OVER 120 CHURCHES PLANTED IN 8 YEARS

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

Since 1999, over 100 Miskito congregations have been planted in Nicaragua and Honduras. This phenomenal growth is hard to explain, except to say God has done incredible thing. We can only describe what has happened and rejoice in what the Lord is doing among the Miskito people.

Based on the definition of an unevangelized people group and the level of evangelization of the Miskito people, it was determined by the International Mission Board that the Miskito people should be considered unevangelized and targeted as such. The presence of the Moravian and Catholic churches for more than a century has produced little more than a syncretistic Christianity. Even thought the Christianity has been presented, it has resulted in legalism with an emphasis on work salvation and has had little affect on real Christian transformation. The majority of the Miskito people have never heard an appropriate presentation of the Gospel in their heart language. The lack of scripture in the Miskito language was a major barrier for the Gospel. Although there had been a Baptist and Pentecostal presence from more that thirty years, there was not sufficient growth to reach the majority of the Miskito population. 

MISSIONARY ENGAGEMENT

Jim and Viola Palmer, veteran missionaries of 19 years living in Managua, had been visiting the Miskito people several times a year since 1991. Although there were 44 small Baptist churches scattered across the Mosquitia of Honduras and Nicaragua, Jim sensed that unless a fulltime missionary was present to stimulate leadership training it would be impossible to have a church growth movement that would impact the Miskito people for Christ. A personnel request was submitted to the IMB. Yet for 7 years, no one responded to the call. Finally, the Palmers sensed that God was calling them to minister to the Miskito people. In July of 1999, Jim and Viola Palmer, moved to Puerto Cabezas to target the Miskito people

A preliminary worldview was developed and then a master plan. The master plan focused heavily on saturation evangelism and leadership training. The Palmers recruited a vast group of Southern Baptist partners to provide a strong prayer base, a solid logistical support base, and a network of human resources to impact church planting among the Miskito people. An integrated human needs project (Agricultural/Family Health) was developed as a tool for ministry and sharing the Gospel.

The task proved to be greater than expected. They were several factors that the Palmers soon discovered that would be significant barriers to starting a church planting movement.

1.      Deep seated synceticism (the blending of Christian and Animistic practices.

2.      Vast remoteness of the region and the immense poverty of the Miskito people.

3.      Doctrinal weakness of existing churches.

Scripture has been a key focus from the beginning. The IMB played a significant role in the completing of the Bible translation and the publishing of the entire Bible into Miskito. The Miskito Bible has been widely accepted and is used extensively in the Miskito churches.

Biblical storying has been a key element of evangelism, discipleship and leadership training. Various storying tracks have been developed to communicate the gospel message and to teach Biblical doctrine. We currently have the following storing tracks

           Evangelism Track – 5 stories

           Discipleship I – 5 stories

           Discipleship II – 5 stories

           Discipleship III – 18 stories

           Leadership training – 24 stories

The Palmers immediately began to train leaders when they arrived on the field in 1999. This training took place in two Bible Institutes, one in Honduras and one in Nicaragua. The pastors and leaders were gathered together three times a year for one week of intensive training. The training is obedience based rather than knowledge based. The focus is on Biblical understanding and “how to” for church planting and pastoring. Most of the pastors are illiterate and therefore the teaching is done using an orality methodology. The pastors make a tremendous sacrifice to attend the sessions. They leave their families with needs and tasks pending to travel a great distance to attend the Institute sessions. Food is provided and some travel assistance is given to the pastors who must travel by boat to attend. A new Bible Institute was established in 2003 on the Patuka River in far northwestern Honduras and another Institute was started in 2004 in the Auka region on the Honduras/Nicaragua border. This year, a fifth Bible Institute was begun in Rosita, the mining area inland from Puerto Cabezas. The total of pastor/church planters who are now being trained each year is over 175.

Evangelism has been the driving force of the church planting movement. The Jesus film in Miskito is used extensively. Gospel tracts for both children and adults have been published in Miskito. Medical Evangelism has also played and important role in establishing credibility for the gospel and for Baptist identity. Work and Witness teams from the United States pass out gospel presentations and do prayer walking in villages. Groups of pastors go out frequently to new villages to preach, witness and disciple new believers. Jim trained these groups in the beginning, but soon turned this over to capable and committed Miskito pastors.

Work and witness Teams (U.S. IMB volunteers) have contributed in significant areas of ministries. These teams have assisted in strategic surveying, saturation evangelism, medical/dental clinics, agricultural projects and construction projects such as Mission Centers, Bible Institutes and assisting established congregations in the construction their first unit building. These teams focus on modeling servanthood and stewardship. Even for the construction teams, the construction is considered secondary to evangelism, prayer walking and fellowship with local believers. This model has been contagious and has motivated Miskito believers to begin to give sacrificially and to develop a vision beyond their immediate village. Miskito pastors have been encouraged and motivated by the Work and Witness teams and local believers are modeling their enthusiasm and servanthood by planting churches in new villages.   In addition, the Work and Witness Ministry help to subsidize many area of ministry not covered by IMB funds.

This past year (2007) at least 16 new congregations have been started. This pushes the 8-year total to over 108 new churches planted. About 50% of the churches started are begun strategically (a planned and targeted village) and about 50% are started spontaneously (a friend or family or contact with new believers in an untargeted village).

 Growth is exceeding all expectations. It appears to be a sustainable and spontaneous growth. While there are still many weaknesses in the Miskito church, it appears that we seeing the beginning of a Church Planting Movement.

STATISTICS INDICATING THE BEGINNING OF A CPM AMONG MISKITO BAPTISTS

Year	New Churches Planted	Total # Churches	Pastors and Leaders in Training
1999	4	44	0
2000	18	62	95
2001	11	73	110
2002	12	85	128
2003	10	95	155
2004	15	110	176
2005	9	119	183
2006	13	132	195
2007	16	148	203
2008	12	160	214
TOTAL	120	160	214