Now that we have stepped down from Vineyard, it seems to be the case that we’re being given different opportunities. Yesterday, I was approached and asked to preach at one of the largest churches in the city. I am yet to accept this invitation (and might well not), but I have agreed to meet with their leadership team next week and spend some time speaking to them about the benefits of small groups and my experience in them.

The church in question is from the IEP (Peruvian Evangelical Church) denomination, which is fairly formal and traditional (as much as you can be when the evangelical church as a whole is less than 100 years old), but they are keen to explore new ways of doing church and their status as a very large church means that any idea that is implemented successfully there is liable to be taken up elsewhere too. With my experience in Vineyard, I am convinced of the benefit of small groups and it is exciting to think that God could be using me to make a difference in the wider Peruvian church.

We’ve been spending a fair bit of time in San Jeronimo, a nearby village where there is a Vineyard church plant, this week with Arthur and Pete. We’ve seen lots of people showing up to hear about the Kingdom of God and then receive training in how to pray for other people. The real encouragement being that the various churches in the village came together to have a joint meeting and hear the teaching.

The slight disappointment perhaps was the only a handful turned up the next day, though all of them were from the Vineyard group and they were very willing. We prayed for around 30 people perhaps over the course of the morning and we saw some amazing stuff going on – backs healed, headache gone, people touched by the peace of God…

I personally had the chance to pray with a lady who’d had a stress-related headache for the past 4 years (since separating from her husband). As soon as I touched her head, my hand became really hot (a sign of the Holy Spirit at work) and a minute later she was saying that she was completely pain-free. Wow!!

In the end, we had to leave, but the locals from San Jeronimo were so enthused by what they were witnessing that they just couldn’t bring themselves to pack up and go home!

Today were were back, this time to do an afternoon workshop on the importance of giving children boundaries (part of a 2 day series on parenting). It was relatively poorly attended (perhaps 15), but once the session finally got under way (about an hour late), it was actually a good time and helpful for those that were there. We hope for more and more of the same tomorrow.