We are One!

We are One!
This was the theme this weekend of the combined Annual Meeting of the Covenant in Colombia and the National youth camp. Over 120 people came together in Coveñas for a weekend of fellowship, going deeper in Scripture during conferences, worshipping together, making important decisions together. The key word is “together.”

Unity going forward has been the key theme for leadership both in the FIPEC (Colombian Covenant Church) and the Association of Covenant Youth in Colombia. And this was truly a time to come together, for the first time in person since the pandemic. The youth and young adults of the south coast organized the event.They did an incredible job with logistics and hospitality. I was blown away by the fact that of the total number of participants, 80 were youth and young adults. 40 were pastors and lay leaders. We feel strongly that it is not fair to say that youth and children are the church or tomorrow. They are clearly the church of today. The church today (and throughout history) is intergenerational.

Participants from each region took turns leading times of singing and prayer. Joseph, a preacher from Cameroon, gave challenging messages and invited participants to understand how crucial identity is to our existence and to our ministry of reconciliation. I (Katie) had the privilege of translating his message from English to Spanish one morning.

During the days there were formal meetings, as well as times for play and recreation. The evenings were filled with special times of prayer, music, and celebration. The last night there was a talent show and a special group that played typical vallenato and cumbia music led us in a time of celebration and dance. It was such fun to see pastors dancing cumbia and the youth enjoying the celebration.

One of the highlights was sharing this experience with my son Sam. It was his first youth camp experience in Colombia. There were 16 people from our local church who traveled together and had a blast getting to know one another better. We flew to Monteria and then took a two hour bus ride to Coveñas. The weather was hot, but the time we had in the ocean was refreshing.

I was also encouraged to meet with a group of children’s ministry leaders for a meal where we talked about the challenges we face. We also committed to finding ways to work together to share resources and strengthen our ministries.