Another week of forecasted rain, clouds and general dreariness in central Illinois. But, as you read this, 5 of our people are in Honduras serving the poor.
After several weeks of raising money, procuring passports and getting ready to go, Steve, Leslie, Kathy, Tara & Josh, along with a couple from Grand Rapids, MI, flew out of Chicago on Sunday morning to spend just over a week in Honduras building a simple home for a poor family.
I know they would covet your prayers for them in the coming days. Along with all the “normal” challenges of a trip like this one – physical health, team dynamics, travel — Honduras has often been in the news in recent months due to political unrest.
I want to use this space this week to talk about why I think trips like this one are significant. When I teach ImagoSTORY, one of the things I always talk about is that the church – any church – has three objectives: community, formation & mission.
Community is who we are — a people united in our love, devotion and dedication to Jesus. And so, it’s natural, that as we follow after Jesus, formation happens — we are always in the process of shedding off our sinful natures and becoming more like Jesus. In doing this, we understand that we have a mission in the world – to love and serve people in Jesus name, making other disciples.
So, here’s why I love an opportunity like this one: it’s a natural environment for an overlap of community, formation and mission. That is to say that there may be no more pure expression of the church than when people are willing to pursue an opportunity where they serve people together, and in the process, they become more like Jesus, which drives them to more opportunities like this one.
We hope that this is only one of our first trips. Part of this group’s mandate from the church is to scout out new ground — to assess the possibilities for future trips — to see if there are opportunities for other kinds of trips — medical, educational, etc., in additional to construction trips. I hope that you are inspired by Steve, Leslie, Kathy, Tara & Josh. And maybe next time, you’ll be at a place in your life, where you too can experience what they will get to experience this week.
In the meantime, please pray for them (right now).
I am very excited about the idea of other kinds of trips in the future. Being pretty uncoordinated (and a wimp), I often shy away from trips that will be super physical. But I can totally wrap wounds, administer medicine or hold babies for moms in a Bible study. Looking forward to what’s to come!!