Life on the Line: Ministry Week in South Quito! "JesuCristo Redentor" Church

Thank you, dear friends and family, for your encouragement and prayers surrounding our week-long ministry in South Quito just two weeks ago. Though it was an incredibly busy and, at times, difficult week full of physical labor and neighborhood outreach, God's presence was with us, and we were able to see His hand at work in each of the churches we served. God is good! Here's a quick glimpse of what we were up to that week.
Early each weekday morning, NILI staff and students loaded into our little Sprinter van and headed South. Mon and Tues we served at a small church called JesuCristo Redentor ("Jesus Christ Redeemer"). When we arrived, we realized the need. While Work and Witness crews had begun building the church, only the first floor's walls and ceiling (and the entire structure's roof) had been completed. The church was temporarily meeting in this first floor as they gradually work on completing the second floor and balcony (the future sanctuary). None of the building had been painted yet; all was bare concrete walls. So we immediately set to work at cleaning off the first-floor walls, preparing to paint and bring some life into the make-shift sanctuary.

Meeting and praying with District Superintendent Pastor Hernan (left) & Pastor Jorge (right), pastor of the church before beginning our work there.

Beginning to paint! The concrete walls really sucked up the paint; we had to use several coats to cover the walls well.


Cleaning off another wall before painting.

After a quick lunch, we donned our NILI t-shirts and walked around the neighborhood, inviting any kids or families we saw to the local park, where we were going to host a kids' ministry that afternoon. At first we were a little disappointed because we had only seen a few kids in the area, but we headed to the park, set up our things, cranked up our kids' music, and started playing frisbee, soccer, and jump rope. By the time we ended our program that afternoon, we had about 50 kids total! It's amazing how music and games in the park drew so many people to us.

Learning how to pray.

Ready for fun!

During our second morning at JesuCristo Redentor, we finished the painting work by painting the columns inside and painting the front, outside wall of the church. The end result was pretty stunning!

Outside the church after the front wall was painted.

Ian finishing up the columns inside.

That afternoon, we also had another kids ministry in the park with games, songs, puppets, and a short skit. Lots of parents came the second day, and it was great to get to share with them about why we were there and what we were doing with JesuCristo Redentor Church. Some of them even committed to visiting the church in the future.

Then Tues evening we were privileged to get to share in a service with the congregation of the church where we'd been working. It was wonderful to worship with these folks in their newly-painted sanctuary! Because the church is largely an indigenous church and because our NILI group had prepared several songs to share with them, we worshiped together in English, Spanish, and Quichuan. The pastor preached in Spanish, emphasizing that though we represent two countries and three different languages, we are all one as brothers and sisters in the body of Christ!