Costa Rican outreach starts 2012 with a bang

Costa Rica (MNN) ― The work of Grace Ministries International in Costa Rica is active and growing. From the well-established church located near San Jose, the field has many goals.

In just five year, since the Grace Bible Institute of Costa Rica was launched, a Great Commission vision seems to be catching on. Sam Vinton with Grace Ministries International says the school started with just 13 students but now enrolls over 40 each trimester.

The goal is to train the next generation of pastors, lay leaders, and missionaries. In the next couple of years under the leadership of Bible institute students, GMI hopes to plant churches. Their team has been praying that the nationals  catch a vision of doing missionary work. God is answering beyond their hopes and imaginations. Vinton says, "I believe this is one of the big things that we're seeing happen in all of Latin America."

A new church was recently planted in Alajuela and just celebrated its first-year anniversary. GMI's Chuck Befus writes: "We are really too large a group for our present church rental with at least an average of 110 each Sunday and growing. We have seen God change the lives of many people and there is excitement waiting to see what God will do next. Please pray with us."

As a church and a field, the ministry also has a cross-cultural dream. "The churches in the San Jose area have had a real vision for the last couple of years of taking a team every summer into Nicaragua, which is the country north of Costa Rica."

By what they saw in Nicaragua, planting a church in Nicaragua could be a reality soon. "The responses have been good, and so starting this next month, instead of once a year, we're planning on going probably six times during this coming year."

With each trip, the team further cultivates the soil. There's no church yet, but there are study groups forming. Since the Nicaraguan women tend to be more spiritually inquisitive and sensitive to the things of God, the women members of the team prepared special Bible studies which proved very valuable as they conducted over 20 Bible studies.  

Vinton explains from there, "We're hoping that in another year or two, we'll have an actual Costa Rican family go as missionaries and possibly have an international team of different groups in South America, as well as an American missionary couple."

Already, Vinton says, "We have friends, we have contacts--people who used to be members of our church in Costa Rica who have moved back home to Nicaragua, who are foundational to this ministry."

It's an exciting time for Grace Ministries."Pray that the nationals will catch a vision of doing missionary work. I believe this is one of the big things that we're seeing happen in all of Latin America."