What kinds of problems could a brand new church possibly be having?
- The church bus is leaking oil? Nope, no church bus here.
- People are complaining about the youth ministry? Actually, the real comment is that parents would love for there to BE a youth ministry. We have a nursery (Waumba Land) and program for elementary school kids (UpStreet) on Sunday during the service, but nothing yet for middle and high schoolers.
- Parents don't like the nursery? Well, it's not that they don't like it. It's just that in Catholic churches, the kids accompany their parents to the service. In this culture, parents aren't used to dropping their kids off and then going somewhere else. Oftentimes, a dad, mom, or nanny will stay with the child in the nursery for the first couple of Sundays until their child feels comfortable leaving mommy and daddy (or vice versa).
- The choir needs new robes? Not quite. We don’t have a choir or anything remotely close to one.
- We don’t have enough hymnals? Since the majority of the people that we aim to reach either come from a Catholic or non-church background, singing songs in a corporate setting is quite odd. Even though the words to the songs are on a screen behind the worship band, most folks just sit in their seats and observe.
So, what kinds of problems am I talking about? The good ones! The ones that indicate growth and life change!
- The auditorium of the office building where we meet seats 220. On September 11, we had about 240 attend which means that several people had to stand the whole time. Should we start offering two services on the Sundays that we meet or look for a larger auditorium?
- Lots of people have never been part of a small group and crave the type of community that it offers. There are more people wanting small groups than there are available leaders!The small groups that are up and running want more and more material. When Enrique meets with the leaders, they are always begging for more studies. Enrique is wearing a lot of hats lately, but really wants to dedicate time to translating, and ultimately writing original, material for small groups.
- In order to meet in a larger auditorium or rent the current one for more time on Sundays, provide crafts and Goldfish crackers for the preschoolers, T-shirts and snacks for the volunteers, and print bulletins and invitations, we need more percentage givers. In addition to the founding members of our church, Openhouse Project, we need committed family and friends to give to this new mission. If you are interested in learning more, please go to http://newcostaricachurch.org/give/vmember/.
- People are putting their faith in Jesus for the first time and they want to tell the world by being baptized! Since we don't meet in a traditional church, we don't have a baptistry and must think about what to do. We could go to a lake, meet in another Christian church one day and have baptisms there, or rent a baptistry for the day.
Yes, these are good problems to have!
