COMMING SUMMER 2009

Dear friends and family,
We are excited to announce another pregnancy. No it’s not Kyle it is our church! Pura Vida is going back to its roots. After many months of prayer, counsel and confirmation we have determined that God is calling us to move back to Costa Rica and start a ministry in the coastal communities. We are still in the planning phases but like any pregnancy it is hard to keep it a secret for long. Below is a brief explanation of the direction we are taking and prayer points.

Vision: “Establish culturally relevant churches to the beach communities of Costa Rica & beyond"


Mission Strategy:
“Bring people to Christ one authentic relationship at a time.
Be Disciples and make Disciples of Christ.
Be a blessing to our Community.
Depend on the Holy Spirit for everything.”


Purpose:
Tourism, foreign influence and money have impacted these beach communities in a negative way, creating “sin cities” where prostitution, drugs and violence are the norm.
Legalistic church tradition and lack of resources have led to stagnated congregations who intentionally do not reach out to their neighbors who are unlike themselves.
The Gospel message will never change, but the ways to communicate it do. We will never compromise the message of salvation through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection.
However, we want to meet people exactly where they are in their life and deliver a message of love and hope in Christ in a way that is real to them.

"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings”
1 Corinthians 9:19-23


Ways we want to serve:

1-Weekly worship service in downtown rented space in Jaco (English and Spanish)

2-Home church seeker style bible studies (English and Spanish) Esterillos-Jaco-Hermosa and other coastal communities.

3-Coffee shop office hours in Jaco:
approachable and informal way to encourage people to talk to a pastor

4-Christian Surfer Esterillos and support of Christian Surfers Jaco by providing a save place for them to send the people they reached.

5-Kids Club Jaco and Esterillos – a weekend kids outreach based on building relationships

6- Discipleship program for mature Christians (English and Spanish)

7-Counseling and restoration (walking alongside listening) for those coming out of prostitution and drug addiction or just having a bad day.

8-Being an asset to the community in any possible way– often the church seeks help from the community we want to be a church that gives to the community. We believe that the church must have a positive influence in the community to believers and nonbelievers alike.

9-Training the future servants.

10-Bridging cultural gaps.

11-Beach Camp for underprivileged inner-city children (twice a year).


Prayer Points:

- pray for flexibility on our part as we try to cast the vision God has given us to others
- pray for new leadership to take over Pura Vida Church in Santa Barbara (we have a couple in mind)
- pray for our leaders as they guide and direct us in this process.
- pray for the “details”
- finances
- international move
- residency for Kyle and Elias. USA citizenship for Dennis.
- Dennis’ education

If you want to support this non-profit ministry and be a blessing to the people of Costa Rica, send your tax deductible donation to Pura Vida Church, 1435 Cliff Drive- Santa Barbara- CA 93109 (Memo: Costa Rica).