(Sam) The Phone Call!

On Sunday 13th October we spoke at our church on Brazil plans, which was a bit classic, given the lack of certainty of how/when we were going to go! Here is the link if you want to listen - and please forgive the singing in the middle! http://www.egcc.co.uk/?p=1928


Since the difficult week before (see previous post!), we had been mulling over whether or not we really wanted to be linked with this church in Recife. If we were having so many problems with their leadership already, we wondered what it might be like a couple of years down the line, when the project really needed support and good leadership and communication? We were definitely erring on the side of closing the door on this partnership, unless there was a dramatic turnaround on their part in this next phone meeting...


The phone meeting... On Tuesday 15th October I spent three hours in the morning trying to 'let go'! of 18 months of investing in this specific partnership so that I would be ready to say no on the phone depending on how the conversation went. I called Brazil at the arranged time, but the head guy - Rubens - wasn't answering (which sadly wasn't unusual!) So I called the pastor of our church there and discovered that neither of them were at the planned phone meeting! Both had forgotten that it was a bank holiday when they arranged the date, and then had neglected to communicate this with us when they realised and cancelled the meeting. Although it sounds like one small mistake, this really was the final straw! After a year of stalling and lack of communication, and now especially after last week discovering a lack of integrity in terms of what they were communicating to us, we were not willing to wait any longer. It was very sad saying this to our pastor, since we did share a similar heart and vision but he has obviously been constrained by poor leadership above him. But we could see now that if we were to have gone, we would not just be working with him, but with the head man above him. So we had to say goodbye, and it felt very sad, and quite a bit like ending a relationship!! :(



That said, as we put the phone down we actually felt incredibly relieved! We really felt like we were escaping a partnership that would have been really hard work in the long term, and now have the possibility of working somewhere else in Brazil where it will be perhaps even more exciting and slightly easier-flowing...which in fact was what happened the very next weekend…!! See next post ;o)