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| Dios es Amor Summer Camp 2013 |
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels,
but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”
Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 13:1
Thank you Paul, those are great words, but just
what exactly do they mean in the real world?
That is the question many in the mission
community are struggling to deal with as churches work to better connect with
people in their communities, be they in Las Vegas, China or Mexico, where I
serve.
It used to be that evangelism and showing love
was understood as knocking on someone’s door and sharing the Gospel with
them. Whether that was through a
program like Evangelism Explosion and their 2 important questions or a sharing
of one of the famous Chick Tracts, saving someone from hell was seen as the
ultimate expression of love.
Now we are seeing a different view as people
strive to give their love a practical expression that was often missing in the
types of encounters mentioned above.
One of the churches I work with, Dios es Amor [God is Love Church] in
Ensenada is doing a good job with this.
8 years ago we helped this church, known
locally as IDBEA, realize a dream of having an overnight camp for the children
of the community around their church.
I remember the staff feeling overwhelmed at the thought of taking care
of meals and programming for the 15 kids we had back then.
Now that little idea has morphed into a month
long day camp that has almost 100 kids in attendance from 7:30 in the morning
until 4:00 in the afternoon. And
this year we kicked off the month with a 2-night camp that was attended by over
75 kids from the local community.
You want to talk about love? Hugs, games, exercise, good food, field
trips, laughing, crying, caring adults and young people helping all contribute
to an atmosphere that oozes love and compassion for the families of this little
corner of God’s world in Ensenada.
What is even better is that everything that
happens at this day camp is a result of the family of God saying to the
community that we love you and we want to be a part of your lives.
Critics call it a social Gospel approach that
seldom yields people praying the prayer, as if that is our sole hoped for
response.
I call this approach, especially in a society
that is wary of Christianity, earning the right to be heard.
You see, where I serve, the evangelical church
does not have a very good reputation. People are suspicious of us, sometimes rightfully so. Communities have been split, families destroyed and relationships
abandoned. What’s worse, these
results are somehow celebrated in the evangelical church as evidence of a “true”
relationship with a loving God.
I’ll admit, this approach is not for
everyone. IBDEA has lost some
members because they are not more aggressive in trying to get kids to pray the
prayer to accept Jesus. And like a
lot of churches that try this type of ministry, the change into a fully devoted
follower of Jesus can at times, be painstakingly slow.
But it is happening.
I’ve watched some of those kids who came to our
first camp take leadership positions as they’ve grown and we are seeing
families get connected to IBDEA because of this vital ministry. I’ve also seen the community respond
and offer to help in ways unimaginable just a few years ago because they see
the church as a valuable asset to the colonia.
There is still much to be done.
IBDEA has to think strategically about how to
better integrate camp participants into the daily life of the church and they
need to continue their work towards financial self-sufficiency, but those will
come.
Right now they are focused on living out the love of Jesus in real
and practical ways here in Ensenada... just as the Apostle Paul would have
wanted.
