Pastor Igor Dias Ramos
Lleida Bible Church, Spain
I am Igor Dias Ramos, born in 1986, in a German colony in southern Brazil. My parents raised me with Roman Catholic principles until I was 18 years old, when some friends invited me to join a Pentecostal church. My dream since childhood was to be a soccer player, and this was my passion until 2008, when I was hit by a truck and this accident was God's way of taking me out of a world of vanities to lead me to an eternal life. It was from this moment that I understood that God's calling for my life was to lead people not just to celebrate a game for a moment, but to rejoice in the eternal salvation that has been given to us in Jesus Christ.
In 2007 I married my beautiful wife Eliane Kochhann de Miranda, and we have been married for 17 years. For over 12 years of marriage the doctors had told us that we would not be able to have children, but our prayer to the Lord was to give us wisdom to rest in His will. Until 2020, in the midst of the Covid pandemic where many people died, the Lord granted our heart's request, we have been graced by Him with a son through IVF treatment and in this month of July 2024, our son Christopher will be three years old with great health, lots of love and desire to know God and our King Jesus Christ. Glory to God for his tremendous generosity and goodness to us.
After some years of theological training in seminaries and participation in Reformed churches, the Lord is sending us back to Spain to help strengthen the local church in this country. But in March 2022, on a mission trip to Paris, I met two Christian women, as in the book of Acts 16:9; "At night a vision was shown to Paul in which a man from Macedonia was standing praying to him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" These two women told me that they had been praying for a Bible church in their city, Lleida, for more than 15 years. They begged me to help them get to know God in a way that the churches around them had not been doing for many years. So from that moment on, my wife and I began to pray and ask advice from our pastors about the possibility of starting a work in the city of Lleida.
Lleida is the capital of the region of Segrià, with 211.7 km², it is one of the largest municipalities in Catalonia. Founded in the 6th century BC, it is the largest city in the Principality outside the province of Barcelona, a modern and cosmopolitan capital, an AgroBiotech reference in southern Europe, with an important communications network, a pillar of its geostrategic position.
In September 2022 we moved to Lleida and started meeting in our house until we had no more space and moved to new premises in November 2022. I am pastoring this small group of brothers, which sometimes has grown due to the curiosity of the people. Curiosity to know a reformed church, but they do not want the commitment that God demands of them with Himself, with His Word and with the people of God, so very few stay to be part of the people that the Lord has called, justified, is sanctifying and one day will glorify Him.
Today we are a group of 8 members, five candidates for baptism and eight candidates for membership. On Sundays we gather about 25 people to read the Scriptures, sing the Scriptures, pray the Word of God, listen to the Word of God and see the living Word in the fellowship of the breaking of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper and in loving one another.
We have spent over a year studying the book of 1 Timothy in Sunday services. This summer we will study the marks of a Biblical church and in September we will begin the study of a book of the Old Testament. On Thursdays we study the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. And once a month, on Sunday afternoons we have our prayer meeting, in which we meditate briefly on the Word of the Lord (this meeting is an opportunity for new preachers), listen to two or three short testimonies and spend a lot of time praying for our church and for the churches around us and around the world, and also spend time seeking the Lord together as a church.
September 2024 Update:
Beloved friends and brethren who join us in our walk in faith and in the planting of the Bible Church of Lleida. We would like to thank you for your tireless prayers for us, for your support in words, letters, and pleas before the throne of grace so that we may find grace at the right time. Our prayer for you is that you will be knowing the love of Christ every day and that your faith will be strengthened and transformed as you draw closer to God in devotion and worship.
DIAS FAMILY
Thank the Lord as a family, we are understanding the challenges of raising Christopher as he adjusts to school. It is not being easy helping him adjust with new children, new habits, new characters and personalities. But at the same time, in the midst of these challenges we can see the hand of God molding us as parents, to be more patient with him but at the same time to give him direction to love his neighbor and be gentle with those we do not agree with.
Eliane is in the process of validating her studies in Brazil so that she can teach both as an English teacher and as an infant teacher.
This month of September was also a special month, because my beloved wife had a birthday, and we had a beautiful time with the sisters and neighbor friends to share the gospel and the work of God in my wife's life. I give glory to God for my wife and for her tireless work in helping me in the raising of our son, in the ministry and in the evangelization of our neighbors. Praise God for one more year of life of the woman that the Lord has placed at my side as a helper and full of virtue.
My back pains have increased these last few days, and I hope the Lord will give me grace to endure them without having to take too many pills. But may these pains transform my character more Christ-like.
I would also like to thank you for the prayers for my mother, Vera. She is already doing much better from her throat surgery. She has already started to work. But she still has a lot of limited speech and weaknesses due to the cancer treatments. But she is a very brave and strong woman. We pray that this strength will be transformed into surrender before our Lord Jesus Christ, and that she will recognize that she cannot sustain her life on her own, but in the Lord Jesus she will find true refuge, protection and the true tree of life.
BIBLICAL CHURCH OF LLEIDA
This September we have received two new sisters as members of our church, and this Sunday they were able to participate in the Lord's Supper, and the emotion of them to celebrate this reminder with a new mentality, biblical and serious, respectful and full of knowledge of the love of Christ for his people, was a shocking moment for the whole church, we were excited along with them.
But at the same time that we joyfully received these two sisters as members of our church, sadly we also had to excommunicate the 5 people that 4 months ago we had started the process of church discipline. As a church, we have expected an attitude of repentance of their sins of division, gossip and murmuring, and that they obey the commandment to congregate in a church that preaches the gospel. But without any response from them, nor a letter showing their desire to be reconciled or that they are congregating elsewhere, on Sunday, September 29, we had to dismiss them from fellowship with the body of Christ and beg God to have mercy on them.
We have started a new sermon series on the book of the prophet Micah, with the title Judgment & Hope. And we hope that the Lord will use this precious book of Micah to bring to His people fear, reverence and awe for a God who is all powerful, but who forgives iniquity and overlooks the rebellion of the remnant of His inheritance, who in Christ Jesus has borne the full weight of His wrath, and has called us to fellowship and obedience.
Thanks to the Lord, also this month we have been able to give input in the legalisation of our church with the government of Spain. Thanks to the brothers of AIT, who are supporting us in all areas of our life, God willing we can be recognized as an official church, with name and identity number.
We are also preparing for our second anniversary, on October 6. When we will receive a team of precious brothers and sisters from the First Baptist Church of Lake Buttler, Florida. These brothers will be with us for five days, and they will share with us the gospel of Jesus Christ that transforms people of every language, race and nation. They will also share with us the work of God in Florida, and we will unite as one body to worship the one true and living God.
Prayer requests
Brother, continue to pray for:
Christopher's adaptation in the school, and that our life guided by the Lord may be of enlightenment to the families of our son's school students and colleagues.
We pray that Eliane will be able to find a job that will allow her to take care of the house and Christopher.
We ask for prayers for my health, that soon I will have the surgery to burn the nerves in my waist.
We pray for the conference on October 6. For the trip of the team of brothers from Florida. For the people who will hear the message of the Cross in another language, more to be transformed by the power of the Word of God.
We pray for our new members of our church, that they will be an example and an impulse for others to also commit themselves to God and His church.
We pray for the gospel in Spain, that the churches that represent the Lord Jesus Christ will not be afraid to be faithful to God and not diminish the gospel in order to reach more people for Christ.
We pray for the faithfulness and effectiveness of the proclamation of the Word of God in our church. As we are diligent to study His Word and proclaim it faithfully, may the Lord would like to save His people and transform His children into the very image of the Lord.