Global Ministries

During the past week, we have been reveling in the joy and healing that comes from dancing unto the Lord.

Pray for Chile on Sunday, Feb 10, 2013

Lectionary Selection: Luke 9:28- 36

Prayer:
God, at times it seems that humanity is destroying your creation on earth. We see polluted streams, gargantuan mounds of garbage, and barren lands. Sometimes we feel frozen in fear that we could never do enough to make a difference, even collectively.

The wounds are so large and our band-aids so small. Yet we are reminded to see hope all around: newly planted trees, recycling projects, children playing games. In gratitude we try, and there is a small shift, a healing and a harvest of peace beginning. Thank you God for giving us this challenge supported by your loving grace. Amen

Mission Stewardship Moment from Chile:
Shortly after posting this week's blog about my experiences in the Barrio San Francisco and the stream at the Jack Norment Camp in Caacupé, Paraguay, Carolina, one of my former Sunday school students in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ in Paraguay sent me a video about the program she has been coordinating.  Though she did not live in the Barrio San Francisco, Carolina as a camper at the Jack Norment camp, was particularly interested in my environmental education activities.  She, too, grieved over the polluted stream and at age thirteen, visited the children of the Barrio, playing games, presenting puppet shows, planting trees.  Even though I felt that my activities as a Global Ministries Volunteer at the Camp and in the Barrio were ineffective "band-aids" stuck onto the massive, festering environmental wounds, Carolina is evidence that something shifts, something heals when we concentrate on doing what we can do, no matter how insignificant it seems, rather than on the freezing fear that what we finally manage to do will never be enough.

As I share Carolina's video with you, imagine a thread that stretches down through nearly 20 years, from those environmental experiences with my campers at the Jack Norment camp, to the present.  In many ways, nothing has changed.  You will see the garbage.  You will see the poverty. You will see the families and children living on a dump. And yet, there is music, there is hope, there is new life recycled from the garbage. I feel like the grandmother of this story: I planted  seeds of justice in the heart of Carolina when she was a teenager; as an adult, she is beginning to harvest peace.

 (Prayer and Mission Moment by Elena Huegel)

Mission Partners in Chile:

• Centro Ecumenico Diego de Medellin
• Communidad Teologica Evangelica de Chile (CTE)
• Fundacion de Ayuda Social de las Iglesias Cristianas (FASIC)
• Fundación Educación Popular en Salud (EPES)
• Iglesia Pentecostal de Chile (IPC)
• Taller Piret

Video Resources about Chile:
http://globalministries.org/resources/multimedia-resources/videos/video-mission-moments/chile-shalom-center.html

More information on Chile:
http://globalministries.org/lac/countries/chile/

Global Ministries Missionary in Chile:
Elena Huegel, a member of Iglesia Cristiana Ebenezer, Los Fresnos, Texas, serves the Pentecostal Church of Chile (IPC). She is an environmental and Christian education specialist.

As I read Global Ministries vision and mission statement, I identified deeply with the words chosen to describe the core values of our ministry as an organization. Some of these same words have been chosen to describe the values of the Shalom Center of the Pentecostal Church of Chile.

Read about the Pan American Health Organization Honoring EPES With Award For Excellence in Chile.

First Christian Church in Pensacola, Florida, raised $160.00 to support the ministries of Global Ministries missionary Elena Huegel in Chile by holding a “Chili for Chile Cook-Off.”  Members of the congregation volunteered to be “chefs,” and others signed up to be “judges” of the various pots of chili brought in by the “chefs.”  Additional members and friends made a donation in order that they could taste the different chilis of all flavors and temperatures.  The donations were designated to support Ms. Huegel with her Vacation Bible School in Chile.  “We know she will use this gift to help the children of Chile to know our Lord, Jesus Christ, through the excitement of Vacation Bible School using love, fellowship, and worship.”

Click headline for full article.

August 15th is a day awaited with great expectations by the members of the Pentecostal Church of Chile in Curicó.  It is the day in which the central church gathers with all of the “daughter” churches from the surrounding areas to celebrate communion.  About 3000 people take communion together on that day and most will begin to prepare one or two weeks in advance by participating in special services, fasting, and prayer vigils.  Since communion day only comes once a year for the Curicó Church (yes, once a year for all of you Disciples!), it is a very special day.  Bishop Ulises Muñoz welcomes new members into the church and baptizes adults who have either never been baptized or who want to recommit to following Christ.  (The Pentecostal Church of Chile practices infant baptism.)  Many people come forward to receive healing prayers by laying on of hands.  There are many testimonies of miraculous healings on Communion Day as well as answers to other prayers.   

Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace, but it means much more than the English word. Shalom also means health, wholeness, completeness, soundness. “Paz” is the Spanish word for peace.

An environmental video prepared by Elena Huegel for an interfaith symposium in Guadalajara (August, 2012).

A poem from Elena Huegel