Sword & Trowel 2020: Issue 1
main square. Specific visitation is also carried out for Sunday School recruitment. In the summer (from November onwards) it is intended to visit surrounding areas of the city each Saturday sharing the Gospel and making contacts. The centre is not very residential, so not a good location for children’s work and the plan is to hold sev- eral afternoon Sunday Schools in surrounding, densely populated residential districts. A Sunday School was begun in mid-2017, with nine teachers already trained and others preparing for the work. There is no tradition in Chile of
allowing an organisation to take children to meetings, so progress is very dependent upon establishing a relationship of trust with families in selected localities. In the current locality, there is also a bi-monthly Saturday evening meeting for adults. Provision of adult evangelistic meet- ings will continue to be an associated feature of the Sunday School work.
The city has a large
number of colleges, and some of the congrega- tion are students. The fellowship is prayerfully seeking openings to preach the Gospel in these colleges.
Annual theology meeting
An annual theology meeting was begun in
2017 to provide ministry on special topics, inviting believers from other churches and locations. This year the meeting ran over Friday evening and Saturday 4th-5th October with the theme ‘The Beauty of the Church’. With three speakers, topics included church membership; the church and the world; enemies of the church; the centrality of Gospel preaching; the working church; and the church and the Great Commission. The objective is not primarily to attract more people to the church in Temuco but to introduce and explain biblical doctrine and practice to a wider number of people. This year 100 people attended from fourteen different churches in Temuco and other cities. A range of books and booklets were offered for sale and there was a great deal of discussion between sessions. These meetings are evidently providing a valuable means of introducing reformed teaching to believers from different tradi- tions.
‘Special studies’ In order to encour-
Temuco
age young men from the church, and more widely, a series of studies for preachers was begun in 2019, with a focus upon regular and persuasive Gospel preaching. In 2020 it is planned to hold eight Saturday meetings, extend- ing the ministry to
Church Planting in Chile page 5
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