Exploring Long-Term Partnership in Guatemala
Over the nearly 20 years of pastoring this church, we have sent numerous teams on short-term mission trips to various international locations: Chain of Love Homes in Brazil (Twice), Canada First Nations Camp, Ghana, and Hungary. We have maintained connections by supporting missionaries in Brazil and in Hungary, but we have not had an intentional Long-Term Partnership with any of these destinations.
Long-Term Partnerships offer the opportunity to build relationships over time with people from other cultures and to consider not only how we might gain from the experience of a short-term mission but what we are contributing and receiving through the partnership over time. We come to see over time how people from another culture are following Jesus and encouraging others to follow Him so that we can see with fresh eyes how we are being shaped by our culture and how we can be more effective in encouraging people here to follow Him.
The Mission Team set a goal to explore establishing a long-term partnership this year. We originally were considering Hungary as a field where the NAB has a presence and where we have gone in the past. Bret Clikeman, our International Missions Advocate, when comparing the time to travel to Hungary compared to the time to travel to Mexico or Central America, wondered if we might make a better investment by choosing a closer destination.
This past February we had Ron and Jeannie Seck who serve the NAB in Hungary as Community Health Evangelism (CHE) field workers share with our mission team, Little Rock Ministry, and the Leadership of our church on the principles of CHE. These principles are right in line with the principles of Long-Term Partnership in that they encourage input from the people we are partnering with about what would be helpful to them and working with them to make that happen. Hearing about our interest in exploring something in Central America, Ron referred us to Dr. Hugo Gomez who is the director of Global CHE in Guatemala.
Community Health Evangelism seeks to transform hearts and communities with the Good News of Jesus Christ. “CHE seamlessly integrates evangelism, discipleship, and church planting with community health and development.” The United States is struggling to cope with the crisis of people flooding into our southern border. Many of these people come from desperate situations in Central American countries including Guatemala. Working with CHE in Guatemala is a long-term way of improving communities there by the hope of the Gospel that helps address the crisis our own country is facing. As the point person for our church, Bret has a demonstrated passion for the people of Guatemala that could help sustain a partnership over time. Besides our congregation, I have hopes of involving other churches in our Upper Mississippi Region in sustaining a partnership like this. Working together on such an endeavor would strengthen the bond of churches in our Upper Mississippi Region
Please be praying for our exploratory team of Bret Clikeman, Sandy Trampe, Joan Blair, Evelyn Hahn, and me as we travel to Guatemala to meet with Dr. Gomez and see some of the different areas of work their organization is involved in and consider how our organizations might benefit one another by partnering for the future. We will be leaving on Friday, Aug. 4, and returning Wednesday, Aug. 9. Each person traveling has committed at least $500 of our own money. Most of us will also be supported from money budgeted for this endeavor in the church’s 2023 budget. Thank you for your generous gifts that allow us to GO! Show Jesus’ Love and Share Jesus’ Story.
