The Presbyterian
connection among Estoreño, Guatemala churches and being the body of Christ to
each other.
During our 2016
trip to Guatemala we could clearly see that the churches in the Estoreño
Presbytery value being in a presbytery together. We were able to visit ten
different churches with the leaders of the presbytery and saw how well these
leaders work together. Among them were Ramiro, Raúl, Gerardo, Fidel and Mario.
They come from various churches in the Izabal region, but shared the leadership
of these special church services rather fluidly, with welcome words by one,
prayers by another, words from the Scripture or singing by another. No single
person stood out as the head, showing us that Christ is the head as they work
together being parts of the body of Christ.
The connection
that these churches have with each other is very important to them, as they
truly see each church as part of the larger body of Christ. We visited some
churches that were an hour and even two hours away from El Estor, but they
still maintain a close connection with one another. Young adult leaders and
women leaders had traveled from these rural churches by motorbike or other
means to be with each other for our special Bible school and women’s events on
Tuesday of our trip. We also learned that the women take seriously their
mission to visit each church and stay connected. Each church has a “Sociedad”
of women who routinely visit church members and then the women leaders of the
presbytery, the “Presbyterial” (each from different churches) go together to
visit each church. The youth & young adults also invest their time &
resources staying connected in this way.
It was fun to
peek into how all these churches work together. We enjoyed traveling through
the area with the presbytery leaders and celebrating with them the years of
investment that they & many others have made in growing these vibrant
churches that live out God-inspired community together.
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