Lima is known colloquially as Lima la Gris or “Lima the Gray.” For about eight months a year, we have a mostly overcast sky, with few sunny days. I know it may sound depressing to some, but as a very fair-skinned man whose skin burns after about 19 seconds in the sun, I am looking forward to the return of the constant clouds that usually comes in March or April!
It is hard to believe that we are now six months into a church plant. It both feels like we started yesterday and as if we have been going for much longer than six months; but from day one, God has built His church, bringing people, helping us reach new families, and allowing us to make a difference in our area. We had more than 40 visitors in February and are looking to surpass that here in March. We have had multiple people come and be saved and baptized, and our discipleship classes are running 40-plus people every week.
One of the most exciting things has been people coming in, accepting Christ, and then desiring to grow. We have an older couple, Edwin and Susana, who came to our Grand Opening Sunday in October. Edwin had gone to a Christian church as a young man and had even studied in a Christian seminary. Susana had always been staunchly Catholic. They saw a message online, which we had published through our social media ministry, and visited the church. After they came, we were able to visit with them; Susana accepted Christ, and Edwin came back to his roots. The next Sunday, our people rejoiced with Susana as she was baptized, while Edwin looked on with a huge smile on his face. Both of them are the first to get to every service and are taking discipleship courses to know what the Bible says about growing as Christians.
There are many stories like that of God using this new church plant to help people to know Christ, as well as people coming back to Him after being away. God is doing big things here, and while I don’t fully understand why He allows us to be a part of all that He is doing, it’s amazing that He would use us.
Please pray for our ministries here. We are growing as a church, and soon will have to look for more ways to fit everyone into the space that we have. Pray that God shows us the best option, whether that entails holding two services on Sunday mornings or finding a new meeting place. He has opened doors in the neighborhood where we are currently located, so we would prefer not to move too far away, but He knows best.
Additionally, I would ask for prayer for our online ministry. God is doing big things through our social media ministries. In 2024 alone, we have already seen over 1,700 people write to us saying that they have accepted Christ. It is amazing to see what God is doing in the lives of so many. Our plan for this year is to build a recording studio so that we can both produce more content ourselves, as well as enable local pastors and ministries to do the same thing, reaching more people in the process. Pray that God provides the necessary funds, as well as taking care of all the details in the construction process.
Thank you so much for being a part of what God is doing here in Lima! We love seeing so many people so involved in His work here.
You can view our “Stoplight Evangelism” at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PlAVJPOszuStJHKxmhpFvPopF0P2bhmf/view
May God bless you and your family,
Josh, Heather, and Joseph Hedderman
-
- Discipleship Class
-
- Studio Plans 1
-
- Studio Plans 2
-
- Susana’s Baptism
-
- Wednesday Night Crowd
-
- Everyone gathered around to watch a baptism!
-
- The Kids of Esperanza
-
- We are running out of space!
