Covenant News

Colombia Church Making Huge Impact on Lives

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA (September 14, 2005) - A small delegation from the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) was scheduled to arrive in Quito, Ecuador, yesterday to continue visits to various ministries supported by the ECC in partnership with the national Covenant churches in both Ecuador and Colombia.

The delegation includes ECC President Glenn Palmberg and his wife, Sharon, and Covenant World Mission Executive Minister Curt Peterson and his wife, Martie. They were joined in Colombia by Covenant missionaries Gary and Mary Lou Sander, Cathy Campobello, and David and Wendy Mark, regional coordinators for Latin America.

The group arrived in Bogota, Colombia, on Monday, September 5, with visits to various ministry areas in Bogota, Monteria, San Carlos and Medellin. One highlight of the visit was participation in the CIPE "Integration Project" meeting in Medellin - to read more about that meeting, please see Medellin. Ruth Hill, executive minister of Women Ministries, spoke during a Covenant Women's luncheon attended by CIPE representatives and Medellin Covenant Women. In Medellin, a number of individuals preached at different churches during September 11 worship services, including Palmberg, Peterson, Hill, David Mark, Alberto Ruiz, Walter Contreras, Tom Kelly and Rob Reed.

An important aspect of the Colombian visit was to allow Palmberg to see the development of churches and ministries in the 36-year-old Colombia Covenant Church, which has 35 local churches (seven in Bogota and 14 each in Medellin and the Caribbean Coast). Colombian Church President Jorge Julian Perez was a special guest attending the 2005 Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado. (To read an earlier story on Perez's visit, please see Perez. Also on the agenda were visits to projects funded over the years by Covenant World Relief through the generosity of local Covenant churches. The projects included:

• Poultry farm project - Located in San Carlos, the "Fadescar" farm raises 1,400 chickens.
• Integrated project - Located in Las Chalinas, this project raises cattle, poultry and pigs.
• Resale store project - Two second-hand resale stores, operated by Covenant Women, are located in Medellin, and El Hato.
• Tractor Project - Located in El Hato, this project focuses on agricultural/economic development.
• CRENN project - This project, located in Monteria, works to reinforce nutrition and education among children, working within a community of people who have been displaced due to violence and the poor economy. The project also provides meals and nutrition for families.
• Drug rehabilitation - Programs have now expanded beyond men's rehabilitation programs to include women and children. One of these programs is called Jacob's House, located outside Bogota. Children ages 7 to 12 who have suffered abuse and/or become addicted to drugs are referred to Jacob's House by child welfare department staff and by local Covenant churches and neighborhood outreach programs. Health and Education Brigades have been sponsored by local Covenant churches entering areas where there are known populations of street children, providing short-term responses including food, clothing and medical treatment. The center is an extended rehab program for these children centered on a ranch built primarily through the efforts of the Norwegian Covenant Church. Currently, there are 20 kids at the ranch in a program including drug rehab, psychological counseling, abuse counseling, family counseling, and counseling on child abandonment issues, child abuse and nutrition. The program includes ministry to the families of the children and enrolls each of the children in a nearby local school.
• Compassion project - "El Pinal" - Hope of Life - is a compassion project that had its origins in a Covenant World Relief response to a fire tragedy that destroyed 710 homes and displaced 3,500 people. Immediate relief focused on care for fire victims, and developed over time into an ongoing Children's Compassion Project.
• Fountain of Life - This is another site that is part of the Children's Compassion Project.
• Covenant Kids Foundation- Covenant World Relief has helped to fund a fish farm, flower farm, the Being Loved Health Center, the Child Sponsor Program, and "mini-business" startup programs, including stores and sewing projects.
• At-risk outreach program - Called "Renewing Colombia," this is an outreach program for at-risk girls - including a drop-in center - that is part of a Women Ministries project involving local Covenant churches in North America.

A number of other programs also were scheduled for visits:

• Let's Be Friends - A soccer program in Medellin led by Julio Isaza, husband to short-term missionary Katie O'Connor Isaza, that reaches out to boys in a very poor community of displaced families, giving boys from the surrounding neighborhoods an opportunity to be part of a soccer team, participate in devotional talks and small Bible study groups, and providing a positive experience through sports activities and interaction with adult role models.
• Covenant Elementary School - Located in Medellin, this is a Christian school operated by the Medellin regional Covenant church.
• Potosi Elementary School - Located in Bogota.
• Love Brigade in Bogota - Sponsored by the Normandia and Bethlehem Churches, this program is an outreach initiative into the most destitute neighborhoods, providing food, clothing, and health care and providing entrance into the rehab programs for men, women and boys.

"My heart was touched by a little girl with no legs and only one arm," Palmberg said following a visit to one of the schools. "It was so moving to hear her story of being found on the streets looking for food, and to know she now in part of the Covenant Kids program." Palmberg's wife, Sharon, also was moved by what she saw. "I was so touched by the dedication of the teachers of the little kids in the Covenant schools," she said. "They have little or no pay, few supplies, and they work in cramped quarters. Yet, they continue to provide such compassionate care for these children in the poorest communities."

The Colombia Covenant Church is extremely effective in confronting the biggest problems faced in this country - spiritually and socially, notes one of the trip participants. "Over and over we met pastors who were formerly drug addicts and were rescued by Jesus Christ through this church ministry, and are now pastors."

"They keep seeing a new need and find a way to address it," notes Martie Peterson. "A new foundation, a new care program - and lives are changed. Children are a priority in the ministries of the church."

The impact the Colombian church is having was obvious to all:

• Sharon Palmberg - "We were so moved by the social programs that are changing lives and bringing people to Christ - doing so much, even though they have so little themselves."
• Glenn Palmberg - "For many, many children who have benefited from these care programs, they now have a hope, a dream, a future. If you took the church out of the picture, they would be drug addicts, prostitutes, living lives of despair. There is such a seamless connection of evangelism and compassion/social projects in the Colombia Covenant Churches - you never see a church here without an outreach into the community to meet the most significant needs of people. This church is a leaven in the loaf - a small church making an enormous impact beyond their size."
• Martie Peterson - "We visited one very poor community where many of the children spend their days alone because their mother is working throughout the day. It is important for them to have a group to be part of, like the soccer program that gives them a model and keeps them from being drawn into gangs."
• Curt Peterson - "I am so impressed by the visionary leadership of the church in Colombia. The dedication and devotion of pastors, the compassion of church members is impacting many lives."
• Andres Bunch - "If I couldn't be involved in social projects, I wouldn't want to be a pastor. If I couldn't proclaim the whole gospel, I wouldn't want to be a pastor." (Bunch is pastor of the largest Covenant church of more 800 congregants, the Normandia Covenant Church in Bogota.)

The Covenant missionary team - Gary and Mary Lou Sander, Cathy Campobello and Katie O'Connor Isaza - are working to encourage, empower and equip leaders of the church, Palmberg noted. "We have seen the effective partnership of Covenant World Mission, the Colombia Covenant Church and Covenant World Relief in proclaiming the gospel in word and deed to the glory of God!"

Editor's note: to see more pictures from the visits, please see Photos.

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