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Chile is facing huge social change at the moment as you may have heard, and is really in need of our prayers. However we do have some good news on our projects to support the work of the Gospel, as you can read further on.
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A letter from the Director
Well here we are, rapidly approaching Christmas at the end of a challenging year. We were very sorry to hear of the death of Arnold’s wife Ann in the summer but we give thanks that we know that she is now with Our Lord. We also give thanks for the part that she played in the creation of the charity, Chile for Christ. Remembering Paul’s words about keeping on to the end of the race, I believe that the management team must overcome its time pressures and keep on in remembrance of Ann and for the benefit of God’s people in Chile.
We give thanks for the fact that Danielle, our communications officer, has been willing to continue in the post whilst battling with a challenging year training to be a teacher. A number of members of the management team have also been through this training process and know that she needs our prayers!
On a brighter note, we are likely to have two new members of the membership team in the New Year. Also we have received even more unexpected donations and will be able to send a significant sum towards the building of Pastor Canipane’s church. We thank you for your continued support.
I therefore end wishing you a blessed Christmas as we celebrate Our Saviour’s birth.
Pob bendith,
Brenda
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Arnold and Ann in 2006.
A friend wrote recently:
"Ann’s prayer for me thirty-five years ago totally changed my life and restored my faith in ways I could never have imagined. I do not believe that the light of her life will ever go out."
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Rebuilding a Church
We were excited to see photos back from Valparaíso showing the building work on Pastor Canipane's church.
This picture shows the temporary 'tent' structure being taken down, and building materials being brought in to erect the walls for the new church. Thanks to our friend Rosalie Langley-Judd, who was visiting the area on a mission trip (more later), we are now able to see the plans for development. It will be a simple building but one which will enable God's praises to be sung once again in the hills high above Valparaíso. As Brenda mentioned, we plan to give a substantial donation to help cover the costs, and we hope to give more again, once we have traversed the minefield that is Chile's banking system!
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Mission in Valparaíso
Rosalie and Clara flew out from London to Chile at the end of August for 16 days of mission and outreach in Valparaíso. The picture below shows them ministering to people out on the streets. It was wonderful to hear just how much God was doing in this short space of time, and you can read more about it in Rosalie's report on our website.
Rosalie has just started another mission trip, this time to Arica in the arid far north of the country. We hope to bring you news of that trip soon. She asks us to pray that she will fulfil all God’s purposes for her being in Arica at this time, and particularly for divine connections, to meet with those to whom she can minister.
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News from our Mission Partners
Miguel Perez from the church in Osorno
"We have managed to provide resources for the pending visit to Brazil and Paraguay to encourage our brothers there. Please help us pray for two projects that we have in our portfolio: a chapel in Puerto Montt and a retirement home. In both projects we already have the land, but please pray for the release of resources to build. I can tell you that our country is in a terrible crisis, they have already burned 10 evangelical churches, burned and looted supermarkets, schools, universities and hospitals. It is very sad to see so much destruction. The other churches have joined with us in prayer with 4,000 believers praying in a gym, and also every day in the public square there is prayer for Chile."
Ronny Pulgar from Punta Arenas
"Our country is in a very serious social chaos. Thank God our churches here have not been seriously affected. Our pastoral house was the victim of an attack with stones and broken glass windows. However, our physical, emotional and spiritual integrity has not been affected thanks to God."
Rodrigo Perez
"Chile is experiencing a very violent social movement process. We pray for peace and understanding to be restored in the country. We are also praying for a project to build a centre for church retreat outside the city. If you can help us pray for this we will be very grateful."
Gerd Bergmann of Grace Ministries
"This summer we need to host a lot of people in our house and there are a couple of small projects we need to complete. Our house was built 10 years ago and our water pipes, which are made of a cheap copper and are under the cement outside the house, need to be renewed. The second project is for our balcony which is not glazed. When the winter rain blows onto the floor of the balcony it leaks into the living room below. For all our summer hospitality we are thinking of converting the balcony into a room for our daughter to free up her bedroom."
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Understanding the Social Unrest
Chile is going through a difficult time, socially and politically, with mass demonstrations against the government in Santiago. Reporting in our media here in the UK is sparse at best, so we have put together a brief synopsis on our website to help explain the background. Since that was written, Chile has started the process of rewriting its constitution, but that in itself is proving difficult due to disagreements between political parties on what should go in, leading to further unrest. Please hold the country in your prayers, that they may negotiate a constitution which brings greater equality and justice to the country.
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Do you use the PrayerMate app? We now have our own feed which you can subscribe to in order to get the latest prayer requests from Chile for Christ. Find out more here.
If you have a smartphone but don’t yet use PrayerMate, do give it a try. It’s a great way to make sure you pray for all those things you would like to pray for without being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task!
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FOR THOSE WHO PRAY
- Pray for justice and equality as the new constitution is negotiated.
- Give thanks for the mission work in Valparaíso and pray for the current mission in Arica.
- Give thanks for the rebuilding work in Pastor Canipane's church and pray that the rest of the money needed can be made available quickly.
- Chile for Christ management team, as they look for new volunteers to join the team.
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