Kairos. One of the two greek words meaning time. Specifically, Kairos, means the opportune, the critical time. For followers of Jesus it means God’s moment or God’s timing. It’s difficult in the moment to tell when you are in a Kairos; however, I believe that’s where we are in world history, and where VidaNet is as a ministry in Central America!
I (Austin Zuercher) am one of the DaVida staff members, our goal as DaVida is to bring life to the churches and communities where we minister. Usually this is done through group events, projects, etc. However, when the COVID19 pandemic hit Central America, and specifically Costa Rica, where I live, this put a complete halt on the way we did things. Normally June-August are super busy with groups and Vida220. However, obviously border restrictions didn’t allow for that. I remember at the beginning praying and asking God “Ok God, now what? We can’t go anywhere; we can’t gather in large groups and do big events? Why do you have us here?!”
To be honest God did not audibly answer that question, He didn’t even answer it quickly! However, He did open doors to show us that we were in His Kairos. How did He open these doors? Well… let me tell you about two of those Kairos moments that are happening right now!
Sometimes a simple phone call can change your week, I was eating lunch two months ago, when Pastor Fernando called me. He’s a good friend of mine, Fernando pastors a small Mennonite church a few miles over on the mountain. “Hermano (brother) do you have groups at the base he asked?” “No not at the moment, borders are still closed for groups to come in.” I replied. “Ah ok, I was wondering because here at our church we need to paint some gates so they don’t rust, we have the paint, but at the moment there’s not enough people to help because of work schedules.”
“This is something we can help with!” I thought. I responded “but pastor, we have seven staff members living here that would love to help you guys!” He was surprised to hear that, and we continued the conversation.
The next Thursday us staff piled into the van to help paint. There was a lot to paint so we didn’t get it all done that day, but we came back and helped finish the paint job. Fernando was very thankful, we had a lot of fun together as staff and with him, and it was nice to be a blessing during this time. This led to us painting the kitchen and helping to repair some of the lights. Which in turn led to us going to the offices of the Mennonite Convention here to help paint and clean up. Which has led to opportunities to go to a Mennonite church in San José next week and a small Mennonite church on the coast in a few weeks.
How is this a Kairos? You may ask; “you’re just painting a wall!” Gracias for asking! Normally the summers are crazy here. We’re finishing Vida220, Casa VidaNet hosts huge groups that come and help with everything from work projects to evangelism to kids’ ministry. It’s an awesome time and many people have been changed and it’s a big help to the local church! Many of you have been down here in a group! So, thank you! However, many of the churches (especially in Costa Rica) know us mainly as the ministry that brings groups.
So, with the pandemic and many closed doors we are left with doing small things where we are at with the resources we have. By even our small staff group going to small churches this shows them that we are here to stay and here to serve in the good and bad. Serving through seemingly minor work projects has allowed us as staff to develop deeper relationships with the leadership of the Mennonite church than we would normally have during a crazy summer. By showing we are here to serve the local church in this Kairos even in small ways this opens doors for even more impact.
A Kairos moment is never expected, it comes many times when you least expect and with the tools you never expected to use. One of those tools has been Zoom. One year ago, if you would have told me that we would be using Zoom in Costa Rica and that people would connect for a video conference I would not have believed you! However, with meetings still severely restricted to protect public health, Zoom is one of the few options that we have for large scale teaching and meetings. So, together with the leadership of the Mennonite Church we have developed a monthly Zoom conference. The goal is to talk about mission, vision, leadership, and evangelism with local church leaders.
It’s amazing to see how many have connected and have been challenged towards moving the church forward even during COVID times. And since the event is virtual this allows for more people to connect from all over the country and even Latin America than would’ve been possible in person!
One person even remarked after the first conference after Pastor Omar Peréz from Upala shared about the importance of vision that “this was exactly what God had been challenging me about!” We have seen similar responses during the last few conferences during the small group times and interaction afterwards.
Yes, many doors have been closed, or actually slammed shut during this time. However, God’s not done moving, He has us in VidaNet here in Central America during this Kairos moment. Serving on a smaller scale and with tools I would’ve never imagined. God is working. This same thought I would leave with you, wherever you are God has put you here in this Kairos moment in world history for a reason with the tools that you currently have. Just like He’s using us to accomplish His purpose for this Kairos, He calls all of us whether we’re in international missions or not to work for His purpose during this Kairos.
By Austin Zuercher
VidaNet Staff Member
Good to hear from you Austin! Blessings in your Kairos moments. – Sherrie
Hey Austin!
Wonderful article. Thank you. Still praying regularly for you all in this strange time of Covid and Delynn’s passing. Love you brother! Mark