At the same time that we have experienced increased stress over the last month, we have also seen definite progress in the work of ministry.

For one thing, I have begun to preach expositionally through the book of 1 Peter on Sunday mornings, and it appears that I will be preaching now on average three out of every four Sundays in the coming months. The first sermons on 1 Peter have been well received by the members of our church, as well as by the visitors who regularly attend our services.

Speaking of visitors, we are continuing to be blessed by the presence in our meetings of several Bible-believing Lutherans from Norway who are living in Málaga to study Spanish. Some of them are working with a Norwegian mission that has as its goal the establishment of a Bible school in Spain that will serve as a training center for Norwegian missionaries to the entire Spanish-speaking world. Some of them are familiar with HeartCry and heard Paul Washer preach when he was at a Bible conference in Norway. It has been a delight to get to know them, for one senses in them a kindred spirit and love for the gospel of Christ.

Another very encouraging development has been the establishment of a Bible study on Sunday evenings in the home of a couple in our church with two small children. They live in the same town where our house is located, Mijas-Costa; so we are now neighbors! They have been eager to study the subject of child raising from a biblical perspective, so that is what we are doing, using two excellent books as the basis of our study– Faithful Parents by Martha Peace and Stuart Scott and Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. Several other members of the church have started to attend the study on Sunday evenings, and it is turning out to be a real blessing! Down the road, I am hoping this Sunday evening meeting can turn into an evangelistic home Bible study to which we can invite unbelieving friends and neighbors.

In a recent elders’ meeting, we talked about the blessing of gathering in people’s homes as a way of building closer fellowship among the members; so another goal we have for the church in 2016 is to establish “share groups” in our church– small groups of seven or eight people who can meet together once a month in homes for prayer and fellowship and discussion of themes related to the Bible and the Christian life. I see this as a very positive development for our church and am so thankful that everyone seems to be on board with the concept.

Another thing for which I give thanks is a spirit of harmony among the elders (Juan Pablo, Paco, and myself) when it comes to the need to develop more fully the ministry of the elders in the church. There is a shared understanding that the task of caring pastorally for the flock does not devolve on one man exclusively, but is a labor shared by all the elders corporately. To give expression to this reality, we would like to establish this year regular pastoral visitation of all the families in the church, going in pairs to discuss with all the members their spiritual progress in the Lord and helping them with any questions they may have on the Bible or Christian discipleship. We have some wonderful resources available to guide us in this endeavor, such as the book The Ministry of the Elders by Jeremy Rinne, which has been translated into Spanish, and which we plan to study together.

Also during the past month, Paola has begun to take a more active role in helping with the children´s ministry by serving as a Sunday School teacher. She does this on a rotating basis with several other members of the church. The material our church is currently using for the children’s ministry is the Sunday School curriculum developed by Desiring God ministries, which is available in Spanish under the title, “Niños Deseando a Dios” (Children Desiring God).

With regard to evangelistic outreach, I have had to delay temporarily the book table ministry until we get moved into our house. Nevertheless, some interesting evangelistic contacts have developed naturally in recent weeks that I am praying will bear fruit in due time. For one thing, we have developed a good friendship with the couple who sold us our house. They are a very special couple, warm and outgoing and extremely hospitable, and the wife, especially, seems to be curious about our church and the work that we are doing in Spain. “I want to visit your church,” she told us the other day.

Also, another lady that we’ve met has been going through a deep personal crisis lately. In addition to caring for her elderly parents, both of whom have cancer, she just found out that her husband is leaving her for another woman and has already filed for divorce. This leaves her with two adolescent children to raise alone, and her son has been demonstrating lately a rebellious spirit that adds to his mother’s burdens. I was able to give her some materials I had in Spanish directed to people who have been through a divorce, and I also invited her to our Sunday evening study on child raising. She politely received what I gave her, but declined my invitation to the study, telling me that she had a number of friends who were giving her support– “Friends are the one good thing I have now” she said. Please keep her in your prayers, as well as the other couple, and pray, as well, that the Lord will give me the wisdom and boldness I need to make the most of the opportunity to communicate the gospel to them. Paola has also had an opportunity to witness to her hairdresser, who is from a Catholic background, and recently gave evangelistic materials to her and her colleagues in the hair salon.

Thanks again to all of you for remembering us in your prayers. We are so thankful to know that the Lord is sustaining us here in Spain, not only through the constant intercession of Christ in heaven, but also through the faithful prayers of His people on earth. God bless you all!