“This Is Love”

February 14, 2012

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:10-11

There are Valentine gifts and there are Valentine gifts.

When I asked some ladies about the best Valentine gift they ever received, they thought and smiled. When I asked about the worst, they laughed — now, they laughed — and began shouting out bad presents like they were machine guns. Just some of their bad gifts were

* a five-pound box of candy: the kind he loves and she hates;

* an ironing board;

* a shotgun that he wanted. (She added, “I have never shot a gun in my life.”);

* lingerie which was five sizes too big or four sizes too small;

* jumper cables;

* ten years of nothing.

One rather interesting Valentine’s gift this year was given in Burbank, California. There a man presented his wife, whom he calls “the boss” with a $1 million lottery ticket. They’re going to buy a new home and a new car.

So, what kind of gift can a person give to say, “I love you”?

The answer to that question, dear friends, is provided by the apostle John.

In one short sentence the beloved disciple tells us Jesus Christ, our heaven-sent Substitute is the embodiment of real love. John has it right.

How can anyone remain unmoved by the love the Savior showed in the Garden of Gethsemane? There He received the weight of every sin humanity has ever committed. Even though He was greatly burdened, Jesus still rose up to meet His betrayer. Even though He knew what was ahead, Jesus went forward to be beaten, lied about and spit upon.

What is the best gift of love we have ever been given? Look at the cross. See the Savior who was laughed at; watch as His clothes were dispersed among His executioners; listen as He forgave His murderers, took care of His mother and promised salvation to a dying thief. Watch as He died the death we had deserved.

What is the best gift of love we have ever been given? Stand at the empty tomb and know that because He lives we shall live also.

Yes, we have been given a great gift of love in the Person of Jesus, and now it is our privilege to show our appreciation by offering Him a thankful, repentant heart.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, the world talks about love, but You have — in the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Your Son — shown what real, sacrificial love is. May I, in all I am and say, show my gratitude. This I pray in my Savior’s Name. Amen.

The Horacio’s Story

This is a case I have attended at LHM Argentina during my volunteer work as a third-year student at Concordia Seminary.

One of the most remarkable cases I have attended was from a man named Horacio S. from the province of Corrientes. He tells us that he spent many years in prison, and that he learned about the Gospel while he was in prison. The reason why he contacted us was to ask for help and advice. A girl who works for him and is his friend, has problems at home and he wants to help her but he doesn’t know how to do it. The husband of this friend is a drug and alcohol addict, and in addition to this, their young daughter passed away not long ago, which makes the problem worse. She is very distressed and is rejected by her neighbors, and this is why Horacio believes she found emotional support with him. He is looking for good advice to handle this situation since as God’s child he knows that the only thing that can help this girl is God’s Word and love. He thinks our advice and materials can help him guide her to learn about our Savior and change her life.

                                                                                               Claudio Fredrich

We are very happy!!

Sunday, November 20th, was a very special day for us. We were able to witness, together with the congregation of Luján, the confirmation of faith of 5 young ladies: Eliana, Sol, Tatiana, Jesica  and Erika.

Two of them were prepared for this moment with our Bible course “Towards a New Life”, due to special situations they have lived in spite of their short lives.

We wish to thank Pastor Héctor Fester for carrying out this task and because he always supports our work.

We are very pleased because these four young ladies carry Jesus in their hearts and hope we will be able to accompany them and see them grow in their spiritual lives.

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Family Day

On Saturday, November 19th, we shared an activity with the Concordia Institute. Kindergarten and elementary school students, parents, teachers and professors celebrated “Family Day”. This sporting event took place on a spectacular day, during which we were able to spend time and talk with parents, many of which did not know about us since they are new in this community.

We thank the Lord for this new opportunity to share our work and reach more people with the message of Hope.

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Analia´s letter

We received this letter from our volunteer of Jardín America (Misiones)

Hello. We are currently working with the material you provided us in different settings. We are working with the youth group every Friday, and in two of those meetings we work with some of the materials, since we made a schedule with different subjects. In addition, we carry out a specific workshop every two months with important issues for their age, the last time we addressed “Abortion”, and we used those materials, providing images and videos for better understanding. The materials are very useful since they not only provide a theoretic basis for the subjects, but also include theological grounds. Furthermore, as a Parrish we are working at a Mission in a town which is 45 km from here.

We are handing out materials, according to the people’s interest, and each Congregation has these booklets on exposition and they are handed out in exchange for a donation (if they can) in order to be able to purchase more to continue with this task. Members accept this and are very interested… I really do not know how you could help us in other ways, since I do not know which are your possibilities, but anything you can think of will be welcome and appreciated.

Greetings in Christ,

Analía Hettinger

 

Light Has Come

There are no walls

Activity open to the neighborhood

Who took part in this activity? And where did it take place?

                We organized an activity open to the neighborhood together with three Church organizations with evangelistic purposes. This activity was carried out on October 8-9, 2011. The proposal was made by the congregation, who requested assistance from both the Seminary and the foundation Cristo para Todas las Naciones (LHM Argentina ). The Parris, made up by the community of Hurlingham “Trinidad” and of San Antonio de Padua worked together for the activity, however the evangelistic activity took place in San Antonio de Padua. We reached three different districts, Morón (city of Ituzaingó), Merlo (cities of San Antonio de Padua, Paso del Rey and Merlo) and Moreno (city of Moreno).

We should emphasize that the activity was coordinated by the Seminary since every year it they routinely choose a community and organize this type of events. The seminary requested the CPTLN foundation be involved as a necessary condition.

This activity involved 25 people in total, at different times. On Saturday 13 people participated from the Seminary, 4 from the congregation, Pastor Damián Fischer and the vicar Juan Pablo Lanterna. On Sunday, 17 Seminary students came, 1 person from the congregation (from Hurlingham), and the vicar. This does not include the people who in one way or other accompanied the organization of the activity, which would add over 30 people.

What did we do?

We performed different activities in the neighborhood:

PARKS. We went to a park in Padua on Saturday, where we placed a stand of the Foundation. On Sunday, we went to two parks in Ituzaingó and did the same thing.

HOUSES. On Saturday we walked around the neighborhood in Padua. We visited neighbors, and handed out letters we made on behalf of the congregation. This letter invited them to the service which would take place that night. On Sunday, we left a letter from the congregation which had a message of hope and the schedule of congregation activities. We contacted over 150 families. The objective was to share the existence of the Church in the neighborhood, which was fulfilled in the short term.

TRAIN. Both on Saturday and on Sunday, a group of three people went on the train. On Saturday, from Padua to Moreno – Moreno to Padua, and on Saturday from Ituzaingó to Moreno – Moreno to Padua. They decided to present themselves as something typical in this type of transportation, as are street vendors. The message was: “Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, take a look at this novelty! This is quality, this is a well-known brand… this is a message of hope” and after this introduction a flier with a message and a map of the church was handed out. In this map, you can see how to arrive to the church from the Padua train station. Through this activity at least 300 people were contacted and received the flier. Context was key for people to understand the message.

TRAINING. Three students presented two typical mission subjects (one on Saturday and one on Sunday) with the purpose of training and encouraging the community towards the mission.

1)      The first was: growth of the church (a current movement) and growth in Christ (a Biblical vision of the growth of the church).

2)      The second subject was: ethnocentrism versus Christ-centrism. We addressed the issue of how a Church’s own culture can represent barrier for the mission God has given them.

Synthesis and conclusion. Approximately 30 people were included in the activity, and over 450 people were contacted (perhaps 300 family groups) in two work days, and a message of hope was delivered. This activity reached 3 districts of the Great Buenos Aires and 5 cities within these districts which are close to the community. We do not see immediate results, working with this “ideal” expectation would discourage the task, we trust that God knows why He used us and we hope our sowing will give its fruits, since the success of the evangelistic activity does not depend on the group, the context, or whatever we see, but only on the powerful word of our Lord manifested in Jesus Christ.

 

WE WERE AT THE BOOK FAIR

From Tuesday 20^th to Sunday 25^th  of September, the 4^th Children’s Book Fair “Paper Wings” took place in our city.

This year, our Parrish was represented by a stand, which we called Christian Focus, since we exhibited and handed out booklets from the  LHM Argentina.

We spent some very nice days in which we were able to share time with many people from the city and its surroundings who did not know or had little knowledge about our Church.

65 people approached our stand and we gave them a booklet, of an issue useful for their lives or for someone they knew.

We wish to thank the Local Authorities who gave us the opportunity to exhibit our material, as well as the people of the congregation who were at the stand handing out booklets, keeping us company and sharing some “mates” (a local beverage).

May God make this an extra step for the gospel to reach much more people in our city.

                                                                                                Rafael Migliónico

                                                                                                 Urdinarrain (Entre Ríos)

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“HEALING WOUNDS”

It was towards the end of the year 2010 and we were talking about different ways in which we can serve our Lord and the diverse ministries through which we can share the Bible and a message of hope… Pablo, Mary and Cinthia Lagraña used to work in a radio program, as part of a project in the church they participated in (Nazarene Church of Padua). Due to different reasons, the radio program they carried out was discontinued for almost two years. They commented how much they regretted not being able to continue and how much they missed this activity, mostly because it is so important and rewarding to share words of encouragement and love, as well as information which can help so much people, by means of such a massive communication media as the radio is. They not only performed the program, they also visited people in need, either for support, guidance, prayers or material aids…

For several days I had this conversation in my mind and I really liked and felt motivated to begin a program of this type… for a while now I had felt the desire to do “something more” as service to the Lord and the society… and this is how God planted the seed of concern, interest, and enthusiasm in my heart to face a radio program. I did not hesitate in sharing this with Pablo, Mary and Cinthia, and I suggested that the four of us should take up again this wonderful ministry. They were happy and delighted to start once again with this activity which they yearned for and which had blessed them so much. They accepted immediately. Without losing any time, we started to think about the name the program would carry, in which radio we could air it, on what day, time, how we would carry out the program, a logo, etc. We prayed about this project and asked the Lord to accompany us in its preparation and development, to provide us wisdom and clarity, as well as the resources to carry it out.

As part of the team at  LHM Argentina (Cristo Para todas Las Naciones Foundation in Argentina) , I did not hesitate in sharing this personal project with Gloria, the Director. Since our intention was to use CPTLN’s materials as a basis for bible studies and reflection which we would share in each program, as well as offering these booklets free of charge through the Spots “Focus”, for all those interested o in need of these materials or help, creating contacts for missional work for CPTLN and the Church. It has been and continues to be very important for us to count with the support CPTLN provides us, to carry out this ministry… and we are very grateful for all the help we receive!!

This is how “Healing Wounds” was born, because, who does not have or has had “wounds in the soul”? All four members of the team (from different churches) have joined together in this project in order to share words of Love, encouragement, and inspiration, sharing a message of hope, which is our Faith in Jesus Christ, who heals all of our wounds… we intend to develop a program for families, to inform and accompany those who listen to us during 2 hours a week, with reflection, current news, issues of general interest, music, etc. And we also offer our support by prayer chains, visits, and anything else the Lord puts in our hands and reach to help those who are in need, using the gifts, talents, and resources He gives us… because ”we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word”(THE BIBLE, Acts 4:6)

 

To be continued…

 

Written by Ingrid Kreizer

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