This last weekend, 19th and 20th
of May, the Human Rights program of IELCO invited members from all around the
country to come together and dream of how they want the future of the church's
defense of human rights to look. We were pastors, coordinators of national
ministries, project leaders, and lay people, all interested in living out the
call to protect the vulnerable and liberate the oppressed. Gathering at a retreat center just outside
of Bogota, we dreamt of the world as it should be.
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| The group working on some team-building activities. Photo by Pastor Nelson Celis. |
Identifying the realities of
the difficult conditions in many communities in Colombia, we identified how the
Human Rights program can help IELCO face those challenges. We dreamt together
of a country without violence, of vibrant communities that seek to protect the
most vulnerable in their midst, and a national church that advocates for peace and
justice.
We left the retreat having formed a national
advising committee to help offer direction to the Human Rights program, to make
sure that the program responds to the needs of the local communities as well as
the vision that we have identified during the retreat. The committee is an
equal number of men and women from every region of IELCO in the country and will now take the vision developed in this retreat and put into
action.
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| Angelica Oquendo and Carlos Parra, two young leaders in IELCO, sharing with the group some of their experience in Palestine, where they participated in the Lutheran World Federation's program called "Peace Messengers". Photo by Curtis |
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| Sara Lara (coordinator of the Human Rights program) leading a conversation about the current state of the Human Rights program. Photo by Pastor Nelson Celis. |
