The Church JESUS Built in Santiago

  The Church JESUS Built in Santiago

 

 By Pastor Jerry Cross

I had never seen my father weep uncontrollably before. He came to visit me my first year of
seminary, he a pastor, missionary, theology professor, came for one purpose, to
try and convince me to not go into pastoral ministry. Weeping, he begged me not
to make such a horrible mistake! He said, "Son, I know you well, your
gifts, your weaknesses, your temperament, and above all how introverted you
are, so much so that you run from people. Son, I assure you that in ministry
there is nowhere to hide. You must constantly deal with people, something I
know you hate to do!" 

I answered him, "Daddy, I know that you are warning me because you love me and do not want
me to make such a mistake. I actually agree with every word you say about my
temperament. So much so that I have told my Heavenly Father the exact same
thing a thousand times, that I am not cut out for pastoral ministry. Not only
does he not seem to hear me but my sense of call only seems to get stronger.
So, if He is truly calling me into ministry He is going to have to do a miracle
in my life and perhaps many miracles in my ministry. The fact that His grace is
made perfect in weakness gives me much hope and comfort." 

My first term on the mission field was relatively easy as professor of Bible and theology at the
John Calvin Theological Seminary of Chile. However, my sense of call to do
church planting in Santiago, the capital, became stronger by the day. My second
term began with much apprehension, perhaps panic, remembering my father's
warning and my long conversations, full of objections, with the Lord. Was I
setting myself up for failure? To begin a church in a strongly Roman Catholic
city, in a part of the city where I had not even a single contact seemed an
impossible mission. 

We still lived in Quillota, near the seminary where I had taught, but could not move to Santiago
100 miles away for several months because my wife was expecting a baby for the
fourth time. After losing the first three babies at about the fourth or fifth
month of pregnancy the doctor told Peggy to maintain absolute bed rest to try
and conserve this child. By God's grace it worked! 

During that time of waiting I followed up a possible contact in Santiago given to me by a
friend. This contact turned out to be a staunch Roman Catholic woman who had
just become a widow. Her name was Mercedes Moreno. Her husband had been a
merchant seaman and promised Mercedes that when he retired at 55 he would stay
home and they would do all the things that they could not do because of his
long trips out to sea. Two weeks after his retirement he died of a heart attack
and Mercedes was devastated! 

When I visited I said to her, "God knows what it is to lose someone He dearly loves, His
only Son, and He is an expert at healing broken hearts. Would you accept me
having a weekly Bible study in your home so you can learn more about it?"
She accepted and brought her next door neighbor to the first study. In the next
few weeks we learned why there is so much suffering and brokenness in this
world and the good news of what God has done about it. We learned that in the
Lord's Prayer we get to call God "Our Father" a privilege angels who
have never sinned do not have. (Hebrews 1:5) If our relationship with God were
based on merit, surely these perfect angels would have this privilege! Instead
it is reserved for us, undeserving sinners, who (in the Lord's Prayer) while
looking to Christ and repenting of our sins, not only become His sons but
experience such transformation that we too are enabled to forgive others. 

This demonstrates that relationship with God is based on His grace through faith and not on our
merits or good deeds.Through the Gospel, Mercedes experienced a transformation
so powerful that her friends and neighbors no longer saw a broken down
extremely bitter person, but rather someone rejoicing in her new found
relationship with Christ through repentance and faith in Him. So dramatic was
the change that some of her friends wanted to know what happened. She shared
with them her testimony and they began to come to the Bible study to hear for
themselves. One by one they also experienced the joy of newness of life in
Christ. 

The day came when so many people were attending the Bible study in Mercedes' home that we no
longer fit. After such a crowded study I asked about the Community Center only
a block away. I had noticed that it was not being used Sunday mornings and
wondered if we could rent it just for a few hours when not in use, to start a
Sunday school. Mercedes said that it was a great idea and Teresa, the person
responsible, along with a committee, was one of her best friends, but
unfortunately she was a Roman Catholic and it seemed impossible for her to ever
think of renting to us. To make matters worse her church was exactly across the
street from the Community Center and everything that happened at the center was
known to the local priest across the street! 

It did seem humanly impossible but I invited these people to spend one month in prayer that
Teresa would find it in her heart to rent to us. I told them that my prayer
partners would also be praying with us. One month later, after our Bible study,
I suggested to Mercedes that we go and visit Teresa and see if she would rent
the center to us. Mercedes objected by saying, "Pastor, it is a total
waste of time to go because there is no way she is going to allow us into the
Community Center." I responded, "Mercedes, we have been praying for a
month. The worst that can happen is that she says no. If we do not go we will
never know what her response would be!" She agreed and the next week on a
Tuesday or Wednesday, I am not sure which, we went. To our absolute surprise
Teresa answered Mercedes' request by saying, "Of course Mercedes, I would
love to rent the Community Center to you. Everyone is talking about the change
in your life and I think it would be wonderful for you and your group to meet
in the Community Center Sunday mornings when it is not in use! Not only that
but I will make sure that the committee, which is also responsible, does not
charge you too much rent!" 

WOW, on the way back Mercedes and I exclaimed, "What just happened? It was almost as if
Teresa were trying to convince us to please rent the Community Center!"
This was truly an amazing turn of events and we were absolutely speechless!The
following week Teresa called us to say that the rental contract was ready and
we could come and sign it at her home. Then she asked, "Don't you want to
know why I was so eager to help you?" We said, "Yes, we have been
dying to know the answer to that question!"Her explanation was so unusual
that we almost could not believe it! She explained that the Sunday before our
request she had been in her church for Mass as was her custom. She said she was
sitting near the front and the church was full. When the priest finished his
sermon she did the unthinkable in a Roman Catholic Church; she stood up and
interrupted Mass! Not only that but she told us that she turned her back on the
priest and speaking to the congregation said, "All of you know me because
I am an activist in our community. I come to church in need of spiritual
nourishment and as all of you have undoubtedly noticed our holy father has only
given political speeches each Sunday against the military government and I for
one am terribly disappointed." When she sat down the priest gave Teresa a
strong tongue lashing in front of everyone for daring to interrupt Mass in
order to criticize him! She in turn walked out in a huff, extremely angry with
him. As a result of her anger she was more than ready to help us acquire the
community center for our new Sunday school! Then she added, "Don't think
that I am going to join your group. A few days after your visit our holy father
came to visit me. He asked my forgiveness for the extremely harsh things he had
said about me. He told me that he listens to people and if I had gone to him
after the service with my complaint he would have been more than glad to
receive me. But to interrupt Mass was a total lack of respect for all that is
holy. I agreed with him, we are now reconciled one with the other, and I am
back to daily Mass as before." 

When we told everyone at our Bible study what had happened they all agreed that this was a
miracle from the Lord. If we had gone a few days before Teresa's incident in
the church there was no way she would have helped us. If we had waited a few
more days the same thing would have happened. The Lord worked it so that we
went exactly when out of anger she was most inclined to help us. Praise the
Lord! 

A few months later while using the Community Center opposition began by those unhappy with
our presence there. Fortunately we had a legal contract signed by us and the
community leaders. Just the same, we began making plans for the day we would
need to leave. One possibility was through a government program which provided
free land to help churches get started on a first come first served basis. We
made out the application with little hope of success because there was no
guarantee a property would be near our meeting place even if we got one. Since
we would not be allowed to exchange it for another property closer to us it
might not do us much good. 

After a couple of months the government agency responsible for free properties got in touch with
us and said, "We are sorry, there are no more properties available under
this program, but since you are next in line, if a property does become
available for any reason that property will become yours.” Once again, in a
city of four million people, our fear was that such a property might be too far
away to meet our needs. 

In the meantime our congregation continued to grow and lives transformed. When we celebrated
our one year anniversary I did not preach. Instead we had a party in which all
those who wished could give their testimonies of what God had done in their
lives this first year. The first person to speak was Mercedes Moreno. As long
as I live I will not forget her first words. She began her testimony by saying,
"You all know how devastated I was when my husband suddenly passed away.
Today I can joyfully say that I am glad the Lord took away my husband because
if He had not taken him away I never would have come to know Christ as my Lord
and Savior which is far better!" 

A few weeks after receiving word from the Chilean government that we were next in line to
receiving a property, they gave me a call. To my surprise they said, "We have
found a property for you. It is not under the property for churches program but
if you are interested you can have it. It is a property previously designated
to the fire department. But the local fire department was stealing the funds
for building and we have decided that you can have it instead. They already
built a two bedroom house for firefighters to spend the night and partially
finished the main brick building where the fire trucks were to be stowed.
Neither the front nor the roof has been finished. Are you interested?"
Were we interested! Of course we were interested. But where in this vast city
of four million people was this property? I was absolutely astonished when they
gave me the address. It was the property right next to the Community Center! I
had noticed that work had been suspended on these fine buildings but never in
my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that what I was observing was the
construction of our new church building! 

Our fledgling congregation could not believe their ears when we announced what God had done
for us. Not only was God doing miracles in our lives but now this was the
second miracle He had done to give us a meeting place. Our congregation was
absolutely jubilant, full of praise at the greatness of our God. This was
clearly not the work of their pastor, who after all was just a poor earthen
vessel of clay in the Master's hands. (2 Corinthians 4:7) This was clearly the
work of the Mater Himself! He Himself was in our midst fighting our battles so
that all the honor and glory would go to Him and to Him alone.

A member of our congregation, Damaris, was an architect and she accepted to do all the work of
designing our new church for free, with one condition, that we pray for her to
find work. On inspection of the property she said two things: The two bedroom
house built on the property, although simple, would make a good pastor's manse.
Secondly, construction on the main building had been suspended precisely where
it needed to be suspended in order for us to continue the work as a church.
Once again, our hearts were full of praise to our wonderful Lord!

Then a few weeks later, to our utter dismay, God allowed everything that we had planned to come
crashing down on our heads. We received a letter from City Hall with devastating
news. They informed us that the fire department had made a terrible mistake by
building the main structure too close to the street. As a result, if ever the
street were widened this building would be in the way. The letter was an
official order demanding that we demolish the main building and build it the
legal distance from the street required by law in their construction
code! 

I personally was devastated when I received this letter. We had bragged to the whole community
about what a great God we had and now we would be the laughingstock of every
unbeliever, and especially of those who wished us ill. They would certainly say
that God was not with us, that we had simply had a spat of "good
luck." This undoubtedly would be a devastating blow to our testimony in
our community which we so much desired to come to Christ through His Word and
the power of His Spirit. 

As I bitterly complained to my wife Peggy about this, as usual she had good advice. She
suggested that I go and talk with Damaris, the architect, and perhaps she could
think of a solution. When I knocked at Damaris’ door, she came bounding out in
her usual vivacious and energetic manner. But on seeing my distraught face,
exclaimed, "Pastor, what is wrong?" The truth was that I was almost
in tears! I said, "Damaris, I have absolutely terrible news concerning our
church property." She replied, "I have great news to share with you,
but first, please tell me your bad news." Without a word I simply handed
her the letter from city hall. She read it carefully, and I noticed her taking
special care in reading the signature of the one who had ordered the demolition
of our building. Then she said the most amazing words. Even now as I retell it,
it brings tears to my eyes! She said, "I have good news. The whole church
has been praying that God would give me a job. And praise the Lord He has
answered our prayers. I now have a job. I have been hired by City Hall and my
new boss is the very man who wrote this letter! Please give me this letter and
have the church pray about this for two weeks after which I will approach my
new boss and ask him if there is any solution to this problem." 

Two weeks later Damaris approached her boss and he said to her, "Yes, the construction
code is very clear so this building must be demolished." She said,
"But boss, this is MY church you are talking about and we have no money to
tear down this building and then rebuild farther away from the street in
conformity with the building code. Isn't there some other solution to this
problem?" He said, "Let me study the map to see where this property
is located." As he studied the map he exclaimed, "Why your property's
street is only three blocks long. It begins here at the community center which
is on the main avenue but the side street on which your property is located
ends three blocks away at an apartment complex. There is no way that a street
only three blocks long will ever be widened! Please have the leaders of your
church write a letter saying that they received this letter and promise that if
their street is ever widened they will demolish the offending building even
though it is a church. I promise you," he said, "this street will
never be widened, not ever!"

+ + +

This was the first of four churches that God by his miraculous grace enabled this poor
instrument in His marvelous hands to establish. "I, who am less than the
least of all God's people, was given this grace..." (Ephesians 3:8)