Lifeword

 From Bolivia to Paraguay and Back

“When I was seventeen years old and in high school a friend told me about Jesus. He shared the gospel and I trusted Jesus as my Savior. Like any young person, I was very excited about my new life and very happy to know Jesus. Soon, however, problems arose that drew me away from a deep relationship with Him. I went through some very bitter times before I learned that the love of Christ has no limits.”

Bolivian Ivan Filippini loves to share his salvation story. A church planter in both Paraguay and Bolivia, he is also a Lifeword global partner and shares the gospel to the Americas through media. 

Brother Ivan continues his story, explaining that, “As I reached rock bottom I found the sweet grace that transformed my life. I begged God to forgive me and I rejoice that His perfect peace became mine.  After this, I had only one desire, to serve Christ will all my being! I began trying to tell everybody about Christ and His forgiveness of sin.”

His enthusiasm for God’s mission led to his ministry calling, and In 2015 Brother Ivan met Regino Acuña, who discipled him, teaching him biblical principles and other aspects of ministry that, as Ivan puts it, “have been a true blessing to me and drastically changed my life forever.”

Brother Acuña continued to be a great influence on Brother Ivan’s life and introduced him to the BMA (Baptist Missionary Assocation). The two men began working together pastoring and planting churches in both Bolivia and Paraguay, and in 2019 Brother Ivan planted the first BMA church in Paraguay and now visits churches there to sure make sure they are thriving and multiplying. 

Unfortunately, during the pandemic, church members in one area fell victim to people with ulterior motives.

Fighting Back For Lost Souls

It’s called “the forgotten, or abandoned, place.” Tapuinkue is an indigenous community in Paraguay where the Guarani language is spoken. Completely cut off from access to the Internet, the Guarani live far from civilization but not far enough away from groups who preach false doctrine and take advantage of them. 

Before Covid hit, there were 45 candidates for baptism among the Guarani, but Brothers Acuñaand Philippini were not allowed to travel for five months, so they could not stay in touch with believers there. During that time a group of charismatics entered the community, telling the Guarani their beliefs were the same doctrinally. Unfortunately, much of the work there was destroyed. 

When Director of Operations Luis Ortega heard what happened in Tapuinkue, he asked Pastor Ivan Philippini, Lifeword’s Guarani-language speaker, if there was any way the Lifeword team could help. Efforts were already underway to build back the churches’ pre-pandemic numbers, and the result of that conversation led to a technology solution: Brother Ivan would record Bible, discipleship, and teaching content in the Guarani language, then load it onto memory cards for people’s phones so new believers could hear and understand truths from Scripture in an area with limited internet access.

Once a month, Brother Ivan and Brother Regino conduct house-to-house evangelism, preaching, and worship services in Tapuinkue and 60 people recently accepted Christ. The Lifeword team is honored to be part of this initiative. Please pray that the lives of Guarani in this forgotten and abandoned area will be transformed in the same way as Brother Ivan’s life was long ago.