40 Years Is a Long Time
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English Christian Fellowship was birthed over four decades ago. The original vision to provide an English-speaking Sunday School for North American missionaries. Since the missionaries served with Costa Rican churches during the morning, ECF chose to meet on Sunday evening at 5:00 PM.
Scroll ahead more than 40 years. The majority of the English-speaking missionaries who once ministered in Costa Rica have returned to their homelands. As a result, the missionary children that ECF was created to serve have also long since disappeared.
Unfortunately, ECF did not adjust its strategy to address these changing circumstances. At the beginning, meeting on Sunday at 5:00 PM made sense. It was driven by their vision to disciple English-speaking missionary children.
However, one by one those children disappeared. But the church continued meeting at 5:00 PM on Sunday. That was the setting when we arrived in Costa Rica. Pam and I knew what we were facing when we accepted the call to serve at ECF. More than anything else, we believe that God called us here to help rebirth a vibrant Jesus-centered church on ECF’s faithful foundation.
However, what we did not know (for certain) when we arrived was the number of English-speaking residents in this area. After poking around for three months, we have pleasantly discovered that there are, in fact, a significant number of English speakers. These are people who need to know about the love and grace of Jesus.
Reaching these unchurched English-speakers with the good news of Jesus is ECF’s newly refocused vision. This is prompting us to shift our meeting time and to relocate to a hotel conference room. The new service time and new meeting location will make ECF’s ministry more accessible to English-speaking internationals.
So, this Sunday, December 5, ECF will begin meeting at 11:00 AM at the Aloft Hotel in Santa Ana Lindora. After more than 40 years meeting on Sundays at 5:00 PM, you can imagine the gyrations this will cause in the routines of the ECF flock. Pray for this transition and pray, also, that we will reach many of the English-speakers surrounding us!
In the midst of ministry, Pam and I are also having loads of fun. As you see in the photos, we recently did a zip line tour through the Costa Rican rain forest. What a hoot! We were the oldest people in our zip-lining group by twenty years. The adventure continues!
