How can we faithfully serve a community in flux? What does it look like to trust the Lord with our ministry, when so many are just “passing through”?
AN UNLIKELY STORY OF PASSING THROUGH
Vicky arrived at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina on a hot, muggy evening in July, lugging a suitcase nearly as big as herself. She was exhausted after a multi-step journey halfway around the world from Bangkok, Thailand, but her tiredness did nothing to quell the enthusiasm that radiated from her person regarding the Lord’s vision she was following. Vicky had been in the United States before, studying a degree in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech University. Yet the Lord had a different direction and purpose in mind for this young student. Vicky became involved in a campus ministry, and the Lord used this time to draw her to Himself, and to give her a desire to share her new faith with others. Involvement in the local church as well as the campus ministry helped form in Vicky a heart for church planting and missions.
After graduation, she returned to Thailand, to the city of Chiang Mai, where she began to work as an intern with MTW (Mission to the World). As an intern, Vicky had the chance to work at a local counseling center in Chiang Mai. Working there, the Lord began to show Vicky a greater need within her culture, her people, and the Lord’s church: a need that would require much willingness and sacrifice from her. Vicky felt called to pursue a masters in Biblical counseling, and began a few online classes with RTS-Global (Reformed Theological Seminary). However, she soon realized that the Lord’s direction would lead her to again leave home and family, and return to the United States to finish her degree.
Arriving in Charlotte, with at least two years of school in front of her, Vicky was uncertain exactly where the Lord might lead after seminary. She was open to staying and working with the church in the United States, though she felt that returning to Thailand and helping the young church there might be a real possibility and need. As a single woman, she also longed to become a wife and mother. Being a single woman in ministry and also a non-US Citizen also presented some unique challenges in thinking about how to proceed in missions and church planting. And yet, Vicky understood that her first calling was to serve the Lord as He had called her in this moment: as a single woman, ready to study, and willing to serve, pasa lo que pasa.
Vicky quickly immersed herself in the new life in Charlotte: in her studies, in her community, and in serving a local church. Although American culture was not new to Vicky, she quickly discovered that the international scene at Virginia Tech was quite different from that at RTS-Charlotte. In Charlotte, through international friends and through the diversity of the city, Vicky got to know a completely new culture (one that she confesses she found quite strange, loud, and anything but punctual at first): the Hispanic culture. And as God has a way of doing, the Lord used these new relationships, mixed with ministry conversations and late night comida mexicana into the wee hours of the night, to continue to pull Vicky’s heart in His unexpected path for her.
It was in seminary, among the international crowd, that Vicky met Pancho, a fellow international seminary student, pursuing his Master’s of Divinity degree, with the intention of returning to his hometown of Santiago, Chile, to pursue church planting there. Al principio, Pancho was simply another international student, and Vicky made her intentions clear when they met. “Hi, my name is Vicky. I’m studying counseling, and I’m going back to Thailand.” Muy bien, Vicky…But again, the Lord in His gracious, perfect plans, would show her something greater.
Far from home, from their families, and their unique cultures, Pancho and Vicky studied in the same seminary, served in their respective local churches, and enjoyed spending many hours discussing life and ministry with one another. As they did so, the Lord drew their hearts together, united by their desire to serve for the growth of His church, however that might lead. And so, hoy en día, a few short years later, a young Thai seminary grad finds herself learning Spanish as yet another language, raising a baby, and living and serving alongside her husband in Santiago, Chile, as they seek to reach a spiritually needy, unchurched area of the city. Who but the Lord Himself could orchestrate such a marvelous plan?
THE CHALLENGE OF SERVING A COMMUNITY THAT IS “PASSING THROUGH”
Yet perhaps for pastors and others serving in ministry, part of what makes Vicky and Pancho’s story beautiful is also what makes it terrifying on a personal level. Particularly in the Hispanic-American church that is constantly in need of capable, trained men and women with a heart for service, what does it look like to have interns, students, other staff and even mission-minded lay-people pass through the ministry? What does it look like to train and enjoy the fellowship of capable, ministry-minded individuals like Vicky and Pancho, and feel a momentum in the ministry, only to have them move on to serve elsewhere? Seeing them leave can feel quite discouraging, like a blow to the ministry, and sometimes even like a personal blow. The ruling elder you helped lead to faith and then faithfully discipled for several years takes a job in another city. The intern couple who has been growing in their ministry ability and helping to lead worship and children’s ministries feels called elsewhere to serve. The young man who works behind the scenes tirelessly each Sunday to set-up and tear-down worship nearly single-handedly receives the news that he must return home. With transitions of people and leadership that happen so frequently especially in the Hispanic context, how are we to remain encouraged? How are we to see the Lord at work, when it can feel that it is constantly one step forward and two steps backward?
THE JOY OF SERVING A COMMUNITY THAT IS “PASSING THROUGH”
The story of Vicky and Pancho’s “passing through” is of particular encouragement because it serves as a reminder not only of two individuals willing to go quite literally anywhere the Lord would lead, but also of God’s far grander vision of ministry and building His church. While it does indeed present a unique challenge to Hispanic ministry to have an ever-changing
congregation and leadership as immigrants come and go, this flux also presents a unique opportunity. Numbers on a Sunday may seem small, but God’s impact in His Church universal is far greater than we may ever know. The couple who suddenly disappeared after you and your wife had spent so much time investing in them return to their country of origin–not with the material wealth they had intended, but with a knowledge and love for Jesus that begins to transform their community. The intern whom you had hoped might become an assistant pastor takes what he has learned in his time of service, and the Lord uses his ministry to spawn several churches abroad. The seemingly misfit Anglo couple who attended for a few years has developed a new heart for cross-cultural ministry, and shares that heart with a new church in the city where they have just gotten a new job. El Señor está trabajando: the Lord is at work! That which we may feel as loss, humanly speaking, is gain for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Nuestro Dios calls each of us to follow and serve Him faithfully, wherever He leads. This looks like both passing through certain phases in trust that the Lord is guiding, and caring for others as they pass through your ministry, knowing that the Lord does not waste time or resources. His purposes for His church are greater. In spite of the challenges of pastoring and caring for transient communities, the Lord is using the faithfulness of His shepherds in the Hispanic-American context to take the gospel into more communities and contexts–and even more countries–than we may imagine: to neighbors nextdoor, to neighboring cities, to Santiago, and even Thailand. May we learn to trust His good plan and purposes, and continue to serve Him faithfully as we care for all those who are passing through our care.
¡A Dios sea la Gloria!
MORE ABOUT VICKY AND PANCHO
One of the privileges of HLI is getting to support and encourage those who are passing through, who have passed through, and who are helping to expand the Lord’s Kingdom in the Hispanic context at home and abroad. Vicky and Pancho (and precious baby Magnolia) are currently in the early stages of church planting in the neighborhood of La Dehesa in Santiago, Chile. It is an area where there is a lack of Evangelical outreach, leaving it spiritually dry; but also with great potential as a future hub for church planting in Chile and throughout Latin-America. What a privilege it has been to get to know Vicky and Pancho in their relatively short time passing through the United States, and to get to partner with them as work for the Lord’s vision for church planting in the Hispanic context in Chile and beyond. If you would like to come alongside HLI in supporting Vicky and Pancho, you can give to their ministry through this link, and dedicating the gift to "Vicky and Pancho" or "La Dehesa Project."
JOIN US IN PRAYER
First, praise the Lord for how He is constantly orchestrating plans and purposes that are far greater than what we are able to see or understand! Praise for how He brought Vicky and Pancho together with a united vision for serving Him in church planting in Chile.
Please pray for Vicky & Pancho as they seek to raise funds and begin the work of church planting in La Dehesa. Pray that the Lord would indeed establish the work of their hands, and use this church planting vision for the growth of His Kingdom in Santiago, in Chile, and throughout Latin America.
Please pray for the encouragement of Hispanic leaders and ministries, who see a lot of flux in ministry. Pray for the Lord to allow glimpses of His grander vision, that would encourage these ministry workers to continue investing in all who are passing through.
Pray that the Lord will continue to use those who are "passing through" ministries to expand His Kingdom throughout the Hispanic-American context, and in the world.
Please consider giving to HLI, that the Lord may continue multiplying the resources for the training, encouragement, renewal, and multiplication of new leaders in and for the Hispanic-American context, and even beyond (like Vicky & Pancho).