Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Missionary Spotlight on Bill and Allen Bradford ~ Trujillo, Peru


Bill and Allen Bradford have been laboring in Peru since February of 1999. As pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America, Bill’s primary responsibilities are mentoring pastoral candidates, teaching in the denominational seminary and serving as assistant editor of publications for the Peru Mission press. Bill and Allen have four children: Mollie (10), William (8), Hannah (5), and Andrew (2).

Bill and Allen have witnessed tremendous growth since they first moved to Peru eight years ago; in their own family (from one child to four), in their mission team (from two full-time families on the field to five), in their churches (various church plants and revitalizations), from no seminary to their 1st graduate.

Bill and Allen work with the Peru Mission Team of American missionaries and Peruvian church leaders working in Northern Peru with the purpose of co-laboring with God’s spirit to build genuine Christian communities which display a spiritual, social, cultural, educational and economic life that is molded, shaped and propelled by the Gospel. The team works within the Iglesia Evangelica Presbiteriana del Peru in the areas of church planting, leadership training, university ministry, translation and publication of Reformed literature, and mercy ministries.

By God’s grace Bill and Allen have seen solid advances in all their churches, both in Trujillo and Cajamarca. New people are visiting the churches, quite a few people are seeking to become members, the pastors are striving to deepen their relationships with their neighbors, the worship services are improving and small group discipleship programs have begun.

In addition, Bill and Allen have been able to take steps forward in the construction of most of their buildings. Please continue to pray for Pastors Ricardo, Eduardo and Guillermo, as well as for their new student intern, Percy Padilla.

The seminary has completed another year. One exciting development is that two of their pastors are nearing the completion of their work and are due to be ordained in a few months.

Bill and Allen praise the Lord for what He is doing among His humble servants in Peru. They ask for your prayers as they seek to serve the Lord in Peru that His church may grow and shine forth His glory.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Your words, "By God’s grace Bill and Allen have seen solid advances in all their churches," echo those of Paul and Luke in the NT. Thank you for sharing the joy-seeking sacrificial lifestyle of these servants of the Kingdom.

It was great to see you, along with many of my most trusted, modern day guardians and heroes of the faith, on Tuesday at Southern Seminary (as well as to hear you on the radio that afternoon). Piper's message was convicting. He made a joke about it being difficult at SBTS, as well as in America, to be a Christian, due to the affluence of our nation / culture / society. But he was very serious, it seemed to me, at the same time.

I have a couple questions for you in regard to this topic: First, how do lay Christians live out this message in light of the Biblical mandate to take care of our families? I'm thinking particularly of the Old Testament patriarchs' accumulating great wealth and that being a sign of blessing upon them. I don't know that I would be capable of accumulating wealth, as I have a tendency to give it away (or put it use for the safety / security of my family) before I could ever store it up. And secondly, how far do we take this calling to seek the joy of faith in Christ in others by generosity that Piper spoke of? In other words, if a person / family pours out generosity in a sacrificial manner, but still has nice things and strives to "enlarge his / their territory" with what is left after regular and consistent sacrificial generosity (a lifestyle of it), how can that person / family be satisfied that he / they have done enough for the season?

Is the answer different for everyone - based on God's calling to them as their conscience leads?

For example, if I have $500 at the end of the month after generous and sacrifical giving and after providing for the current needs of my family, should I use that extra to give even more and "sacrifice" providing something additionally for my family (like extra contributions to the education funds, etc). I'm thinking in financial terms, but I realize that this applies to time management as well.

Sorry for the length... Blessings,

CHIP

Woody said...

I enjoyed reading about these missionaries and the impact they are having on the Kingdom in Peru. I am part of a church that is working with people in Peru to plant churches and we are seeing a people who are truly seeking the Lord. They have a desire to know Him and study His Word.

We are Southern Baptist denominationally but are excited about the fact that other evangelical denominations are doing work among the people in Peru.

Dr. Duncan,

I posted on your site last year as I was about to begin to Pastor a church plant and asked you for your insights on what would be good to preach through. You helped me with some feedback and I am thankful. The plant is doing well as we bring our first year to a close.

I also have a blog and was wondering if you could read a recent post on "Lordship Salvation" and give me some feed back as I study through the issue for myself.

http://igniteuk.blogspot.com

"Where My Thoughts Have Been" is the title of the post.

Anonymous said...

im looking for a group who leave peru today is going all years to trujillo i wanna know if is the same ? please iof is let me a message in edher_manuelle_cavero@hotmail.com