Peter & Vicki Butchers, BMS World Mission workers based in Guayaquil, Ecuador, found themselves and their team of volunteers knee-deep in rubble last weekend when they started clearing a plot of ground in the poor community of Los Vergeles. “The site being cleared is for a new church building,” says Peter “and we are trying to involve all members of the community in this exciting new project.”
“It is another new experience, another new vocabulary to learn, and another set of seemingly insurmountable challenges, but it is great fun too!” Vicki managed to persuade some workmen in the area to donate their services free of charge and with their JCB digger they knocked down the existing unsafe structure to make way for the new church.
Vicki said “Although the people here have next to no resources, we are determined that together we will build our own church. Because of this, the church building will take shape little by little and will depend very much on who can do what and when – it really is a collaborative project.”
Although the construction will take weeks due to the ad hoc nature of life in Vergeles, the Butchers are planning a baptismal service on the site on Saturday 17 November as the first act of worship on the new land. Three residents of Vergeles, all mums from the pre-school education programme (PEPE), will be baptised in a makeshift baptistery, right in the heart of the community in the open air.
Peter concludes, “The power of God to save and unite an otherwise disparate community is truly astonishing, and working with these people who have so little and yet who give so much, is a wonderful experience.”
A few photos of the contruction: