Encouraged This Morning!

I am encouraged this morning as I reflect on the activity and ministry that happened this weekend among our little fellowship of house churches.  

 

On Saturday afternoon, Martin and Rosa called from La Piedad—just to connect and see how our week had gone.  They shared about their week and their ministry among addicts and their ongoing desire and efforts to see God’s kingdom come more powerfully to their own family.  Martin told me that his older sons and some of their teenage friends were planning to be together with the church that meets in their home on Sunday—that he was praying about the time they would have together and was preparing himself to tell them the story of Jesus’ encounter with the leper.  I wonder how it went.  But I’m encouraged to know how they are thinking and trying to live into their faith…

 

A few hours later on Sunday morning early, Jose Luis and Juliana called me from the street.  My family and I were with them and their church last Sunday in their colonia the week before—as about 25 members of their family and friends met to eat, sing, pray, share their hearts and read the Bible together.  Yesterday, they called saying they were on their way to visit and meet with Omar and the band of Jesus followers in and around Omar’s house in Jocotan (another area of the city).  Since the group with Jose Luis and Juliana doesn’t usually meet until the late afternoon, they wanted to take advantage of the early part of the day to visit and meet with the other church.  Nancy and I felt so encouraged at the news of their leadership…their initiative…the sense of love and responsibility that is developing among these groups.  They seem to grasp the importance of living in and incarnating Christ in their own neighborhoods and among their own families—yet they also know they are part of something larger than just this—they form a part of the larger body of Christ in their city.  

 

I had breakfast this morning with Omar—he told me that the day was great—he told of the encouragement he and his group felt from Jose Luis and Juliana—of how Omar’s wife is being drawn to Christ by the transformation in Omar’s life and by the community of Jesus followers around Omar.  

 

At the same time all of this was happening on Sunday, Gerardo and Carola and a few of those from the church in their colonia had plans to begin something new among a family on the other side of the city.  They planned to enter into this “house of peace” and to begin sharing and proclaiming Jesus as God gives them opportunity.  Their prayer is that this will be the beginning of a new Jesus community—a new church.  I wonder this morning how it went. 

 

But I’m encouraged to see evidence that God is moving among my dear friends… 

A Grace-Filled Weekend: On Mission to Kids with A House Church in La Piedad

We spent the weekend on mission with a house church in La Piedad, Michoacan.  This church began 2 ½ years ago.  Martin and Rosa are people of peace who invited us into their home and into their network of relationships to demonstrate and proclaim the Good News of Jesus and the Kingdom.  From the beginning of our relationship, they have wanted us to help them grow to be a vibrant spiritual family of Jesus in and to their neighborhood.  Experiencing God’s work through their lives has been one of the highlights of the past couple of years.   

Martin and Rosa—and virtually everyone around them—live in a world marked by alcohol and drug addiction.  Almost everyone they know fall into at least one of these categories:  addict, recovering addict, codependent family member of addict.   

They believe that God has rescued and graced them so they can participate with God to rescue others.  They especially feel fashioned by God to help kids and youth to choose a better path for their lives.   

This past weekend, we accompanied them in their 2^nd kids/youth weekend.  The 1^st one was back in November.  This time, four leaders from 2 of the house churches in Guadalajara joined my family and me and almost 30 kids and youth from their network of friends and family.   

We spent about 28 hours in and around Martin’s house ministering to, playing with, and talking and listening to kids.  It was messy.  At times it was wild.  There were really 2 groups of kids.  There were about 20 young kids (5 to 11 years old).  There were 8 youth (13-17).   

It felt good to be useful in God’s hands—to really feel like God reached in to the lives of desperate and hurting kids.   

We told and played three stories from scripture.  Early on Saturday, we told the story of Creation—were able to really talk about God’s dream for humans and for the world God made.  We listened to each other admit that the world we live in seems a lot different than the perfect one that God called “good.”   

Later on that afternoon, we told the story of the 1^st humans and their choice to not trust God and to disobey—we were able to really talk about the lies being spoken around us—about consequences—specifically the ones we’ve seen with our own eyes and experienced.  We discovered together again that God looks for people even when we’ve messed up.   

On Sunday morning we told the story of Adam’s and Eve’s children and how as 2^nd generation humans, they had to suffer consequences of their folks’ disobedience—and how they also got a chance to choose for themselves.  We challenged one another to not live as victims. 

In the hours after each story, there were conversations and games.  There were activities and some really powerful skits and object lessons.   There was singing and praying…and some crying. 

It was a great weekend—great to feel used by God for good in the lives of kids who really need some good.   It was especially good to see God work through my friends—to see people very dear to me live more fully into God’s design for their lives–and for them to know it. 

Guadalajara Partners’ Meeting

Today, I’m in reflection mode as I think about the last few days—and the days leading up to them.   

This past weekend we hosted our 4^th Partners’ Meeting for the Guadalajara Multiple Church Planting Project.  We’ve hosted four such meetings since our mission effort began here 10 years ago—in 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008.  The general idea of these events are to invite representatives, church leaders, ministers, etc. from the U.S. churches that partner with our mission to spend a long weekend with us—seeing, experiencing, discussing, and evaluating with us the ongoing mission partnership we share in our region.   

This year we hosted 26 representatives from eight Churches of Christ in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Washington.  We chose the theme “The Story Continues…” and tried to facilitate the presentations of multiple perspectives of the ongoing story in which we find ourselves.  This year was unique because we invited a couple of missionary families who are living a similar vision in Mexico City to join us in the telling of the story.  All and all there were 41 adults—seven missionary families and the stateside partners.   

We started off on Friday night with a Noche Mexicana eating tacos, listening to Mariachi music, and allowing everyone to get acquainted with one another.  Saturday morning was spent with presentations, stories, videos, break out sessions and group discussion related to “Telling Our Story” from the perspective of the missionary families.  We especially focused on telling and trying to interpret what has happened since our last meeting in 2005.  Saturday afternoon and evening was spent in smaller groups as the partners went with missionary families to their homes and/or the homes of Mexican Christians—a taste of Mexican family life and culture.  On Sunday we spent several hours at a park with the fellowship of Mexican house churches.  Five groups were represented as we spent time in worship, food, fun and fellowship.  After eating, we invited people to stand and tell a story of God working in their lives.  It was cool to hear the stories of both Mexican and U.S. Christians.  On Sunday evening, the missionaries and U.S. partners met for a wrap-up session where we asked the partners to reflect honestly on  and share their perspective of the story—to give us feedback on what they had seen and thought.  Monday morning was spent shopping in a tourist area of the city—everyone boarded planes and were gone from Guadalajara by mid-afternoon.   

The weekend was full.  I was overloaded with multiple conversations, ideas and feelings.   

Today I’m tired.  I sense the need to reflect and collect my thoughts—to discern God’s word in this weekend—to seek clarity. 

I sense it was an important weekend.   

Today, I’m thinking of the story recorded in Luke 8:19-21.  I want to live as “family” with Jesus.  I want to clearly hear God’s word.  I want to put it into practice.