BIBLICAL MISSION COMMUNITY OF GRACE
Sunday Services
A new month, and we continue to see the Lord’s hand every day, and by His goodness, we managed to meet all five Sundays of the month, and our good God has continued to add new people.
We are grateful to have received a brother on Sunday, December 8th; Carlos Ochoa, who had been looking for a biblical congregation to be a part of. During this time with us, he has shown a lot of commitment and interest, and on Sunday the 29th, his wife Lisbeth also joined the Sunday service and expressed her joy through thanksgiving for seeing her husband so encouraged and faithful in his devotion at home.
In addition, we praise the Father for adding brother Egaldy Yustin to our congregation on December 15th, referred by brother Ochoa, who in the same way has shown great interest and was also looking for a congregation faithful to the Scriptures to be a part of.
For the following Sunday, December 22nd, we had our usual Sunday service, with the addition that during the time of the exposition of the Word, we connected with the brothers and sisters of Grace Gospel Church to listen to the sermon by Pastor Greg Elmquist.
In Sunday school, we continue with Paul Washer’s discipleship book (The Gospel Call and True Conversion), and each Sunday we continue to address a fundamental topic for the life of new believers. It is a time of participatory teaching that allows us to know the perspective that each one has of what the Word teaches on the different points of the book.
In the time of exposition of the Word, we continue sharing the Gospel of John, we have already finished chapter 2, and it has been so edifying for our souls to stop verse by verse in these beautiful passages.
We also continue to take time after the service to share some food and grow in koinonia among brothers and sisters. For example, on the 28th, we had an end-of-year gathering, but only two families and one brother were able to attend, since, due to the dates, the others could not be there; some were traveling, and others were resolving some family matters.
Our Lord continues to sustain us, and we believe that the coming year, 2025, will be a year of progress for the biblical missionary work in our beloved Venezuela. We can look hopefully to the future that our good God has woven for us; we ask for your prayers.
Wednesday Study
On Wednesdays, we continue to conduct online Bible studies via Zoom on the doctrine of man. These are edifying times where we can also pray for each other and study in a participatory way. The purpose is to become closer as well as answer doctrinal questions. In recent weeks, we have had some visitors during this valuable time, which allows us to expose more people to the principles that the Word teaches about man, and not only those who attend the mission on Sundays.
During these meetings, we continue to address the subject of man under these two principles:
The greatness of man (He is made in the image of God)
The misery of man (His sin and fallenness)
The purpose of these studies is that each of us can be grounded in the knowledge of the different topics from a completely biblical perspective, but also that we can defend the teachings from the Scriptures, because many times we know or believe something just because we have read it from a book or confession of faith, but not because we have learned it by being convinced directly by what the Bible says. We want to not only learn it but also defend it with confidence in the text.
Men’s Meeting
On Friday nights, the men of the mission meet. We also meet every two weeks in a park to plan mission matters and discuss doctrinal issues to define some positions that we believe should be held from the beginning.
During these meetings, we dedicate a good amount of time to accountability in relation to the treatment of our wives and children and our family devotions, hoping that the Lord, through it, can help us to be more faithful to our family roles.
We were also able to meet to plan the first quarter of 2025. It was a good time; among the things planned are evangelism, mission matters, relationships with other pastors in the community to deliver biblical material, a conference for the month of October, etc. The Lord has been very good in providing men willing to serve.
Every two weeks we will be meeting to study methods of biblical interpretation because our desire is to be faithful to the biblical text when preaching and applying the Scriptures to our lives and to others.
Evangelism
Lord willing, we will also be preaching in our community every Saturday, starting this Saturday, January 4th, 2025. Among the planning we did for this new year is to preach very early every Saturday in a main market where many people go and near there is a plaza. We will do it in two ways: through open-air preaching, and we will also take tracts to personally engage about the Gospel with individuals.
On Saturdays, after evangelism in the market, we will be conducting a Bible study in an adjacent community known as Candelaria, at the home of a lady named Clara Montero. She has shown a lot of interest in learning about the Word along with her sister. In fact, she has invited two of her neighbors to be in the study.
Once a month we will be carrying out an activity to bring food to local hospitals and prisons, which are very vulnerable places and where there are many people in need, especially spiritually, so we consider it a great opportunity for the Lord to be able to use us to expose His Word.
Sharing Resources
I also want to share with you that by the grace of the Lord, which still allows us to serve the pastors of our community, I have been able to continue delivering designated material to them. This precious Christ-centered material has been a bridge to connect with pastors from neighboring churches and an excellent channel for them to know the truths of the doctrine of grace.
Our good God, for more than 10 years, gave me the opportunity to distribute biblical books to pastors, teachers, and preachers in the Maracay area. This material comes to me from the USA from the Chapel Library ministry.
This month we were granted the opportunity, and we gave material along with a book called “The Theology of the Family” to two pastors: Gabriel Flores and David Aular.
Pastor Gabriel Flores serves in the Evangelical Church Hesed, has been a pastor for a year and a half, and has been very happy with this material. It is not the first time that he has received this literature, and it has benefited him greatly. He is a faithful preacher of the biblical Gospel.
Pastor David Aular serves in the church El Pueblo de Dios (The People of God). He has been in the ministry for three years. This is the first time he has received this material, but he has shown great interest in learning more about biblical doctrines.
With this material, they can continue to grow in godliness, and in some way, they can continue to strengthen their work in preaching every Sunday. I ask for your prayers for them.
Let us also pray for the Chapel Library ministry that has helped the church of Christ in the world so much, especially in Latin American countries where it is so expensive to acquire good Christian books.
Children’s Sunday School
Considering the presence of several children in our Sunday service, we decided to start a Sunday school for the little ones on Sunday, December 1st. During this time, while the adults have Sunday school, the little ones will also learn about the same topic that the adults are developing, but adjusted to their age for better understanding. The purpose is that what they are taught can be reinforced at home by their parents during the family devotional time that we are promoting.
It is our prayer that in the future we can have a designated place for this purpose and better resources that encourage their learning.
Homeschool
Our family has practiced homeschooling since 2018. It has seemed to us the best option for the education of our children, in addition to being a total blessing. However, this practice is not stipulated in our country at the constitutional level, which leads to different challenges for our family and the other homes that do it in our nation, so I ask for your prayers for us and especially for my wife, Yohanny, who not only does a great job with my daughters at home, but has also served for more than three years as director of a Classical Conversations homeschool community in our city.
I wanted you to also know a little about this wonderful work since it has also been a means by which the Gospel has been brought to children and mothers of different denominations and that has allowed her to penetrate the hearts of these women with the message of the biblical role for them in the home and parenting.
Prayer Requests
For our family: so that the Lord allows my wife and me to fulfill our roles, also for the upbringing of our children, and that the Lord brings salvation to our little ones.
For the health of our eldest daughter Valentina, 11 years old: she was diagnosed with celiac disease, and her condition caused some masses to appear at the level of the parotid glands that grow without proper attention. She must eat all her food gluten-free. This may seem like something that is not burdensome, but here, particularly, it is a very expensive diet. Pray for provision for her diet and medical consultations.
For the mission: So that the Lord helps us, allows us to be faithful to the preaching of His Gospel, and impacts our community. For this reason, we ask for prayer from now on for a place or meeting place that is more visible to the community, since for the time being we meet in an apartment. May the Lord continue to provide opportunities for the preaching of the Gospel.
For Venezuela: difficult days are expected for this January 10th, since the current government of Venezuela must leave office and the new president, Edmundo Gonzales, must take office. But that will not be easy, since the government of Nicolás Maduro has stated that it does not want to leave and has not wanted to recognize its obvious defeat in the elections. Pray for us.
In Christ,
Rafael Rodriguez serving in Maracay, Venezuela
Please pray for our BCM missionaries serving faithfully in hard places.
May the Gospel continue to go forth. To God be the glory.
Through partnering with us, your donations go directly to helping us fulfill the Great Commission by equipping nationals, making disciples, and collaborating with local partners to plant and strengthen Christ-centered churches in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Venezuela for the glory of God. Your generous donation will help us provide resources, training, and support to those working on the front lines of ministry.
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Biblical Christian Missionary
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I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
Still, you did well by partnering with me in my hardship. – Philippians 4:13-14
