Pastor and His Family Return to His Native Roots to Build a Tent Church within the Bribri Tribal Nation
This spring, God opened doors to be able to fund a furnished meeting tent for the new ministry of Pastor Luis Selles. The new church is located within the Bribri indigenous tribal nation in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica.
Pastor Luis is a native Bribri himself. He and his wife Susan had lived in San Jose, Costa Rica, the last several years, serving with Youth With A Mission (YYAM). The Lord placed it on his heart to return to his native roots to plant a church that would serve not only a local congregation, but also to serve local pastors in expanding their ability to bring more people to the Lord. Additionally, if he will coach local residents to be more self-sufficient by learning how to market their local products, and that would be a benefit to the community and to the Kingdom of God.
In March, Melva and Jon were privileged to work with some close friends who live in Tucson, Arizona, as their church does an annual flea market sale to raise funds for missions. Several weeks later, Jon received a call asking if their missions team could hear a proposal for use of some of the funds their sale raised. During a Zoom call with the missions team from Christ’s Presbyterian Church in Tucson, they zeroed in on a prospective project that needed funding for this startup church in Talamanca.
A couple of weeks went by, when Jon got a call confirming that the missions team had indeed decided to fully fund the project, which would amount to just a little over $12,000. The church’s gift would underwrite the cost of the tent (16’x40’, just like others that YKPM had purchased for other churches) along with chairs, lighting, a sound system and other furnishings.
Praise the Lord! As of this writing, the tent has been erected and all the equipment is there and in use.
It is simply amazing how God works to meet the needs of His people who seek to fulfill the Great Commission by taking His message of salvation and grace to the nations.
Facts about Bribri
Population: 12,200
Indigenous people of Costa Rica
Called the “hidden people of Costa Rica”
Matrilineal society
Lowest income per capita in the country
Completing secondary education is rare with with only a few graduating high school annually
Fulfill basic needs by living off the land, growing their own food, finding medicines and collecting housing materials in the forest
Agriculture is their main source of food and income
Sell cacao, bananas and plantains
Grow and eat beans, rice, corn, and other produce
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Facts about Costa Rica
Population: Five million
One of the few sovereign nations in the world without a standing army
La Costa Rica means “rich coast” in Spanish
Leans more egalitarian than its Central American neighbors
Ranked 15th country out of 153 in the 2020 United Nations World Happiness Report
Has one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America at 97%
While considered an upper middle-income country, it still maintains a lot of inequality within its overall population
35% of children live in poverty
Only 20% of national services reach poor children
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