Worship services
Weekly Services in Bretaña
In the Bretaña church, services are held every Sunday morning and every Wednesday and Friday evenings. They are led, on any given event, by one or more of the four pastors; Jose, Clara, Larri and Jazmin. When missionary teams are present, members of the team are invited to speak and Pastor Jose interprets their words into Spanish for those present as very few villagers speak English.
All services are “Spirit-Filled” with singing, dancing, preaching, arms outstretched, and are attended by all age groups within the village. Special programs involving children or teenagers are regularly included. The atmosphere is very relaxed, and many times villagers that don’t want to come inside participate by standing just outside any one of the 20 open-air windows. All services are built around strong salvation messages, and often villagers will come forth seeking healing for one problem or another.
Weddings
Christian Weddings
Weddings in the Bretaña church are truly a village event. Anyone and everyone is invited to attend. People arrive by foot or three-wheeler vehicles. Most enter the church but some choose to watch from the outside through the open-air windows.
Preparations for a wedding begins between 2 and 4AM as open-air fires are started, food is cut-up and placed in large cook-pots to cook for hours, and the church is prepared with balloons on the entrance door, and chairs and tables arranged within. Any missionaries wanting to volunteer to help are welcomed to do so.
The wedding will commence with a formal procession usually by teenagers of the church, led by Pastor Jazmin. The couple will enter and go through a traditional ceremony where both are prayed over by the presiding pastor present and they say the vows to each other. If a missionary pastor leads the ceremony, Pastor Jose is present to interpret into Spanish what is being said as very few villagers speak English. Then a formal signature ceremony overseen by the local village administrator takes place.
Once the formal signatures are completed, the couple joins the audience to view the beautifully choreographed dance routine performed by the teenagers for the event.
While the dance is underway, the food prepared earlier that morning is brought in and is served first to any children present. Then a small buffet line is setup where everyone in attendance can serve themselves a wonderful lunch meal after the performance is over.
In 2023, an additional six wedding ceremonies were performed.
baptisms
Baptisms in the Amazon River
Baptisms in the Amazon River Region of Peru are exciting and are generally attended by anyone from the village that chooses to come. It is a time of celebration and usually afterwards some type of group social event on the banks of the river, sometimes even music, volleyball or soccer games, occurs.
It is very common for family members or even members of the local church or local village to enter the water to be close to the individual or individuals being baptized. Quite often one of the pastors present will hold a person’s hand and lead them into the river, to the point of baptism.
All missionary teams visiting Bretaña are invited to be baptized in the Amazon River. It’s common for a father to be baptized first, then if he so desires he is assisted with the baptism of any of his children that are also on the missionary journey with him. This experience creates a truly amazing experience that one remembers for the rest of their lives. Usually everyone from a missionary team that desires to be baptized will all enter the river together to participate, in one way or another, in each other’s baptism. If a pastor leads the team, that person may perform the actual baptism; or if anyone desires, Pastor Jose will gladly do so.
Needless to say, baptisms throughout the region are wonderful events. They signify that a person has accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior and their baptism is a testimony to all in attendance of this decision. Since the ministry began, hundreds of baptisms literally in all age groups have been performed, and as the ministry continues to grow, many more will occur.
In 2023, an additional 40 baptisms were performed.
pastoral training
Occurs at Multiple Locations
Pastoral Training is a major and very complex ministry in the Amazon River region of Peru. In past years it was accomplished primarily by visits to each remote village church to counsel with, teach and develop that village pastor. Due to the river travel time to each village, this was very time consuming.
To try and optimize time a little better, during the year the various pastors would gather at the church in Bretaña for joint worship, discussions, training and prayer. As the number of remote village churches keep expanding, God revealed to Jose and Clara in 2015 that a building in Bretaña, next to the Bretaña church, needed to be constructed for the purpose of intense training for not only pastors, but for their wives as well.
It is called SOS which stands for the School Of Supernatural. Supernatural because an undertaking of this magnitude simple could not be performed without the Grace of God overseeing it. The full story the building’s construction may be read on the SOS page.
In 2019, when the 3-wheeler turn-around slab was poured at the entrance to the building, a training session was held on the slab for remote pastors.
Then in February 2020, Pastors Barry Clingan, Bobby Atkins and Michele Cohen brought a missionary team to Iquitos for in-depth spiritual training. All the remote village pastors, with their wives and several others, attended this week-long conference. While Barry and Bobby taught and ministered to the men, Michele ministered to the women. Pastor Jose was the interpreter for the men. Evonne Moose, a member of the missionary team, was the interpreter for the women.
The SOS facility, as it is nearing completion, will become the central site for on-going pastoral training and ministry, for men and women. Several training sessions have already been held there in 2023.
A two-acre garden next to the facility is being used to raise various crops and small animals so that the pastors and their wives can be taught how to do likewise, and how to gather and cook what is being raised. A second garden has been acquired where Cocoa and Orange trees are growing.
In 2023, pastoral training occurred at least once every month at one location or another.
men's ministry
Usually in Small Groups
Pastor Jose leads the men’s ministry meeting in Bretaña twice a month, usually in the afternoons after most work for the day is finished by the men.
He also trains the remote pastors on how to do such within their respective churches.
Each meeting starts casually with questions to get the men to open-up and start talking, like: How are you doing? Do you like your wife? Do you like your church?
Using scripture, a devotional is always presented, and in such a way as to get the men to discuss what that scripture means to them. A great deal of focus is on how they can become better husbands as the village lifestyles in the Amazon lead to a lot of infidelity with mistresses.
How they can better serve their wife, their church and their village are always discussed. Christ-like living is always stressed.
Coffee and snacks are served and the meetings always incorporate prayer, laughter, and singing.
In 2023, over 120 men were discipled.
women's ministry
Usually in Small Groups
Pastor Clara leads the women’s ministry in Bretaña and when she can travel with Jose to the remote village churches she does likewise there.
The meetings are scheduled for every Tuesday afternoon and usually last about four hours. Clara will present a scripture-based devotional, and intercessory prayer is always performed; praying for each other, those not there that day, those that are sick, and for neighbors in general.
Singing and praising God are always a part of each meeting. Also, questions are asked to get everyone talking and sharing any needs they may have, with the group.
Quite often, with Clara’s leadership, the ladies will organize visits to families within the village that are struggling. Bags of “goods” are prepared and delivered by the ladies to those families along with a word of hope.
Refreshments and snacks are available and a time for socializing occurs.
Many ladies' events were held in 2023, with over 275 women being individually discipled.
teenage ministry
For All Ages of Teenagers
Pastor Jazmin leads the teenage ministry in Bretaña.
The group usually meets on Saturday afternoons after the teenagers have finished their chores for the day. Jazmin will always share a word from the Lord and everyone is encouraged to discuss in-depth what they understand Jazmin’s teachings to mean to them. Plus, everyone is encouraged to share with the others anything that is currently on their minds.
Praying, singing, dancing, and skits are a big part of teenage worship. Jazmin leads in teaching songs, showing them how to do coordinated group dancing and exposing them to ideas for cute skits. These are usually designed and developed to be performed by the teenagers in church for normal services as well as for special events, like weddings.
But quite often these activities are performed elsewhere in the Bretaña village, and two to three times a year are performed at selected remote village churches.
Refreshments and snacks are available, and everyone is encouraged to laugh and just have a great time. Many of the teenagers have been a part of the group for quite a few years.
2023 has seen a major focus on Discipiing younger teens as many of the older ones have departed Bretana for higher education in cities like Iquitos.
In 2024, our youth ministry has taken off with a new set of young teenagers. The ages we work with are between 10 and 16 years old. Every one of them wants to know more about God and all pray earnestly.
This year we had bells in the Breana Plaza with songs and choreographed dances designed to express the powerful word of God. We also held several two-day camps with games, times of praises, dances and prayer.
We hope to be allowed to enter the secondary school to talk with the students there about God, and hold praise dances, shits, and take snacks. Your prayers for this youth ministry in Bretana is greatly appreciated.
children's ministry
Usually Divided by Age
Pastor Clara leads the children’s ministry and is just adored by the kids.
The children usually meet before church services on Sundays and sometimes after church as well. Clara uses the help of multiple older teenagers so that the children present can be divided into similar-age groups.
Clara will share a bible-based story with everyone, then each group will have a bible verse to memorize, tailored to the ages within each group. Spiritual growth, even at very young ages, is focused on.
The teenagers will help to get their group of children to sing songs and maybe even dance a little together. Having fun at church is important.
Since 2017, Clara’s ministry has organized a Christmas toy drive that now reaches over 400 kids throughout eight different churches. The remote churches are notified in advance when the pastors will arrive, day and approximate time. The pastors give inputs on how many girls and boys they think will be there. Clara and Jose take toys accordingly, but always have gender-neutral toys just in case the numbers are different once they arrive.
2023 was an extremely active year for ministering to children with major events occurring every other weekend. Literally hundreds of children of all ages were ministered to throughout numerous villages as well as Bretana. In December of 2023, once again arrangements were made to deliver toys as well as food to 450 children throughout the ministries area of operations. Children form seven remote village churches, as well as a large Sunday School class of children in Bretana received both toys as well as food.
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healing ministry
Can Occur at Any Time and at Any Place
While healing is not a defined ministry for Pastor Jose, it occurs so often that one could certainly believe it is.
The power of salvation, then healing through prayer and faith occurs often in his and Clara’s ministry.
Missionary teams are encouraged to participate with Pastor Jose as they pray over any villager that comes forward desiring healing. These request for healing can occur anywhere. Quite often someone will come forward as part of a worship service seeking prayer over them for some type of physical problem they are dealing with. They can occur at the Amazon River during baptisms. Or sometimes as missionary teams are merely walking through a village area.
Pastor Barry Clingan of The Church at Trophy Lakes often comments in church about his experience in watching the cataracts disappear from an old woman’s eyes as he and Pastor Bobby Atkins of Truth Tabernacle of Praise church were praying over her for this to happen.
Opportunities for healing present themselves sometimes when they are least expected. Please take just 5 minutes to watch this video of Pastor Atkins experience while merely walking down the street of a remote village he and his missionary team were visiting.