Just as is common in the States, most churches here in the Dominican Republic vary greatly in both style and traditions. Often times these differences have led to deep divisions and longstanding quarrels amongst Christians. In the barrio I live in, Maria Auxiliadora, there are presently three bodies of believers, two of which I never got to know until recently. I’d always heard that the Christians at those “other” churches thought that women who wore pants, or men who had earrings or baggy clothes weren’t going to heaven, so I never made room in my busy schedule to get to know those others believers. I didn’t realize at the time how much I was missing out on. Though these churches have some differences God has been putting it on all our hearts that we have the most important thing in common, that is, salvation through Christ Jesus.
Together T.E.A.R.S. and El Camino Church (on street 12 of the barrio I live in) decided to make an effort to become more unified with the other churches in our barrio and in the other barrios we work in. The short-term mission teams that have come down this summer have played big parts in making that happen. In May we were blessed to have a team from Mt. Zion church of Utica, NY who among many other things helped us hold a unity service in which the three churches in the barrio and a large Haitian community joined together to worship God. Then in mid June a team from Big Lake, MN worked together with the church on street 8 and El Camino church to do work projects and kids’ activities; giving both churches a lot of bonding experiences. Soon a team will be joining us from Calgary, AB to work together with the church on street 3 to hold a vision clinic which will give us the opportunity to build a greater bond with that church as well.
We’re grateful for all the projects and activities these teams have done as well as for all the unseen spiritual blessings seen in the church and the community.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 9:17 am and is filed under Tracy's Blog (Barrio Kidz), General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply