IFES World Assembly from my Latin American perspective

     IFES World Assembly (WA) in México was unique experience with its own challenges and joys. Extending hospitality to the world meant different things for Compa, which range from: sleepless nights, planning, giving rides, opening homes, investing time, listening with patience, forgetting offences, and in all, opening the heart. It was a challenge but also a privileged to be a channel for God´s grace in Latin-American colors and flavors. This time I cannot remember one, two or three things I learned, in part because my job was to Emcee (with Toto from Uruguay) and help participants connect the morning sessions with one another and with the whole WA program. My thoughts and reflections are in a more general tone.  

I value being part of a global community where there is space to recognize the gifts and differences among regions and countries, and to celebrate God’s multiform grace. Being part of this diverse community implies recognizing the huge differences which separate but also encourage different ways of incarnating the Gospel of Jesus. It is a humbling practice to consider other perspectives, other struggles, and the things which people from dissimilar contexts ignore about our own realities. God used World Assembly to affirm me in his calling to student ministry, and very particularly, invited me to a continued theological reflection. In this WA I saw clearly that the way in which IFES student movements understand and try to live out the Gospel in Latin America –as part of its heritage- seeks commitment to the social context and urges an honest dialogue with the demands of our countries beaten by international abuse, violence, gangs, corruption, and repression. For us in this part of the world it is not a luxury but a need for Christians to fully grasp the Good News of Jesus, his forgiveness, life, hope and reconciliation, and to live by it and express it in all dimensions of life and society. Theological reflection is necessary and it accompanies action.

At WA I remembered and thanked God that in my life as a student leader in Compa I was taught to love God´s World, to study it, to teach it and live by it. It was not something theoretical; I saw it clearly in people, read stories and experienced it in certain places like the IFES WA in Poland in 2011 where it became clear to me that loving God´s Word is fundamental for all the IFES global community. However, this is only one part of the story, because as we love and meet God in his Word our natural response is to aspire to know him more and to love the World that He loves and for which Jesus gave his life. I also learned this and saw it in people from Latin America; I am grateful for those with similar concerns who walked with me in Scripture to meet a God who is committed to the whole world and has something to say to its different problems.

Our double-calling is to love God´s Word because through it we know Him, and learn to love the world He loves. We learn to do mission Jesus’ style, which is: incarnational, relevant, suffering, communal and creative. For us it means to share this Good News in the Universities, who are also affected by violence, corruption, abuse, indifference, discrimination and other world values that do not help life flourish. Engaging the University means hurting with it and doing mission there, to sing its pains and hopes, to think christianly about its problems, reflect upon them, to write and to have a prophetic voice. It also means to love our classmates, walk with them amidst their grievances and sometimes to march with those who want to produce change, and aid in the awakening of conscience, praying for God’s kingdom to come. In México, the Good News cannot just be words, nor an individualist message or a purely spiritual one; the implications have to be seen, they need to be thought of and lived with urgency so others may find Jesus in the midst of hopelessness, violence and indifference.

There were distinctive moments in WA that I specially value for its particular way of allowing me to “see” God present in our world. I remember Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian teaching God´s Word, talking about suffering as Christians and about being faithful to God before seeking personal safety. His words echo in my context as they defy us to not bow to the gods of might and pride, to not try to escape suffering or want to assimilate to the ways of the world, but to be willing to give up one’s life out of love. I think of conversations with my African brothers and sisters who have the challenge of living in places of religious violence and following Jesus means not utilizing violence, but loving their “enemies”. I still go through the words of Ruth Lopez who shared with humility and authority the challenge of using one’s profession and God´s unlimited resources to serve others, to serve our communities and not separate from the poor nor to ignore their needs. I do not want to forget the conversation with a Slovak sister who shared about her context, and turned out to be very similar to Mexico. I cherish the conversations with my Latin American friends about our particular heritage and our urgency to connect the Bible with the World, to understand mission as being socially committed, because in the end, we cannot understand it differently.  

Thoughts on writing history about missions and imperialism

Last month I wrote a paper on Melinda Rankin, who was the first protestant missionary woman in Mexico. What I learned about her life is still relevant when it comes to issues like mission, imperialism, feminism and racism. Here are some ideas taken from my paper, about her life, as well as more of my own thoughts:

"The relationship between missions and imperialism is hard to disentangle. The context in which Melinda Rankin served, both in Texas and Northern Mexico suffered great changes during the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848. The United States expansion into the South was influenced by an understanding of their superior being and its role to rule and influence other nations; this set of ideas is referred to as Manifest Destiny"

Manifest Destiny is mostly an unconscious belief that considers those who are not protestant, nor Anglo-Saxon as inferior. Many of us who are in a context in which there are Protestant "missions" conducted from North to South still experience this superior-inferior play, sometimes masked by pious actions, but many times displayed by shows of power and grandiosity. This is a major problem as it fails to acknowledge the dignity and value of every person, and it profoundly affects the way people view themselves. The Gospel turns out not be very good news for those considered less and it fails to recognize God's redemptive work in every culture. The other problem is that the Message of the Gospel is not presented in a Jesus-like manner, but actually follows a worldly pattern that keeps itself away from the messiness of others, and wants to be unaffected by those whom it is supposed to serve.

One of the sad effects of imperialistic missions is that when we get the Gospel in this manner it generates an inferiority complex on those on the receiving end, and it also reproduces itself when we encounter others who are different from us and whom we do not understand. We become unable to see God’s image and initiative; we get a distorted Gospel and we may continue to share it with the same distortion that (subtly) declares that a certain race, class, culture or nationality is better. By doing this, the Gospel does not challenge our culture, but is accommodated to it. As we see this in our midst, we need to repent.

Melinda Rankin is an interesting figure as she is a daughter of her time, but was able to challenge many of the assumptions of her peers. Rankin did not support the Mexican-American War, she opposed the belief that Mexicans deserved being eradicated or killed rather than evangelized, and risked her life and reputation to personally preach among Mexicans.  Even though her views mirrored the nationalism and superior views of Americans, her first allegiance is shown to be to God´s kingdom and not to her nation. This may well be one of the most radical stands a genuine Christian in this century can take as we live in a world in which nationalities play a key role in our understanding of life and values.

The calling she received from God as a woman, in a context of male predominance, may have allowed her to identify with others considered inferior. She did not fight for power or recognition as she understood how God had revealed himself in Jesus and how God used weakness to show His glory. She led as a women, and was more able to make personal connections with indigenous people in order to share the gospel, which also led her to a more holistic ministry than most men. Rankin firmly believed Mexicans could do a better job than foreigners in sharing the gospel, and she identified valuable traits in her Mexican friends and neighbors.

I am grateful for this woman, and the example she set even when she is not well-known. The study of people from our past and history is always useful to help us think of the present-day circumstances, and it is good to recognize that we write considering our own questions and concerns. I have learned we need to study and write with humility and compassion. There is certainly room to denounce injustices and be critical of the ways in which the Gospel is accommodated to a certain culture or value, but we need plenty of humility to recognize our own prejudices and wrong assumptions about people, cultures and the way in which God works among us all. 

You can read here the full paper on Melinda Rankin and the sources consulted for research. 

Borderlands 2012

It is hard to put in words what God did those 6 days in my life and the lives of all of us who were part or Borderlands, and I am also hesitant to write because not even a week has passed since we finished. What I can truly say is that it has been one the most significant experiences I've had in student ministry. We had students and staff from very different backgrounds (and countries: USA and Mexico) come together, work together, really get to know each other, talk politics, cry, pray, worship, share the gospel, seek justice and reconciliation, and be trained in the big issue of migration. I was deeply moved by the real partnership and collaboration we had, modeling equal relationships in the kingdom of God; and this was true both for staff and students. For me as Compa staff it was a blessing to host, share, and bless my brothers and sisters from IV because we gave ourselves to them and they did the same for us. I think the friendships that were started and/or cultivated will be key to God's kingdom in the coming years as we seek for God's love and justice in the issue of migration in our countries.

We spent the first 3 days in Tijuana, Mexico. The first night we slept at a shelter for immigrants, heard their stories of pain, separation from their families, poverty, suffering and hopelessness. We prepared some food to share the next day in the central bus station, shared our first impressions, and prayed for God to really break our hearts for all this. The second day was a full day. After giving food to migrants and homeless people, we got to hear more stories, some of them of hope and of what Christians are doing to love their neighbours. We took a tour around Tijuana, shared how we do student ministry, the uncertain political context of our country and more of our lives and struggles. We ended the day with a party: bible study, food, worship, community, prayer and music! Students and staff from IV stayed at the homes of Compa staff and students, and came to our churches the next day. On sunday, we even got to share God's Word in my church and challenge others to not only be hearers but to live out the Gospel with concrete acts of love and service.

On the third day we crossed the border to San Diego, leaving behind more than half of the Compa students who participated in the project, because they don't cover the requisites to ask for a visa. It was a different experience to cross and suddenly see how a border has the capacity to make us feel different. As Mexicans we don't feel welcomed in the US, there is a feeling of inferiority rooted in our shared history, and we felt suddenly overwhelmed by the differences in our countries. But our new friends made us feel welcomed, love and cared for. That night at the beach we all prayed together for the political unrest in Mexico; we all cried to God as one. The next day we met Enrique Morones, a social activist that fights for the rights of the migrants, and went to the desert to put gallons of water for the people who walk for days in order to cross into the United States. We went to a cemetery in which there are more than 700 unidentified people that died trying to cross the border in the desert. It was a very powerful experience, that lead me and others to think about the urgent need to do something. At the end of that day we spent time with God thinking about the challenges and reflecting about all the pain and injustices of our broken systems.

On the fifth day we were trained by Alexia Salvatierra on how to advocate for undocumented people. It was a full day of training and sharing life and experiences. It wasn't only in issue of laws; during those days it became clear we were dealing with people and families, and with our responsibility as Christians to love and care for the stranger. The love that grew between Compa and Intervarsity people became a statement of how God's love brings down any barrier and enables us to care deeply for one another. That night we dreamed about how this Borderlands project can continue to be an instrument for God's kingdom in bringing together communities to to do mission together in Gods's world. On the last day we got to share with one another what we were grateful for, what we saw God doing in our lives and a challenge we felt God was asking us to take. I was amazed at the miracle God made in our lives. He lead us to see, care, have compassion, love, and He also brought us together as a body.

I can just pray and hope for projects like this to continue, and that we can Iive like true communities of disciples that testify about God's kingdom in this World and the World to come. I am sure that God will use experiences like this to shape our lives and continue to challenge us to love our neighbors as ourselves as an expression of our love to him.

Some highlights and personal lessons:

·         Real cross-cultural partnership for God's kingdom is a challenge, but it is definitely worth it. We get to know more of who God is and who we are.

·         Bringing together students and staff from Intervarsity and Compa was an opportunity for God to work within our hearts things such as: compassion, reconciliation, racial identity, and cultural understanding.

·         Migration is much more than a topic for the "borders", it is a global issue that affects us at different levels, and requires that we as Christians get involved also at different  levels.

·         Having Compa and IV work together helped us all see the issue with different eyes and exposed us to a more complete idea of life in both sides of the border.

·         Friendship is key to continue working on this kind of projects.

·         God really gave us a gift from this experience, and it includes things for my personal life and the way I do and understand student ministry.