Mary Lou and Gary were 12 years old, in 1968, when the first Covenant missionaries arrived in Colombia. Gary had already answered God’s call on his life to be a missionary. Mary Lou was 20 years away from saying yes to God’s call on her life to be a missionary. Yet, here we were, with close to 300 others from around Colombia, from the U.S., from Norway and from around South America, celebrating the first 50 years of the ministry of the Pacto in Colombia. Representatives from almost all of the Pacto Churches, ministries and social outreach programs gathered in Medellin to celebrate together.
We worshiped together with three different worship bands, took a tour of the history of the Pacto in Colombia through video, photos, testimonies and interviews of different persons from each decade of the past 50 years. The children did a drama which presented out the first gatherings of missionaries and Colombians as the first contacts were made which led to the first people coming to be a part of the Pacto. We received video greetings from the first two Covenant missionary families in Colombia. We celebrated Holy Communion together, challenging ourselves to continue to be unified with Jesus and reconciled to God in going forward together in the formation of disciples and leaders who will continue to lead the Pacto in its calling to extend the kingdom of God. Many of those who came together had not seen each other for many years. It was such a blessing to come together and share our common story of God’s blessings and faithfulness.
