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I’ve been reading “Unstoppable Force” by Erwin McManus lately on its discussion of how the church isn’t meant to be a monument, but a movement. The church is meant to be an agent of change yet too often it’s looking for the preservation of what was and it ends up lost in the cultural shifts that have taken places in the world around it. I am so thankful that my team got to be a part of God’s movement in the Philippines this month. My faith has increased exponentially because I have seen God hear my prayers in such tangible and miraculous ways. God took an ordinary batch of young people (my team) and used us to communal and spiritual shifts in the Karlingan community.
 
Community transformation
The Karlingan community had been divided by geographical location. This is normal for most places where people will associate with those living in closer proximity to them than those far away. By developing relationships with people in different parts of the subdivision, we made it possible for people from opposite ends of the village to come to meet each other through our gatherings in the middle of that town. We saw people become neighbors in the truest sense of the word because the people that were received some education and owned land now collided in developing friendships with the majority that were uneducated and rented land. One of my friends in the community, Lucy, said that never has there been such a time in that community that so many people chose to come together in unity from different parts of that community. Although they were once strangers that never met, they are now new found friends. God is active in abridging the gap between those he loves. He longs to bring us together to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Spiritual awakening
One of the community’s core values in the idea of being a good person (one who was nice, took care of their family, and didn’t commit any major crimes). This translated to the idea that as long as you were good, you were good with God. Often times though, most of the people we encountered told us that they were still uncertain about what God thought about them because they never knew the standard for “good”. One woman told us that God would invite her to be part of his family because though she was a good person, she was uneducated. My team introduced the idea that faith was to bridge the gap between them and God. When Jesus was going to be crucified, he told the criminal (who was obviously not “good”) next to him that he would be would be with him in paradise because of his faith. The criminal surrender his life to Jesus as Jesus served as the compensation for the judgment due humanity. Starting with a handful of believers, in two weeks, the church grew to over 70 people with people flooding outside of the tiny, broken down day care center. By the last day we were there, there were over a 100 people at church service. The people in the community prayed that God would provide a more permanent church within the community with teachers, a pastor, and a place to gather.

I am still in awe when I think of how God had accomplished with us what would’ve been impossible without him. Jesus had said “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.” 1 John 1:4 Our ground for running in the movement of Christ is where we are at now. With him, what is impossible?