Dan Alcantara

Category: Ministry

  • Meeting Jesus at the dinner table

    Meeting Jesus at the dinner table

    Earlier this year, I had the privilege of writing for The Word One to One about our family’s story of using a tool for evangelism as a family devotional.

    During a conversation with an old friend, he asked me what we were doing as a family for our devotions together. I had to confess to him that we weren’t doing anything at the time. Even though I had spent years training in Word ministry, I had neglected the wonderful task of taking my children through God’s word.

    A simple plan for family devotions

    Convicted of this, I knew that I needed to do something. What made it tricky is that my wife and I are both in full-time ministry. We’re a busy family of six. There’s only so much time, on top of all the other responsibilities, that can be spent putting together a Bible study that can speak to an 8-year-old, 15-year-old, and any age in-between.

    I decided to take the family through The Word One to One because I had used it in group settings before. I knew the commentary and questions were helpful and accessible. I also knew that it was written with the conviction that God’s word really is God’s word.

    Our plan was simple: after dinner, everyone grab a Bible and we’ll work through an episode together. So while the dishes were still on the table, we opened up John’s Gospel and I led us through each episode.

    Persevering with family devotions

    The experience of taking a family through a Bible book is a bit of a mixed bag. There were evenings when it was easy and everyone understood what John was saying. There were difficult evenings where everyone was frustrated or tired because our conversation got derailed, or we got stuck on tricky passages. Then there were evenings where everyone understood but the weight of the message of Jesus moved the children to tears.

    But we persevered by God’s grace and persevering paid off. We made it all the way through John’s Gospel last year and finished Acts as a family earlier this year. Our children now have an understanding of the book that they wouldn’t have had otherwise. They can remember John’s message and understand it when someone references it in a sermon.

    Most importantly, though, they responded to John’s message. John wrote this book so that his readers would believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that they would have life in his name. And that’s what happened to my children. They believed and then were baptised in May 2025.

    The fruit of family devotions

    Family devotions are hard but they’re worth it. Those tear-filled evenings were not easy, but they were tears that fell over trying to understand who Jesus is and what he said. The Word One to One is a great option if you’re unsure what to do for family devotions because it puts the Bible in front of young eyes. It allows God’s word to do the work. It stretches parents as they try to answer questions that might not be addressed by the notes. It helped my wife and me to clearly present the gospel to my children. It helped us all to learn together and to be reminded of just how good the gospel is.

    I didn’t know that God would use these devotions to save my children but I am so grateful that I had this opportunity to set them on the path that leads to Jesus.

  • Hand-me-down faithfulness

    Hand-me-down faithfulness

    This was originally posted on The Habitus.

    For a number of years, I worked as a bank teller. Each day was filled with initialling bits of paper, getting really fast at the number pad on my keyboard, and learning how to not lose count while everyone around me is also counting money out loud.

    Part of the job was being familiar with how to check if a note was counterfeit. We had a special UV light for checking security features. We had pens that would show a weird colour if the note was fake. We had to learn what security features were actually crucial because the currency we were dealing with could be any age. Once a US dollar bill is printed, it is legal tender for as long as it lasts. Here in the UK, currency has to be traded in when new security features are made.

    We rarely had to use the tools around us.

    All day long, our hands were on genuine currency. We learned, from extensive handling of the real deal, what the surface of the paper was meant to feel like. We knew how it would crease and wrinkle over time. We know how it would look at various stages of its life in circulation.

    You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 1

    The last time we looked at 2 Timothy, Paul held up two possible responses to Paul’s message. You could choose to abandon it like Phygelus and Hermogenes. Or… you could be like Onesiphorous, one who sought Paul earnestly, stayed faithful, and supported him in his hardship.

    As I read over this, I see two actions that Paul wants Timothy to make. Actions that will make him like Onesiphorus.

    Be strengthened

    At this point, we don’t know exactly how long Timothy has been at work in Ephesus, but it’s clear from the tone and content of the letter that Timothy is tired. He is weary.

    What does he need? To remember what he was given, the very gospel of Jesus Christ. To remember who is at work in him, no less than the Holy Spirit himself.

    In other words, he needs to remember that he is a Christian who has been called to the work that he is doing. It is an exhausting, labour-intensive work (this becomes clear as the rest of the chapter unfolds). But it is a work that he has been equipped for.

    Raise up leaders

    Paul also wants Timothy to raise up people who can do the same job as him. Men who are faithful, men who will receive and hand down the very same message that Paul publicly taught. Men who are willing to follow the pattern of Paul’s message but also Paul’s method.

    But we renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word… 2

    A quick flip over to chapter 3 proves why Timothy needs to be instructed to do this.

    As I consider the work that I am doing now, I can understand Timothy’s struggle. He has been sent to a place that has a wolf problem3. Paul is calling him to come to him, to leave this church in a vulnerable position.

    For Timothy to remain faithful, to still be recognised as the genuine article as a gospel minister, he has to be able to let go of the work he is doing in that place. He has to be prepared to hand it down to those who will keep the work going.

    As a church, we are growing and getting stronger. We’re still quite small but there are already Sundays where I don’t get the chance to greet everyone. If things go as we hope, this is a problem that won’t go away.

    So what is there for me to do? I have to be prepared to raise up others in the church to welcome. Though we are able to handle all of the church’s teaching in house, thanks to the presence of gifted and faithful men, there will come a time for all of us to retire from that work.

    One of my early mentors in ministry often talked about how his whole philosophy was trying to work his way out of whatever job he had. He wanted to train people who could take over from him. One of the reasons why I am maintaining a quiet hope regarding the so-called Quiet Revival4, is that the church needs more young men to be saved and trained so that they can continue the work.

    The Christian life is a hand-me-down life. We are given the old, old story to tell so that younger generations can believe the same story. And the pattern repeats.

    1. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, p. 2 Ti 2:1–2. ↩
    2. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, p. 2 Co 4:2. ↩
    3. Acts 20:28-31 ↩
    4. I do have my reservations ↩
  • the way that seasons change

    the way that seasons change

    I’ve been keeping this blog in one form or another for a number of years now. For a long time, the purpose was to keep mission partners updated as we went about our days as missionaries here in the UK.

    Many of you have followed us while we raised support, while we settled into life in Liverpool, as we found ourselves suddenly living and serving in Warsaw, and then moving to Scotland during the pandemic. We started this journey in 2017 before moving away from the States in 2018. So much has happened and changed in the time since then.

    This month, my family visa renewal was successful, which is the first step in ensuring that we will be able to continue in ministry here at Ardgowan Square. Tracy’s role with AT3 has shifted again, with her now the acting Director of Internships while Naomi, the normal director, is on maternity leave. Life and ministry have gotten very busy, but it is good.

    As I try and assess what the future looks like and what things to keep up with, one thing that seems to keep getting pushed further and further to the periphery is this blog and newsletter. It is not that I do not still enjoy writing updates about how we are getting on with things in the church or at home or with AT3, but it is simply that there is only so much time to write.

    Over the past few weeks, I have begun writing regularly over at Substack. My plan is to keep doing so because I am making writerly friends there.

    And so this is the last email newsletter that will come from my own personal blog. When you next hear from me, it will be the next post in a series I am writing on 2 Timothy. If you’d rather not receive those emails, please feel free to unsubscribe. You’ve been following along with my writing for a long time now. Thank you for sticking with us for so long, for your prayers, and your financial support of our mission in the past.

    In the mean time, see you on Substack.

  • The quiet moments before Sunday wakes up

    The quiet moments before Sunday wakes up

    Whether or not I am preaching, I get up as early as I can on Sunday mornings. It’s a time to prepare for worship. I make coffee and then sit down. Some Sundays I complete that day’s Bible reading. Sometimes, there just isn’t enough time before my family wakes up.

    What I do, though, is write out my notes for my pastoral prayer. I consider the news that will be on the minds of the congregation. I consider the situations in their own lives that will be distracting them as they try to listen to whoever is preaching. With those things in mind, I write out my prayer. Sometimes it is in bullet points to be worked through during that slot in the service. Sometimes, as today, I write it out fully formed. When appropriate, I will pray out big theological truths.

    We are only saved because Jesus is fully God and fully man. God is absolutely sovereign over everything, even if we don’t yet understand how to reconcile that with the tragedies we see playing out each day. Salvation is real, despite my daily failings to rightly live out my faith.

    It’s in the pastoral prayer that I try to teach theology to a people who do not see a use for theology.

    I write out my notes for leading the Lord’s supper. Today, I’ll be reading from Romans 5:1-11. My goal is not merely to lead Christians to the table but to lead the unbelievers in the room to the foot of the cross; to explain why we instruct them not to take of the elements. I exhort them to ponder what they are hearing and to believe.

    By now, the house is waking up and it’s time to make more coffee.

  • Ministry & Family Update – October 2024

    Ministry & Family Update – October 2024

    Autumn has arrived, the clocks have moved back (at least for the UK), and we are well into our teaching program for this term.

    Preaching through 1 Peter with the team has been an incredibly rewarding experience. We’ve been able to open up these amazing truths not just for the adult congregation but also for the children who are among us each week. As I write this, I’m in the midst of preparing for the final third of this book (chapters 4-5). We’ve seen how elect exiles are to live all of life for God’s glory and we’ll soon see how they will endure suffering for God’s glory.

    It’s noteworthy that Peter doesn’t actually describe the prior sinful ways of his people until he gets to chapter 4:1-11. He spend so much of the letter focusing on their new identity so that when he shows the way they used to live, the futile ways inherited from their forefathers, they are shown for what they are. Futile, even in the face of suffering for doing right, when compared with the wonder of what Jesus has made them by his saving work.

    Ministry

    The month began with a trip to Edinburgh to attend the Evangelism Conference put on by A Passion For Life. Dave Jensen presented a real, practical approach to evangelism that helped join up a lot of things. The biggest, and most encouraging thing for me was the emphasis on the evangelistic power of the local church gathering each week. The local church is the place where people can hear the Word, see God’s people together, spend time with God’s people, and be prayed for by God’s people.

    My time at the conference and subsequently reading The Soul-Winning Church has really pushed my prayer-life forward as I think about what things I need to be praying for regarding our small church.

    We’ve also had the joy of some new people starting to come along. They’re relatively new to the area but it’s been great to have them with us for the last few weeks.

    New gospel workers in the west of Scotland

    As a former AT3 apprentice, the first to work in the west of Scotland, I have had a particular burden for seeing more people come to this area to work.

    In the last couple of months, a new AT3 family has arrived from the States to train at a church that we have some ties to. It was so good to be able to meet up with Caleb and Rachel Sides and their children for lunch a week or two ago. They’re being very well-taken care of by their church and I’m looking forward to seeing Caleb from time to time at conferences in Glasgow.

    Prayer requests

    As always, we have some things to keep in prayer.

    • I have begun planning for Advent and the new year teaching plan. Over the next couple of weeks, I need to confirm events like Blue Christmas and our Christmas Eve carol service. These are all great opportunities to preach the gospel and our church building was absolutely jam-packed for our carol service last year. Pray that the planning would go well and that the church would be on board with bringing as many people as they can to the events.
    • Tracy is busy with AT3 work. Not only is she handling things like their mobilisation processes and helping with the summer internship process, but she is also involved with coaching apprentices. Pray for Tracy as she undertakes all of this work, that she would serve as one who serves by the strength that God supplies.
    • We are also looking ahead and praying about the future for our family. Our hope, and the church’s hope, is that we will be able to stay here to continue working but we need some things in place for that:
      • My next visa application is due in February. It is a big, expensive application. We’re confident that it will be successful and we are so thankful that a significant portion of the cost is being covered by a private donor. If you’d like to contribute to the cost, do get in touch with me via email.
      • Continued funding for my role. For the first three years, my position is funded by a collaboration between the church and two other trusts. Looking beyond those three years, we will need to source extra funding in order to cover the gap that will be lost. This is a big project that is being undertaken by the elders and myself. Pray that God would provide what is necessary for us to continue ministering in this place.