I love mission trips. No where else do I get to serve others 100% of the time. Mission trips can be exhausting. There is a lot of work. But I always return home rejuvenated.
A recent trip to Peru (my third mission trip to that beautiful country) was different. I was leading the team, which entailed a good deal more work. But the Lord put it on my heart back in 2018 to help build a bridge between the Brazilian and Peruvian churches. He delivered beyond what I thought possible, with an exchange of mission teams in early planning for next year.
Koinania Surco, an evangelical church in Lima founded 25 years ago by an American missionary, Brian Vander Kodde (from Calvary Chapel Miami Beach), is an Apostolic church which has planted a handful of churches not (conveniently) in the large metropolitan region of Lima, but throughout the country, from north to south, from jungle to coastal desert.
During our half-week in Lima, our Brazilian team hosted a Brazilian night – which included Brazilian worship songs, food, presentations, and testimonies – and contributed talks on the Natural Order from God’s perspective to both young teens and to the church body.
Like many Holy Spirit-filled churches, Koinania Surco closed minimally during the evil shut-downs. While many older believers stayed away (and, sadly, have grown accustomed to remote services), the church was rewarded with large numbers of younger members. It is one of the youngest church bodies I have seen, and may be soon outgrowing its current home – where four full services a weekend are held to accommodate the faithful.
Praise the Lord! [please hover over images for captions]
To see the first half week we spent in Ica, Peru, please click here.
An image from the Ica mission:
