Unity is coming...

Some steps were made toward unity this past week in the church in Trujillo. For those of you who don’t know the history, I will try to give a brief recap. The Church of Christ has been in Trujillo around 20 years. As far as I understand, when the church was founded, the members met together in one central location downtown. Because this property was rented, they decided to meet in the Christian school. Since the church was growing, another building was constructed a few barrios away; hence, there were two locations where the C of C met. Then, as a result of conflict between two prominent church leaders, a second building was built, establishing the third C of C building in Trujillo. Since then, the church has been sick. People have been turned off by the conflict and those who still faithfully attend are quick to point fingers and place blame. The church culture here is such a thick web of stories that only after living here for a year did I begin to understand what was lying under the surface. The story still continues to unfold. Unsettled murmurings are always present and no one has been willing to address them directly…until this week.
I have been communicating with a missionary from Catacamas, Olancho (originally from Panama) named Jorge Vargas. He came to give a talk to the youth of Trujillo, but ended up exhorting the church to move beyond the past. As an outsider, he wasn’t afraid to speak clearly about the attitudes and fallacies that he saw during his time in Trujillo. He challenged the youth to take the initiative needed to change things in the church. They have already approached me about directing a choir involving all of the C of C youth groups in Trujillo and about planning retreats and day events in which we can fellowship together. Praise God! During the united church service on Sunday that culminated the evangelistic campaign, he presented several steps toward unity and exhorted the church members to not stop talking about this. He will be returning in October to teach another youth seminar, but made it clear that he will be asking about the steps that have been taken toward realizing the vision of a united church in Trujillo. It feels like the beginning of something big…