Hey everyone, it’s been a while. Time for an update! August was my first month in South America with the World Race. I spent most of the month in Medellin, Colombia serving with Ciudad Refugio ministry. It’s a church that operates an addiction recovery ministry, a homeless ministry, a children’s ministry, a school, and a bakery in mutually supportive ways.
My team of 6 spent the month living and working in the addiction recovery program at Ciudad Refugio, which offers real support for anyone seeking freedom from life controlling habits. In parts of Medellin, drug use is common due to generational cycles and prevalence of drugs. The homeless are particularly vulnerable, and Ciudad Refugio has focused its efforts toward them. Each night, the church opens its doors to the homeless, offering a place for them to sleep on its floors. Padded sleeping mats and showers are provided free of charge in an effort to make the place especially popular among the homeless. While serving them this way, the church builds relationships with the regular attenders in hopes some will choose to enter the addiction recovery program. Once they’re in the program, there’s a solid opportunity to introduce them to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Those in the program live in dormitory style quarters on the second and third floors of the Church. The rooms were strategically designed with this ministry in mind, and there residents find refuge from the daily temptations compelling them to return to destructive lifestyles. In place of those stimulants, the ministry feeds them the truth of God’s Word and are introduces them to His love and purpose for them. Daily tasks take their minds off of previous lifestyles and build skills to empower them. Completion of the program requires participation for a full year, and often includes assistance with job placement afterwards.
The program is tough though, and much different than many conventional addiction programs. When they enter the program at Ciudad Refugio, the participants agree to give up many of their freedoms for the year. The ministry learned that even small exposures to the the outside world can be triggers for relapse. So, in addition to living at the church, the participants are asked to give up most of their communication with the outside world. They’re not permitted to leave the church grounds without a chaperone, and their families are only allowed to visit on Sunday afternoons. They can’t have cell phones or access to social media, and the men and women in the program are kept separate at all times. Most of the dorm rooms are even without windows to help keep occupants from being tempted by what goes on outside.
Since they live at the church, they’re asked to be part of the labor force behind its ministries. While they gain training in custodial work, operating the bakery, and special projects, the church avoids significant cost associated with those tasks. This is one way the church strives to be as fiscally responsible as possible and seizes opportunity to involve the program participants in training that will benefit them. If they can deal with the rules, the participants get a clean break from their previous lifestyle, a support group, a bed, fresh clothes, all of their meals, and an introduction to Jesus Christ. The program’s desire is to show them how a relationship with Jesus can replace any portion of their lives previously filled with drugs.
When we arrived, my team was divided and shown the rooms we would share with the program participants. None of us were fluent in Spanish, but living and working the manual tasks with them accelerated their acceptance of us. Many of the guys in the program were about my age, and soon we were joking and wrestling around. Most didn’t have Christian backgrounds, but I was struck by the sense of community and brotherhood among them. They loved to joke and prank each other, but they doled it out evenly and compassionately and everyone knew the others were there for them. Laughter was nearly constant in the midst of the menial mopping, sweeping, scrubbing walls, peeling fruit, hand washing laundry, and folding an order of 120,000 cardboard coffee cup insulators. God’s presence in their lives was clearly evident in the way they treated each other and us, and by the countenance they carried while working their daily tasks.
Bible studies are a huge part of the program, and I was also surprised by the spiritual meat the program leaders were feeding them. One lesson was from Ephesians 6 about putting on the armor of God, and another was about current events relating to Daniel’s vision of the ram and goat in Daniel 8. Deep stuff, but an incredible way to give them a Biblical worldview. They seemed to appreciate learning about scripture, evidenced by their attentiveness and active discussion afterwards.
After spending the first week living with the program participants, my team began to also work with the other ministries at the church. Each Wednesday night we visited an area of Medellin where about 200 homeless gathered to socialize and sleep. As we offered them juice and bread from the church’s bakery, I was struck by the openness of drug use. While waiting in line for juice and bread, some were pouring white powder in crack pipes and lighting up. Others were so high they had no idea we were even there. One guy was standing on the curb staring into space and blowing a mayday rescue whistle. I couldn’t help but think about the irony of that and how he really needed rescuing. A Colombian friend leaned over and whispered to me, “muy triste” and “otro mundo.” For any gringos like me who may be reading this, that means “very sad” and “another world,” and that was the best way to describe it. However, the silver lining is that Ciudad Refugio church was started after a few lives were transformed through this very ministry; and many more have been transformed since. On the second Wednesday’s outreach, we got to witness another success when a man chose to return with us to enter the program.
We were also recruited to help in various capacities with the children’s and youth ministries, performing dramas of the stories of Samuel and Saul and playing soccer in nearby parks with neighborhood kids. One Sunday we lead the children’s church kids to a busy intersection to hold signs proclaiming “Christo Salva” (Christ Saves) in front of cars at a red light. The kids would run out in the crosswalk holding up their sign in front of the stopped cars. Before the light turned green, they would run back to the sidewalk. I couldn’t help but think how parents in the US would react to this, but how cool it was to teach the kids to share their faith with boldness.
Now I’m in Georgetown, Guyana, preparing to start ministry in this country for several weeks. We’ve already met men of peace and been blessed in incredible ways. The Lord continues to meet our every need.
Thank you for your prayers and support. It was awesome to witness and be part of God’s work in Colombia and I am eagerly anticipating all to come this year. Thanks for being part of this journey with me.
Luke 4:18-19 – “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
