A letter from Tracey King-Ortega serving in Nicaragua
december 2014 - new insight into partnership
At the end of October I participated in an important gathering in Honduras. Joined by leadership from Presbyterian World Mission and several U.S. presbyteries already committed to mission with the Presbyterian Church of Honduras, we spent five days with members of our partner church with the lofty objective of “discerning the mind of Christ.” We were there to listen to and share with our sisters and brothers in Honduras as well as our mission workers serving there to build a common vision that could undergird our future work together in Honduras. We spent time studying scripture, sharing our dreams, and identifying our common values, all while visiting different parts of the country to see where and how the Honduran church is growing. This helped us to capture a common vision for our work together and begin planning next steps.
On our first day together we looked to Mark 6:7-13 to guide us:
The Mission of the Twelve
Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
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Our group travelling with Honduran pastors to visit a rural congregation
As we read and studied the passage together, something didn't feel right to me. I couldn't make sense of how this passage applied to us. It felt too literal. Of course there are always lessons to be pulled out, such as the need to allow others to extend hospitality to us, and not to persist where we are not welcome. These are all helpful tips, but my uneasiness went deeper … and I couldn't put my finger on it.
What more can this passage tell us about what it means to do mission? To what is God calling us? Jesus gives clear instructions to the disciples about what they are to do. Jesus sends the disciples two by two, almost empty-handed, to preach, drive out demons, and heal the sick. I try to place myself in the story; do I hear Jesus asking me, as his disciple, to do likewise? I just can't picture myself in that role, or that world. That isn't me. I wasn't sent as half of a pair, and I didn't come to Central America to go house to house preaching, driving out demons or healing the sick. I came because I saw a broken world and wanted to learn what I could do to make it better. There really is little in this go-to passage on mission that resonated with me, the missionary.
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We arrived just past dusk for our fourth and final church visit of the day and came across this beautiful image
In our mixed group of North Americans and Hondurans I tried to express to them how I felt uncomfortable with the assumptions I brought to the text. I was trying to place us all into the story. I saw myself as one of the disciples being sent by Jesus and Honduras as the village to which I was being sent. But then all of a sudden it clicked. What felt wrong was how I was making Honduras, and therefore our Honduran brothers and sisters, the object of our ministry. I was embarrassed at where I placed the Hondurans in this story and how I was understanding this passage. My assumptions went totally against my commitment to doing mission in partnership.
So, side by side with my Honduran Presbyterian partners, I struggled with how to understand this passage, and in reading and reflecting together we realized how traditional, outdated models of mission such as I had assumed may be inconsistent with Jesus' teaching. I needed to break from the stereotypes deeply ingrained in my psyche and redefine who's who in the mission field. It was only through sitting down as equals with faithful and committed sisters and brothers from our partner church in Honduras that I was better able to see not only the flaws in how we can sometimes perceive mission service but also the clarity of how God wants us to participate in mission.
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One sub-committee working on plans to keep us better connected as partners in mission
We weren't there to figure out what we, a group of Presbyterian North Americans, could do for the Presbyterian Church of Honduras. We were there to identify together, as Christians from both North and South, what are the villages we are being called to today, and to go there together.
And so we did. It was an honor to facilitate the process throughout the week that led us to a shared framework and direction for Presbyterian World Mission and the Presbyterian Church in Honduras. In the coming months our dialogue will continue as we seek concrete ways to be faithful and effective in our mission work together—strengthening fellowship, serving the community through social action, and educating church leaders.
I want to thank those of you who directly support my service as regional liaison in Central America, allowing me to help our denomination discern the ways God is calling us to engage in mission. The world is broken, yet I am so blessed to be part of our call to make it better, to build the Kingdom, not for our brothers and sisters in Central America, but rather with them. You, too, can be a part of that. Your prayers, connection with us, and financial support are vital to our ability as a denomination to stay present and engaged in mission with integrity together with our partners in Honduras and throughout Central America.
Blessings and peace,
Tracey King-Ortega
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 44
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A group of committed donors has pledged to match all gifts sent by individuals for mission personnel support now through December 31, 2014, up to $137,480. This means your gift today will be matched by a gift to support mission personnel around the world, wherever the need is greatest. We invite you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to double the impact of your gift. Thank you!
