The first trade school in the region.
Carlos Cañete, our Latin American Director, recently returned from hosting the first ever trade school in a small town in the Andes named San Antonio de los Cobres and sent the following report.
San Antonio de los Cobres has been a graveyard for churches. Congregations of all denominations have tried to start ministries in this town and failed. Currently, there is not a single Biblical church in this town. Part of the problem is that churches in this area - catholic or otherwise - tend to be filled with women and children and men are very difficult to reach.
Trade Schools have made all the difference.
In March I had an interview with the mayor of San Antonio de los Cobres, Mr. Leopoldo Salva, to present Crecer's Trade School program. The proposal included holding a week-long workshop on Electrical Soldering and presenting the gospel. He accepted and we made a formal agreement.
The trade school took place May 7-11. There was a limit of 25 people for the course; however 76 people registered, so we decided to have 3 shifts of classes: morning, afternoon and evening. Students were able to learn the topic well since for the first time, thanks to our state-side partners, we were able to have 5 different machines for them to work with, accelerating the teaching process greatly.
The next-to-last day, at the end of the workshop, I told the students that I was going to share the gospel. I explained that they were not obligated to stay and those who didn't want to participate were free to leave. Praise the Lord, no one in any class left. After the salvation message, which everyone listened to respectfully and attentively, the groups gave a round of applause. It was noticeable how these men, typically so cold and distant, came up to me to thank me for sharing the message. There was not a particular person who told me that they had given their life to Christ, but His Word was planted. We gave a Bible and a printed copy of the gospel presentation to all who were interested. Only 4 of the 76 rejected the gift; everyone else accepted both.
The government officials were very satisfied with students' comments after the class. However, I did receive a warning that one person had complained about the gospel presentation. Based on the original agreement that I'd made with the mayor, I insisted that the only way The Crecer Foundation could return in the future would be with open permission to preach the gospel. The government once again accepted this position and invited us to come back the last week of August. We're still 3 months out but there are already over 40 students registered.
Trade Schools, in San Antonio and elsewhere, have made a huge difference in our evangelism efforts. They give our teams the chance to spend several days with these men, get to know them, and later share a clear gospel message with the whole group. In Cachi, where we've already done several trade schools, we’ve seen men begin to come to church as a result. Lord willing, we'll continue to take the program to other church plants and new mission fields.