Home at the Nehemiah Center

Today at the Nehemiah Center we had a graduation for all of the courses from Better Churches II. There were 59 graduates present, and some of them had participated in two separate courses. The courses included:

1) Presupuesto del Buen Sentido (Good Sense) from Kingdom Finances, which was a pilot program about budgeting and learning how to manage finances. The takeaway from the course was that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, but that power in Christ requires good planning - not just random hoping.

2) Consejería en Familia (Family Counseling) from DEFE, a program for pastoral couples to strengthen their own relationship and learn how to counsel others better. These pastors felt that they were pastored in the course, and they expressed appreciation for their mentors, Luz and Manuel.

3) Salmos de la Calle (Street Psalms) from DEFE learned that we are all singers of God's psalms. Participants felt inspired to be involved in their communities, using art and asking beautiful questions.

4) Instituto Timoteo (Timothy Leadership Institute) from DEFE, where participants who were pastors and church leaders learned about different modules related to pastoral care, family violence, preaching, and church planning. The pastor who spoke about his experience attested to the changes that have happened in his church and the work that God is bringing about in a new church that has been planted as a result of their participation in Timothy and the other church planting course.

5) Más Iglesia (More Church - Church Planting) from DEFE taught participants principles for healthy churches and how to multiply them, either through planting a new church or adding to the one they currently have. Participants talked about how much they learned and how much they appreciated the course.

As the participants gave testimonies of their time at the Nehemiah Center over the past two years - starting with Better Churches 1: Take the Pulse of Your Church and continuing with one or two of the above courses, they expressed appreciation for the facilitators at the Nehemiah Center. Some said that the Nehemiah Center feels like home for them.

For me, this was very humbling and encouraging to hear. Mentoring and pastoring pastors and church leaders is not an easy job, but it's also not very flashy or glamorous. It doesn't cost very much money in and of itself, these visits and coffees and hours dedicated to listening. The overhead for these kinds of activities is very high comparatively because someone needs to pay salaries for facilitators and cleaning ladies and cooks and security guards. However, in today's day and age, relationship is a scarce commodity and it needs to be brought to the forefront. While these pastors are in Nehemiah Center trainings, they are meeting other pastors and forming support networks that will last much longer than a year or two. They have learned that they have friends, resources, and a place to call home at the Nehemiah Center.