Over a year ago, we were approached by two professors from North Park Theological Seminary about hosting a travel course for their students. From the very beginning, the vision for the course was that it would be an intercultural space of sharing and mutual learning. This meant that the North Park students would come and study alongside along Colombian students. The learning would happen, not in a classroom, but in homes, a finca, a variety of ministry and cultural contexts, over meals, on buses, and the metrocable. Transformative learning happens in proximity, when we are face to face with those who are different from us.

The President of the Colombian Covenant Church, Luis Barrientos, was a part of the planning committee and helped shape what the learning experience would look like. He shared a need to develop leaders capable of leading communities that are culturally diverse. So that became the focus of the course. The title was “Developing Ecclesial Communities in Cultural Diversity.” And on March 8, the learning began as the 7 North Park students, along with 7 participants from Colombian Covenant churches (from 5 different regions), 2 North Park professors, a videographer from California, the Colombian Covenant President, the coordinator of theological education for the Covenant in Colombia, and Julio, met in Monteria. You can imagine the logistical and language challenges that go along with this type of experience. There were only 4 people who could fluidly speak both languages. Still, the group found ways to communicate, to get to know one another, to support each other, and to experience life through the each other’s eyes.

The whole group with the pastors who came from Monteria and surrounding towns to host them.

While in Monteria, Julio translated all day long. Katie was able to take over a bit when they got to Medellin.

The Colombian participants, minus Jorge

While in Monteria and neighboring towns, they experienced life in one region of Colombia. The first night they all stayed in homes with different pastors from La Ye, San Carlos, El Hato, Cabilla, and Monteria. They ate with their host families and worshipped together in the local churches. Several of the North Park students had the opportunity to preach and have others translate for them. Later Sunday afternoon, they all met up together in a finca (retreat center) where they would stay the next 3 nights. During the rest of the week, each student and professor was responsible for engaging the others in learning around a certain theme from the course, that included, integral mission, shalom, cultural communication, diversity, imagio dei, missio dei, interaction with indigenous groups, etc. There were dramas, participatory games, poems, artistic representations, and lots of space for dialogue. One of the days the students divided into three groups and each group was able to travel to a nearby town (San Marcos, San Carlos, and Since) to visit the ministries and leaders there. They saw first-hand how churches are engaging with diverse communities. 

Leaving Monteria they hopped on a plane and flew to Medellin, where they would finish out the course. We’re grateful for the hospitality of the Biblical Seminary of Colombia, who hosted everyone in their on-campus housing and fed them delicious meals. In Medellin they continued to talk through themes of change and transformation, cultural exegesis, how we learn from other cultures. They participated in two of the courses Julio teaches at the seminary and interacted with a whole new group of students, and joined the seminary community for worship.

There was a cultural exchange night where each person shared a taste of their culture. For some it was through food – arroz con leche, obleas, candy, cookies. For others it was through music, dance, story-telling, pictures, dress, souvenirs. We sang “Wade in the Water,” as Valarie shared the history of her ancestors, slaves who found their way to freedom. We danced porro with Katherin and Eder from Cordoba. We listened to traditional story-telling that William does during Kwanzaa. We heard about what people in Tony’s community do when tornadoes are in the area and Lina sang us a powerful bambuco song. The students traveled up the mountain via Metrocable to visit the Granizal community. They heard first-hand from the community how Shalom Covenant has walked alongside of them, the majority having been internally displaced from their homes in Colombia. They have been empowered to lead and are transforming the community together from youth to older adults. We enjoyed a day trip to Pueblito Paisa and a lunch out by the river on our last full day together. 

Over the time together, students went from being strangers to family despite the language barriers. One of the free evenings, they decided to all hang out together, share some ice cream and play a game. The Colombians taught the game and the others gladly participated. There was a lot of laughter and later inside jokes. The end of our time together we had the opportunity to dream about what it might look like to develop churches in the midst of diverse cultures and peoples. Then we had the opportunity to pray and bless each other. 

Students and professors shared how impactful the experience was for them, the lessons learned, and more importantly the new relationships forged across cultures. Proximity, as one participant shared, allowed him to see the goodness of God’s diverse creation. We are reminded of the impact of incarnational ministry as we read about God, coming in the flesh, and as The Message accounts,

“The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.” (John 1:14)

May we move closer to one another to truly experience the goodness of God’s diverse creation and God’s abundant generosity.