. I’m thankful to my SIM teammate from the Theological Education team who came alongside me to check the tool and help deliver the workshop.
But above all I’m thankful to God - a major barrier to service in Saraguro has been the belief that only ‘special’ Christians can share His Word - only those who are extra-holy, who are leaders, and who have extensive theological training. But God has called all believers to proclaim the good news and to make disciples. And these simple, accessible, reproducible tools are helping Saraguro Christians to believe that they too are capable by the power of His Spirit.
Of course, teaching the Word carries a weight of responsibility, and Christian teachers should be life-long students of the Word. A big part of this training is the emphasis on further study, mentoring and practice under their pastors to develop their skills and theological understanding.
Please pray:
For Saraguro believers to grasp the truth that God has called each of them to be bearers of His gospel, and empowers them to do so according to His truth and guidance.
For the lay-preachers and their pastors to persevere and grow in understanding and skill as they seek God in His Word on behalf of His people. Pray that ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.’ (Proverbs 27:17)
