Mission inside and outside of the Kitchen

Many Baptist churches in this region of Peru choose to focus on missions during the month of July. 'Missions' in this context refers to any evangelical or church planting activity undertaken by the church locally, as well as considering the same activities at national and international scales. Peru still has unreached indigenous people groups within its own frontiers, not to mention a very high level of nominal Roman Catholicism and syncretized indigenous-Catholicism in the ostensibly 'reached' population and since I arrived here in Piura, I've been somewhat awed by the local churches' missionary zeal. I'm sure I've mentioned before that most of the churches based here in the city of Piura are parents of multiple small daughter churches dispersed about the region, often maintained by a small but devoted army of predominantly older women from the parent church, who go out on a weekly basis to run the kids' Bible classes and to preach to and teach the adults. There are men involved, of course, but they are generally outnumbered by the women!

I also had the privilege of being invited to share on the topic of international missions at three different churches this month (with one invitation still pending for August because I couldn't fit it in in July). Two out of the three involved putting on my Kids' Talk Hat (which doesn't get much wear and frankly fits a little uncomfortably still but it's manageable as long as I haven't lost my visual aids!), and one of the three involved traveling over 3 hours to get to the church, which turned into a very pleasant weekend in the city of Chiclayo catching up with some friends (see photo below). Overall, I aimed to inspire the younger audiences to pray BIG and believe that God can do marvellous things with our lives. To the older audiences, I aim to encourage them that we all have a part to play in God's mission of reconciliation in the world, whether preaching, teaching or serving in diverse ways.

July was also the end of my first teaching semester with the Piura Baptist Seminary and the culmination of my Creation Stewardship course. I confess to be missing the regular trip out to Morropón on a Monday evening, even though it was a 3-hour roundtrip. Getting to know the students and studying Scripture - and even a little bit of science! - together, has been a really positive experience and I was genuinely impressed by the quality of their final assignments in which they each needed to describe a church-based creation stewardship project they could undertake at minimal cost, including which passages they would use to teach the Biblical basis. To my surprise, everyone managed to come up with a different project idea and everyone had a reasonable grasp of the Biblical justification. I can now only hope and pray that some of these ideas will eventually be put into practice.

My own church seems to have taken on board the 'no-more-disposable-kitchenware' idea with gusto and at the end of June we celebrated Día de la Cocina, or 'Kitchen Day'. I just now realize that this year was the first year since moving to Piura in mid-2021 that I've actually been here for the event and have been able to ascertain what it is actually all about. Basically, my church decided to create Kitchen Day as an opportunity each year to refresh the church's catering equipment, according to what is needed. This year we were all allotted quantities of plates, bowls, mugs, glasses and tablecloths to contribute. However, there is also a madrina (something like a patron in this case, I'm guessing) chosen for each Kitchen Day (although it's still not entirely clear to me why, as we all have to buy things) and she gets to wear not only the 'Miss Kitchen' velour sash along with all the previous years' madrinas (see photo), but also a tiara and give a little speech. I conclude that if you're going to ask people to give to the church in this fashion, you might as well have some fun with it!

Finally, I continue to appreciate your prayers for the following:

- The eco stove projects in Nuevo Eleuterio-km980 and Chapaira are both now underway, without the support of the local authorities so far but thankfully, with the generous support of UK Baptist Church giving to BMS - THANK YOU!

- Just today we had a response from the Civil Defence Office to help us move forward with the setting up of church-based Civil Defence Community Committees for the Regional Baptist Association. Mercifully, we haven't had significant need of these committees this year but we want to be ahead of next year's wet season.

- The IBTS Eco-Crisis and the Gospel course is still on-track for the beginning of October. My prayer is that between IBTS and my BMS-related networks, we will get good attendance for the course, particularly from European participants. The course combines theology, science and practical application for Christians concerned about a Biblical response to modern environmentalism - sign up today!

- Also, by the time I write again I will have attended the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization and be mid-way through a Global Creation Care Forum, both of which are taking place in Seoul, South Korea. It will be my first time at either event, which feels a little overwhelming (the Congress expects to host around 5,000 in-person participants), especially as I've been volunteered to be one of many session facilitators helping out in the afternoon discussion sessions. Prayers for me as I navigate both the travel and the Congress, as well as prayers for the Congress, that it would be a truly fruitful time for the world Church.

That's all for now, folks! Many thanks again for your continued prayers and support for me and this corner of God's mission in the world.

Love,

Laura