This COVID-19 pandemic has certainly challenged traditional ministry methodology. Face to face, down in the trenches, daily grind just is not an option. Everything has changed. Well, not everything,
God is still the same. Human needs are still the same. We just need to be creative on how to meet them. Or perhaps be more attuned to needs and opportunities in which we had not yet engaged.
Ever since our good friend Pastor Iraque and his family returned to the Recife area from mission work in the Amazon region, so as to develop and strengthen indigenous ministries here in the northeast of Brazil, we had promised to find ways to work together in this
amazing initiative. However, each time an opportunity presented itself, I (Craig) was otherwise engaged in our ministries to the urban poor or with pastoral care to those who serve in similar settings. Time and time again I said to Iraque, “I would love to, but I can´t right now”. Then suddenly, the pandemic hit and normal ministry ceased to exist. While we are still in touch with our ministry partners and are providing much needed support in our communities, there was suddenly an opening in my calendar. So when Iraque called me this time to say he was delivering food baskets to
missionaries who serve indigenous communities in the northern state of Ceará and needed a companion, I immediately said yes. Three days and 2,000 km later, we had delivered 50 food baskets, prayed with and encouraged multiple missionary families and returned home simultaneously exhausted and renewed, as only God can do.
Then came the second request. An entire
Maxacali village of 246 families in Minas Gerais was in need of food. Through a donation from
SAM's COVID Crisis Response Fund (click here for details), we were off and running once again with our face masks and hand sanitizer. This trip would take 5 days, cover 3,300 km and include over 100 km of rainy season dirt roads, where we would get stuck twice, along the way delivering an additional 50 food baskets to missionaries serving the indigenous before delivering 250 food baskets to the remote Maxacali village. The local missionaries with whom we visited coordinated with the Federal department responsible for all things indigenous, who then allowed a flatbed truck into the village to deliver the much-needed food. The purchase was made at a local grocery store and their employees actually packaged up all 250 food baskets. It was truly a group effort.
So why spend so much time on the road to make this delivery happen? It´s really simple. Because
God cares that much. He wants the Maxacali, many of whom aren´t yet believers, to know how much He loves and cares for them. Our job as the church is to express that love in ways that are palpable. Ways that are uncommon, extraordinary. Ways that don´t make sense unless God is who He says He is. It was worth every second and every kilometer to deliver that message.
