Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Peru Partnership - Why bother?

At our last Congregational meeting (Decemmber 2010), a motion was passed to continue to foster a partnership between Calvin CRC and Gamaliel Church in Patchacutec, Peru. 

In April, the Pastor of this church is coming to Calvin CRC to meet us.  Many here in Calvin, and Cornwall CRC, are quite excited about his coming.  It's not often (I don't think at least) that North American churches invite the Pastor's of churches they have gone to minister to.  This can be for many reasons:

1.  Learning Opportunities happen in such a way as no relationship is forged because churches go to different places every time.

2.  The person needs a visa to get into Canada or the U.S.A.  and this can be problematic  (as we discovered).  

3.  We think we should only be going to visit the church in the other country, but not have the church we are partnering with come visit us. 

All these issues, and there are more, prevent us from thinking outside the box at times.  I think having Pastor Sergio come to visit us in Canada is a wonderful way for him to meet us and forge a proper partnership that will last for a long time.   

However, some might ask, "but why?"  

Well, Nick, one of our Partnership Planning Team members answered that question so well a bit ago, I wanted to place it on my blog in preparation for Sergio's visit.  You may not agree with what Nick has to say, or you may be shouting "Amen" from the rooftops.  Either way,  I think Nick gives us all food for thought as we here at Calvin consider not only our relationship with Gamaliel church in Peru, but how we treat our missionaries, and what we do day in and day out in our lives here in Ottawa.  

Enjoy the words of Nick, and let them seep into the core of your being.......


 Why International Learning Opportunities?


Nick did some research on the rationale for overseas initiatives. Here are some of his thoughts:

Members of Calvin have now participated in three International Learning and Sharing Trips. A total of about 50 members, both youth and older, have been to Patchacutec, Peru, as well as many others who are not part of Calvin CRC. Why is Calvin involved in these types of trips and should they continue? Many questions can be asked in connection with these trips.

a. Isn’t this an inefficient and costly way to do mission work?

b. Wouldn’t it be more cost effective to send the funds to organizations already doing such work (e.g. CRWM and CRWRC)?

c. Can’t our members do mission work locally at less cost?

d. Wouldn’t it be more cost effective to provide funds to the organization in Peru so they could hire local people to do the construction work?

e. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to send the materials or funds to allow the local church members to organize the VBS program?

The answer to all those questions is yes, but only if the trips are seen to be “mission” trips or trips whose main purpose is to construct a building or put on a VBS. But they aren’t. And that is why the trips are not being called “Mission Trips”. There really is no need to send Canadians to Peru to do “mission” work. The “church” has been very active in Peru for centuries and are well equipped to do all of the “mission” work required. Christian Peruvians can organize and put on a VBS and do the required construction work. In some areas (like Pachacutec) there may be the need for financial support since local church members are resource poor, but they have great ability to do God’s Work.

However, there is another, more important, reason for these trips. That is the development and nurture of the church. In the Apostles’ Creed we confess that we believe in “one holy catholic church”. These trips are an excellent means of implementing that statement. But, cannot we do that closer to home? Perhaps even in our own city?

While there can be valuable learning and sharing experiences locally, there is are valuable benefits from doing it internationally. The majority of Christians now live in the “global south” and the church is growing more quickly there than in North America or Europe. We have much to learn from the church in other areas, and they have much to learn from us. These trips are an excellent way of doing that learning and sharing.

We are going to Pachacutec to learn and share together with the Gamaliel church there. We are going to work alongside our fellow Christians, to get to know them better, to pray and share with them. We are going there to encourage them and to have them encourage us. We are going there to learn how the church in Peru lives and does its mission work, and to support them in their work. Through these trips we know that members of Calvin will get a better understanding of how our brothers and sisters in Christ live, work, and worship in Peru where poverty and poor living conditions are common, and in a way that is not possible to experience locally or in other areas of Canada or the U.S.A.

International trips will allow us to develop a better understanding of inter-cultural differences and to provide all of us with better knowledge of how we can serve our Lord, both here and elsewhere and how we can more effectively work together with other Christians doing that. While it could be cost effective to provide funds to the church in Peru to do their own mission work, we would not be building relationships and encouraging each other. We might even be creating a dependency relationship - them depending on our financial support. And we would lose the good opportunity of learning how others live and worship.

There are also benefits for the members of the church in Pachacutec. They are participating in a learning and sharing experience too, and they will be strengthened in their faith and commitment to do mission work by our visit and partnership. Hopefully we will be able to have some of the Gamaliel church members visit us here too. The important thing is to ensure that we are sharing as equals, not just thinking about what we can do for them or get out of the experience. Yes, these international learning and sharing trips can be costly in money terms, but the learning and sharing that goes on provides benefits that make those investments worthwhile. It strengthens both Calvin and Gamaliel churches.

You can go to the Thursday, February 3rd blog entry to read the latest letter from Pastor Sergio.  He is quite excited about coming here to see us. 






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