The What? & Why?

            This last week in Florida has been both inspiring and encouraging. I am so happy to be working with my good friend Ryan Secrest (no, not that one). Ryan was a fellow Global Studies major in college and a far superior student than I, so I am honored to work with and learn from him.  It has been refreshing and exciting to see someone who is asking the right questions and approaching his work thoughtfully and intentionally. Ryan has been asking me good questions and challenging me to further explore my actions and beliefs.

            I have been hesitant to write about the reasoning for my upcoming trip to Colombia. I am hesitant because I want to be clear about the purpose and intention of my trip. I wish to explain myself before you imagine me as just another young idealist trying to save the world. Because in actuality I am just a foreigner awkwardly trying to assimilate to a new surrounding, bringing with me my cultural bias and ethnocentric views.

I realize my limitations. I am a white guy who speaks mediocre Spanish, moving by myself to a Latin-American country. Do I really expect to be helpful? What do I have to offer Colombians that nationals cannot? Do their communities really need changing? Or do I just perceive that they do?

            I believe these are important and necessary questions to be asking for anyone attempting to work cross culturally. How do we justify such actions? Are we really creating positive outcomes or simply going with good intentions hoping it works out?

These are questions, which I have pondered before. They are difficult to answer, but here are a couple of lessons and postures I wish to encompass as I attempt to address such important questions.

1) I am going as a learner.

            I believe that cross-cultural learning can be enlightening. As we see life lived in a different context, we begin to re-think what is important and valuable. Suddenly things, which once seemed so important, can begin to appear trivial. I’m sure I will comment on this more as I travel. However, I want to make sure that my actions and intent do not oppress my views and agenda upon a place where I am a guest. Therefore as I enter a new place I am prepared to receive so much as I encounter and soak in the environment around me. However I can also share and give back as there are lessons and values that can be gained from my perspective and culture. That is the beauty of diversity we can experience life from a different perspective. I no doubt will find frustrations and appreciation of both my host country and my native one as I gain a new perspective. I must remember that both can learn from the other.

2) Partnership and empowerment

            The program I am working with is called cultivate. Cultivate is essentially community research and program design. We research a community to ask what their needs are; we connect with local partners and influencers to design programs to address these issues.  This research and design equips leaders to work toward effectual and lasting change in a community. In other words I am not really doing work in the community but instead giving tools and resources to locals who are already making positive change. Cultivate wishes to partner with churches and leaders to use these tools to help them be more effective.

3) I come with a message of Hope

            This next part is the most important to me however; it is also a subject that I approach with fear and contemplation. Fear because as I use words such as Gospel, God, Christian, or even church I know those words will conjure up 100 different connotations and implications to those who may be reading. I know this because in my own life those words have had 100 different implications and meanings… If however, you are still reading I want to tell you what the Gospel means to me.

            I say a message of hope because I believe that is what it is, a message of hope to the hopeless, freedom to the enslaved, restoration of that which is corrupted.  Holistic transformation, i.e. right relationship between people, God, and environment this is the end goal.

            The power of that message lies in the gospel, the good news of Jesus. The news that his grace and acceptance is for all people, that he loves everyone with no exceptions. As I seek to understand what that means and the freedom that comes with that message I daily struggle to believe its truth and power.

            Throughout my journey I have many times been disenchanted with Christianity, the church and how that looks in reality. It has seemed very imposing, unloving and imperialistic. It is hard to understand in context of world religions and culture. I have struggled with the thought of- “do I only believe this because it is what I have grown up with?” However, as I have taken small leaps of faith to believe the crazy claims of the gospel like “If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me." (Matthew 10:38, The message translation). As I continue to further believe and accept such claims I further understand its truth and relevance. It is not about following rules or going through certain motions it is simply accepting and engaging a relationship, which God already wants with us. Nothing more.

            I think I will forever have issues with the actions and image of the Church. That is because it consists of people, who like me live far from that encompassing message of hope and love. I hope that the work I will be a part of can help to redeem that image.

            As I doubt and struggle to understand the message of Jesus, I get tiny glimpses of what this Gospel message looks like. As I seek to understand it I believe I am developing a deeper and more encompassing glimpse of Love and how that looks. I say glimpse because I am screwed up there are so many things that inhibit and prevent me from fully living in that freedom. But those glimpses give me a vision of Gods picture for humanity and that is something that I want to be a part of.

             Therefore as I go I believe that my minimal actions are a part of something bigger. I hope to empower people to better bring about the vision of a restored community, which the gospel professes. “The goal is restoration-a wholeness that is envisioned when the Bible describes peace. God’s vision for a restored community that knows NO LIMITS to love, to beauty, to peace, to wholeness, to justice, to prosperity and to joy. The chief task of the church is to seek restoration of its community through the preaching of the Gospel in both word and deed.” (cultivate pamphlet)

Word.

 I feel privileged to have the opportunity to travel, which is something that I love. I wish to treat this opportunity with thoughtful intention and purpose, while not taking myself too seriously.

If you are a praying person please join me on this endeavor.

Muchas Gracias,

-Chad