Sword & Trowel 2018: Issue 2


CHURCH PLANTING IN BOLIVIA News from Pastor Javier Soto, Tabernacle of Grace


Church, Quillacollo C


URRENTLY more than 40 peo- ple attend our services. We have in hand further membership applica- tions and have seen much growth and love towards the Lord and his work in members and other regular attenders. New people are visiting and staying, including a family from a Baptist Union church who are fi nding help from the preaching. A young lady who has been with us for over a year and was saved in our midst has recently rejected her mother’s offer to fund a university place abroad, because she could not bear to be away from ‘her local church’. She is facing family rejection, but her sister, who was very upset at her com- ing to our church, has now started attending herself. We held a four-day houseparty in


August, which has strengthened our bonds in the Lord. We also held our yearly workparties and made a number of improvements to our facilities. We are thankful that we are still able


to rent our current meeting place. An application is in hand for the church to be legally recognised. A government offi cial has inspected our premises and was happy, and we handed in our fi nal-draft constitu- tion on 28th September. Please remember us in prayer. A successful out- come will potentially open doors for us to evangelise


Above right: Sunday service. Below: Sunday School anniversary.


page 14 Church Planting in Bolivia


in prisons, hospitals and the army. Recently we had our fi rst Sunday School anniversary which was attended by 46 children and young people plus 11 parents. During this fi rst year we have reached 107 children. We have three teachers and six helpers who assist them and collect the children. We have completed Lessons for Life 1. We evangelise four times a week – in the main square and in our immediate neighbourhood. We also dedicate one evening to Sunday School recruitment. In three years of bus evangelism, we have only been refused permission by a bus driver three times.


Pastor Soto works part-time as a teach-


er, and is otherwise supported by the Tabernacle’s Overseas Ministry Fund. See page 35 for details.


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