Honduras (MNN) — It's exceedingly common to hear of American churches helping churches in developing nations. But how often do you hear about a third world nation church helping another struggling nation's church?
Meet the Venezuelan Evangelical Free Church and a struggling women's ministry in an Evangelical Free Church in Honduras.
Three Honduran women had been meeting in a rented house in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, doing their best to reach the women of their church without having any real training in ministry. There was an overall lack of commitment and unity among the women, and few attended.
That's when they heard about Women Without Borders (Ministerio Mujeres Sin Fronteras) through a missionary couple serving in Honduras. WWB is a sub-ministry of the National Women's Ministry (La Unión de Damas) of the Evangelical Free Church of Venezuela which is comprised of more than 60 churches.
"Within Venezuela, the National Women's Ministry is great," says Rebecca, an EFCA ReachGlobal missionary working with WWB. "They have awesome resources, and they equip women around their country. Realizing how much God has taught them, they now share that with others outside their borders."
That realization led the National Women's Ministry to create WWB to train and mentor women leaders outside of Venezuela, like the women in Honduras. In the spring of 2010, Rebecca visited the women in Honduras to explain more about WWB.
In July 2011, WWB sent Rebecca and three Venezuelan women on a five-day trip to Honduras to build a partnership with the Honduran women. Throughout the week, the WWB team taught workshop classes on how to organize and structure a women's ministry.
The Honduran leadership team was very responsive to the teaching, and they plan to apply what they learned to create new structures for ministry.
The WWB team had the chance to meet with all of the women of the church in Honduras, to learn of their needs and to encourage them. They had times of prayer, worship, fellowship and meals together. The team also had the opportunity to teach from God's Word on the idea of Christian unity and community.
The three leaders of the group all desire spiritual mentorship and encouragement as they move forward in their renewed women's ministry. WWB is providing three Venezuelan mentors for these leaders. Each Honduran woman will have bi-weekly Skype calls with her mentor to discuss her Bible study, gain resources, and receive encouragement.
Pray for these women as they continue to reach out to their community with Christ's truth. Praise God that He is clearly working in hearts and is using one small ministry to help another.
