A Table, a Testimony, and a Transformed Family

We’re encouraged to share this recent story about the work of the gospel in the life of a family at Iglesia Cristiana Centrados en el Evangelio in Central Falls. Jonathan Lugo shares:

A few months ago, what for us was a normal dinner with some people from the church became a discussion of what God had done in the lives of these people. 

As we ate dinner together, a group of brothers let us know what their lives were like before they began attending church and what the gospel has done to them. They shared, “Pastor, before we started attending church, there was no peace in our house. It was all fights, shouts, and insults.” 

These brothers had left Guatemala when their father almost killed them. Their father continually physically abused them and nearly killed them. So they fled Guatemala for the United States in order to find somewhere safe. But violence continued to be part of their lives as the older brother mistreated his sisters, beat them, and yelled at them just as his father did with him. 

They say that their life was complete chaos before they came to Christ. 

But once they started attending church, something changed. 

They no longer felt like continuing to fight or shout at each other. Now the older brother wanted to help his sisters instead of hitting or yelling at them. The gospel had reached each of them. 

This family came to our church over 3 years ago when a young man invited them. At first they were a little resistant since they came from Catholicism, but they decided to continue attending Bible Studies. When we officially started as a church, two of these brothers were baptized at the first baptism, the older sister married her child’s father and together were baptized, and then the two younger sisters were baptized. Each member of this family was touched by the glorious gospel. 

Since then, this entire family has served in different areas of the church and now are the ones who share the good news of the gospel with others they know. 

Their story is an amazing example of how the gospel can bring peace to any home. No history is too broken. No pattern is too entrenched. And no family is beyond the reach of Christ.

Around a dinner table in Central Falls, we were reminded again that God is still writing redemption stories and that His gospel still turns chaos into peace.