It is now very easy for me to write here about my ministry. I'll try to
be succinct and write more than five lessons I
learned during my ministry here
helping a church in southern
France.
I had three particular goals to learn here
during my ministry: (1) to
know more of Christianity in France, (2) to learn
the language and the French culture and (3) to help the
church in any way possible. Thanks
to God I'm very glad to have actually learned
much more than I imagined. These two months have been pretty intense for me.
I learned French in an intensive course, studying every day, about three hours a day. With that, I was able to interact more with the brothers in the church;
to write sermons, translate them in French and preaching them
in some Sunday services.
I visited some the brothers in the church and I attended some meetings of the church leadership. So also learned a bit
of French culture over and over how the church is organized and managed
by their leaders.
I learned that most French churches has between 20-80 members. Churches
larger than that tend to be
older or charismatic
churches. Churches with more than one thousand members you can find only or
primarily in major capital cities
such as Paris.
I learned that Muslims are very numerous here
and they try to influence the
country with their culture, religion, values and politics. If
there is bad to have Muslims here? To have
Muslims in this country we can see as an opportunity to preach the gospel to them too.
Treating about Protestant churches, we have here the Reformed Church as one of the largest denominations in the country, excluding charismatic. These Reformed
churches tend to be very liturgical,
valuing the art, for
example, and some may be more liberal. I realized that pastors and trained leaders
is a necessity here. There are pastors pastoring
about five churches at the same time.
Churches give benefits to encourage the formation of more pastors.
The lesson is nothing more than being connected so
only to Jesus Christ, in other
words, the complete subversion to
the pragmatism, the whole ideal of all legalism! To Jesus
to be the only content there may not be any other content.
I, Glauber, do
not like to tell others what I
like or what I do not like
because it can
separate me from the other. I
prefer to learn to like what
the other likes and
avoid what he dislikes, thus avoiding differences, unfairness or favoritism. I think Paul followed this same ideology. That's what
I learned in my relationships
with people of many different cultures. I also learned not to look anyone as our
enemy. And I learned many other
things, but I've spent
my text limit. For more than that, just come to me and talk with me
personally! I will always be available! ;)Glauber Destro
Jornalist
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