Making Progress

Yesterday was a good day. All I can say is Greg and I got a lot of stuff done in Bolivian terms. The director of SIM for South America once gave Greg the advice, "If you can get one thing done in a day, it was a day well-spent". We managed to get several things done, making it almost as productive as a laid-back day in the U.S.

Greg and I also had a good conversation about unity and diversity in the Church. We went to Mr. Pizza´s (pretty decent for being in South America) and talked for a couple hours. He had some very valuable insight regarding the Maillasilla Bible Church (the church plant Im working with). You wouldnt realise this from an outside perspective, but the church has actually done something remarkable for Bolivia. They have managed to transcend many socio-economic boundaries. At Maillasilla, one can find any kind of person, from professional upper-class, to Aymara Indians, to impoverished children. In Bolivia, these clasifications are very important and form the structure of Bolivian society, yet Maillasilla, as small as it is, is a functioning church with these walls torn down (or at least partially).

Greg also told me that back in the states there has been some theology that says God has created us to search for like-minded people, thus making a weighted church a good and valuable thing. You have one church for the evangelists, another for the charitable, and another for the passionate worshipers, and together they form the Church of Christ. The only problem with this is that they are not together. Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week for America. This is especially true when we think about the line of thought that runs through the minds of many U.S. church-goers - which church is right for me? Which one fits my individual needs and caters best to my personal preferences? This line of thought is destructive and runs the exact opposite way of unity. Anyone who has a good family knows there is a certain level of tolerance and appreciation of other family members in order to have a good, stable relationship, and in that tolerance and appreciation, beautiful things come out that would have been impossible if everyone were just like you.

I have made an effort to put myself in a place where I am not 100% comfortable with the atmosphere around me. Going to Harvest has been a bit of a challenge for me in the sense that the majority of the people there tend to function and focus on God in a different way than I do. Sometimes it even makes me uncomfortable. What better place for me to be than at Harvest Chapel? I am surrounded by people who can stretch me in ways I do not naturally stretch myself. Not only that, but the gifts God has given me can be used in much greater ways when used around people with different gifts. We are one body, but with many parts.