Paul writes what is his hope for the young church of Philippi when next he hears news of them and what turns out to be the expression of the main emphasis of his entire letter, in Philippians 1:27, when he says, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that,… I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”   As a young forming congregation, it seems that we find ourselves drawing much instruction, direction, grace and strength from these challenging words.   I had been expositing this letter leading up to the January-February vacation season and finished with this verse.  It seems that in the providence of God this verse has contained the guiding truth for us as a congregation and for our future as a body.  But before I give you all the details let me say first, I cannot help but rejoice, and it gives me great comfort as a missionary to see and experience the guidance of the Holy Spirit upon this work by his word, by which he both feeds and directs his people.
           We entered into the vacation season feeling like a small platoon of soldiers pinned down and surrounded by enemy gunfire.  In the vacation season in Carlos Paz we are not only descended upon by about 50 to 60 thousand additional people, but with them come every conceivable immoral diversion to keep them entertained.  But especially it seemed to us that this year the visual assault upon the conscience was particularly strong with so much sexually explicit advertising that we declared one entire part of central downtown to be “rated R” and “NC17”.  With each year we have seen the people of our community, Christian and unbeliever alike, become more and more seared to their immoral surroundings.
  This context has impacted us in two ways: First, we must fight as a community of faith for the spiritual welfare of one another, our families and our identity as true believers, through encouraging each other with the task of “walking worthy of the gospel of Christ”.   I believe our people are coming to see the radical difference that being a Christian in this depraved culture truly means. We must live as strangers together with the people of God; or as Paul exhorts the Philippians, “but our citizenship is in heaven…” (3:20), whether Argentine, Chilean, or North American we must separate from those “enemies of the cross, whose end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is their shame with minds set on earthly things”.(3:19)   
Secondly, we must war together as gladiators united in the arena, “side by side for the faith of the gospel.”  This world is not the friend of grace and there is much to lose if we fail to plant this church upon the solid rock of Christ and lives of holiness.  Our people are battling against employers, who are unjust and abusive in their demands upon our people to work more without additional pay, withholding lawful wages supplied to them by the government for families with children, and asking their employees to participate in their illegalities.   And these are the actions of a professing Christian employer!   Furthermore, without exception, every family in the congregation is the first to have trusted in Christ, so that they are often under criticism or pressure for declaring allegiance to an evangelical church family, the Lord’s Day or personal choices of all kinds.  Please especially pray for the young believers to hold fast to Christ and the sound words of Scripture to guide their lives and lead their families.
           It has been especially difficult for our congregation this summer as the demands of the work in San Nicolas,(6 hours away)  have called me to be there each week.  I am driving each Friday afternoon to conduct visits and a bible study in the home of Nico Griboff each Saturday afternoon.  I then return home Saturday night for our services on Sunday morning.  Due to increased work demands of the people in Carlos Paz, we suspended services on Sunday evening, but will continue them in March.  The work in San Nicolas is doing well with a growing group there of between 10 and 15 people.  Please pray with us that we will find help from someone in Argentina so that we can continue to meet each week.  Ultimately, we are praying for a qualified church planter to come and work with this group to plant the church. 
            Meanwhile, we continue with book distribution throughout Argentina and Chile.  We now have three churches with book tables and are supplying large quantities of books to two pastoral training institutes.  The believers in San Nicolas are now handling the distribution of books since they are closer to Buenos Aries.  This has been a blessing to me personally. We continue to receive requests from other locations in Argentina through our website for books and training.   Following up on training needs continues to be a burden. We are working jointly with William Carey Seminary of Cordoba, to secure long-term solutions to providing a solid theological and pastoral training to men.  We are working with solutions at this time in cooperation with ARBCA and our supporting churches, which we hope will provide significant help to our efforts in training.  Please pray for wisdom and direction from the Lord.
           Finally, and perhaps most importantly, after seven years in missionary labors we are approaching a major goal of our time in Argentina, the constituting of the church in Carlos Paz.   Learning to “stand firm in one spirit… for the sake of the gospel”, certainly captures the spirit of our meetings and our fellowship at this time.  I am meeting with each family individually and continue to teach on a regular basis the importance of becoming a covenanted body of believers in stead of following the example of most evangelical churches whose “attendees” remain is something of a long-term “dating relationship” that can be broken off at any time of inconvenience.    In contrast, we are planning on a constituting service in late May, if the Lord permits.  This event will not mean the immediate end of my time in Carlos Paz, but it is an important step. It has never been my conviction that I should join this congregation but rather to remain in my role as a missionary church-planter, to facilitate the constituting of the church and training of its officers, using my gifts to contribute to the completion of this process.  Please pray for me as I carry out this important role as the “friend of the bride-groom” to these believers.  And especially pray for the growth of their love and care for one another which, “binds all things together in perfect harmony”(Col.3:14).