Carmen’s Place, Part 6
The Presbytery of Honduras has 25
congregations, three of which are in Tegucigalpa. The number of the
congregations in the Presbytery is always in flux given their commitment to
evangelism. The pastors and leading church members are always exploring and
planting new congregations, typically starting with a Bible study and worship
service in someone’s home in a new neighborhood. Some of these projects wither
and fail; many develop into new congregations. Often these little house churches
will attract Pentecostal or Baptist leadership and go a different direction,
never joining the Presbytery. Nonetheless, the commitment to evangelism, to
constantly look for opportunities to create and plant a new community is part
of the culture of these Presbyterians. This is an important witness to us: these
Presbyterians in Honduras can form a new
community and plant a new church without any money. All they need is a deep
spiritual commitment to share their faith, the Bible, and someone to host a small
gathering in their home.
We work very close with the three
Presbyterian congregations in Tegucigulpa. The Pena de Horeb congregation,
which sits on a major city highway, is their leading church and is served by
Pastor Juan Rodas; the Roca de Israel congregation (Carmen’s home church) is
tucked into a small, poor neighborhood, which we are told is controlled by a
gang, and is served by Pastor Edin Samoya; the Tierra Prometida congregation
also is tucked into a poor neighborhood and is served by Pastors Fernando and
Gloria Huete, who have a small apartment upstairs from their small sanctuary.
Our home construction ministry started
in the city, serving families from the Pena de Horeb congregation. That
congregation had the vision, leadership and resources to implement our dream of
doing ministry into the city. It was their idea to try building new homes for
Presbyterian families that were living in substandard housing, essentially
wooden shacks.
Our team had an important strategic
decision to make. Along with the leadership at the Pena de Horeb congregation,
we wanted to expand our housing ministry to the other congregations in the
presbytery. Outside the three congregations in Tegucigalpa, all the other
congregations in the Presbytery are either rural or located in small towns.
(Several of the congregations are only accessible to us by four-wheel drive
pickup trucks; the people who live in those communities, of course, walk for
miles anywhere – stores, schools, doctors, jobs.) We made a strategic decision,
at this point, to only work in the city. A large part of our motivation for
this decision is that, in our years of working here in Tegucigalpa, we have
never seen another mission team from the States working in the city. We have
talked with many, many mission teams. Every flight to Honduras typically
includes mission teams; but without exception these other teams after landing
at the airport quickly leave the city to do their mission work in some
far-flung rural area.
We believe this is our calling: to serve
our Presbyterian brothers and sisters in these three, small congregations in
the city of Tegucigalpa and by connection the whole Presbyterian Church of
Honduras. This calling has been a remarkable blessing to me, and many others
actively involved in this partnership.
