Partnership projects help change church’s image

Ten years ago, local officials in Colonia Tovar would never have thought of including Javier Rivera in civic occasions. After all, he’s the pastor of “the tent church.” He’s also a Baptist. 
   
Today there is seldom a community occasion where Rivera is not included. The change in attitude is largely due to the work of Alabama Baptists, he said. 
   
During Alabama Baptists’ partnership with Baptists of Venezuela, four medical teams and two evangelistic teams wound their way through the mountains to Colonia Tovar, a city of about 50,000 people, many of German descent. By law, all the homes and businesses have the appearance of the white, half-timber houses of the European Alps. Even Rivera’s church — the first Baptist church in Colonia Tovar — which meets in a red and white tent, complements the community’s white, half-timber buildings with red roofs.
   
In this unaccepting community known for being inhospitable to outsiders, team members furnished eyeglasses, solved dental problems with immediate care and provided medical treatment when appropriate.  They also shared their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and several people prayed to accept Jesus. 
   
Rivera recalled that each medical team treated about 2,000 people. “The teams were a blessing to the whole community,” he said. 
   
Evangelistic teams also worked in an area of the community called La Planada. Now the church continues working in the area each Saturday. Rivera said about 30 people participate each week as a direct result of partnership efforts. 
   
“The medical teams raised the profile of the church,” he declared. “We had a better standing in the community after the medical teams and evangelistic teams left than we did before they came.” 
   
He related that recently a couple from outside Colonia Tovar wanted to be married in the area. Local business people such as bakers and caterers were resistant to the couple’s request for their services until they said that the pastor of  “the tent church” was going to perform the ceremony. Then everything became much easier. 
   
The community’s barriers have slowly begun to fall.
   
Now, when a civic affair occurs, Rivera is among the religious leaders asked to participate.
   
“God is preparing the people of Colonia Tovar for a great evangelistic harvest,” he said. “Like John Knox prayed, ‘Lord, give me Scotland,’ I am praying ‘Lord, give me Colonia Tovar.’”
   
Rivera is putting effort behind his prayer. After 13 years of meeting in the red and white tent, the church broke ground in February for its first building. In addition to a worship site, plans call for a Christian bookstore, a Christian coffee house, an outside area dedicated to children, an outside amphitheater for drama, a radio station and a pastor’s home. 
   
To those who comment on the size of the church’s dream, Rivera points to the miracle of the church that has grown from a Bible study in 1990 to a persecuted group of believers at the end of the decade to a recognized and accepted group of believers in 2006. “God can do great things,” he said.