Chile
Peter and Janet Keevil
We feel privileged to be serving God in Chile, after 10 years in the pastoral ministry in the UK, and ten years working 24 years in Venezuela as missionaries. It’s good to be in Latin American culture! We have three children, two of whom are married, all living in the UK.
We arrived in Chile at the end of April 2007 and have been asked by Action Overseas to:
- To mentor an indigenous leader.
- To strengthen the work in Chile
- To form missionary vision in the churches.
- To develop the contacts within Chile and elsewhere in South America.
There are presently two small congregations, one congregation in the city of Quilpué, pastored by Patricio and Elba. They have three young children. The other congregation is in the port city of Valparaiso; the pastor is Guido with his wife Marcia. They have three married children with a family.
Our vision and goals are:
Vision:
Facilitate Ephesians 4:11 ministries in order to equip the saints
Although here in Chile there are quite a number of different churches named “Apostolic Churches”, there is a lack of teaching concerning present day Ephesians 4:11 ministries (especially the apostle and prophet ministries) and we believe God is asking us to be involved in helping develop these ministries in Chile.
Goals - 1st year (January to December 2008)
Build up unity and fellowship within the two congregations, at both local and ministerial levels
There is a need to establish a sound base of Christian fellowship in the two congregations before we can fully equip and develop along the lines of our vision and goals. This year will be one of consolidating what we have in order to go where God wants us.
Goals - 2nd year onwards
Education
Step 1 - Establish uniformity within the churches:
There must be a consolidation of what we believe, and practice as a group of churches. (This can affect such things as communion, water baptismal practice, role of elders, deacons etc).
Step 2 - Establish a School of ministry based on Ephesians 4:11
Explanation: The curriculum will involve theological, and on hands practical teaching, concerning ascension ministries, leadership etc.
Goals - 3rd year onwards
Establish churches through using those who have been equipped from the School of Ministry
At this present time we do not have any one suitably trained to start another church (hence the difficulty in Villa Alemana). The preparation of men with ministries takes time and they have to be approved before being sent out. Therefore we are looking to rather long term goals at this time, while keeping our vision clearly in our sights.
On reading this you might think how on earth are they going to do this? A politician would answer “that’s a very good question” and continue to speak about some other subject that he is familiar with. To be quite honest, we believe that God has asked us to aim towards these goals, to step out of the boat in order to walk on water. We do not have all the answers, but ask you to help us by praying for us so that God will fulfil His purpose for the development of Ephesian 4:11 ministries through the Apostolic Church here in Chile. We take great comfort from the fact that God doesn’t need numbers but men and women full of the Holy Spirit to fulfil His task. That is what we need at this time! Pray with us to that end.
