Dear Friends,

"You’re going to be a missionary in…Chicago?"

Numerous puzzled people have posed this question to me in the past few months. Here’s why.

In July of this year, I began a two-year appointment as the U.S. program coordinator for the Reconciliation and Mission Program. Some of you may remember that I was a volunteer in this program in Honduras in 1997 and 1998. My experience in the Reconciliation and Mission Program helped me discern my calling to ministry, and so when I returned to the U.S., I began studying at McCormick Seminary in the masters of divinity program. Now I have been called back to minister in the Reconciliation and Mission Program in a new way. And, fortunately, I am able to coordinate the program from Chicago, where I am finishing my M.Div. part-time. What a surprising and joyful circle this has been!

In July, the Reconciliation and Mission Program also welcomed another new staff member: Méndelson Dávila, coordinator for Central America and Mexico. Méndelson is a Pentecostal pastor from Managua, Nicaragua, who knows the program well through several years of service on the Reconciliation and Mission Commission (the representative board that oversees the program). This marks the first time that coordination has been shared between the two
regions—until now it was done primarily from the U.S. side. We believe the new model of shared coordination is a major move for the program towards greater mutuality.

During my first few months on the job, I have realized how difficult it is to define "reconciliation." It is a vague word that gets thrown around a lot, and in the abstract it may not mean much. But reconciliation does have meaning in the concrete, in the particular stories of individuals, communities, and countries, and in the ways that all these stories intersect. These stories are at the heart of the Reconciliation and Mission Program.

This August, Méndelson and I welcomed to New Mexico eight young adults from across the United States, Mexico, and Central America. For five weeks, we lived in community together, studied Spanish and English, explored Scripture, and reflected together on the process of reconciliation in a broken world. But, perhaps most importantly, we shared stories. We shared the stories of our own lives, the stories of the places from which we come, and we celebrated together the story we all hold in common—the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Just weeks before arriving at our orientation, volunteer Clark Raynal was ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament by his home presbytery. Clark is a recent graduate of Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, who struggled mightily with learning Spanish during our weeks of orientation, but never gave up. On our last evening together, we gathered around the table—people from Costa Rica and California, Chicago and Mexico City, Guatemala and Virginia. We gathered as Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and Pentecostals. We gathered as friends.

That night, Clark presided over communion for the first time, along with Méndelson. Together, they prayed the words of the institution over the bread and wine, each in the other’s language. And in that moment, in that time and place, this community embodied the unity in Christ proclaimed in Galatians: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Thanks be to God.

The eight volunteers are now spread out for eight-month assignments, with Central American and Mexican volunteers ministering in U.S. Presbyterian churches and U.S. volunteers serving with our partners in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. At the end of their assignments, we will all gather together again to renew friendships and to reflect together on our unfolding stories.

While they serve in their assignments, I provide pastoral and administrative support to the Central American and Mexican volunteers and to the churches and communities that host them. I will be visiting each volunteer in the months ahead, and also hosting a mid-year retreat for them in Washington, D.C., in February. I appreciate your prayers and support for me, for Méndelson, and for all of the volunteers, as we continue in this ministry.

May the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all in this season and always.

Leanne Pearce