#6 - Commissioned by the church

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#6 - We are commissioned by the church for this mission trip.

Sunday morning we sang two Spanish songs for the congregation and were commissioned as a mission trip. Whoever planned the church service did a great job. As a visitor to this congregation, I appreciated the hymns--all Spanish hymns--and the sermon. The minister has had personal experience in Guatemala and talked about the contrasts we will see.

To be commissioned, we were asked to kneel in the front of the church and the entire congregation came forward and touched us, or one another while prayers of support were said for our Guatemalan friends and us.

As Presbyterians, we do mission in partnership. Here are some excerpts from the statements adopted by the 212th General Assembly, June 2000.

“The Presbyterian church (USA) seeks to engage the church in faithful and vital global mission. As Christians, we understand “Mission” to be God’s work…. As Presbyterians we do mission in partnership. We have in recent decades sought to be more intentional in our mission through ‘partnership’ based upon mutual respect and sharing with churches around the world…. In mission there must be awareness that partnership demands all partners seek:
--To answer God’s call in mission, not serve our own needs by “doing good”
--Opportunities for initiatives in mission by any partner, not one-sided efforts;
--Mutual respect, not paternalism;
--To meet the holistic needs of churches and people(s), not serve narrow agendas...”

There is much more to this church statement, but the above statements give you a taste of current church mission. Does it remind you of any stories you have heard about missionaries in the past? As we prepare, we remind ourselves that we are in partnership, not being selfish or as said earlier, paternalistic.

I wonder how I’m going to be affected by this trip; how will our team be affected; will we in turn will affect our home churches. While all the immigration issues bubble in the U.S., here we are building a global perspective. This is satisfying work.

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Photos

everyone carries water
We're carrying our water for the first day.

group shot
Here's a group shot in our t-shirts that Christina made.

getting our tickets
Tim got a good shot of us getting our tickets.

Singing in the church
We sang a lot of Spanish hymns at church. Here we are singing some of our favorites to the congregation. Jeff is accompanying us with his travel guitar.

Being Commissioned in Church
The church members came forward and touched us to commission us and send us on our way with prayers from the minister. It was a very moving ceremony.

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Vaya con Dios!