Day 4: Relationships are Complicated

Last updated on: July 17, 2014 at 3:00 pm by Morgan Guyton

Day 4: Relationships are Complicated 2014-07-17T15:00:33-05:00 Morgan Guyton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Complicated is such a loaded word when talking about relationships. It’s kind of like the word interesting in its fake neutrality. In any case, I wanted to write today about how mission relationships are inherently complicated. Communication gaps occur that aren’t anybody’s fault especially when different languages are involved. As some of you from Burke UMC know, we have had a relationship with a school in Cambita for about 13 years. For the first 9 or so years of this relationship, we were helping them build their school-building year after year. Then in 2008, we built a basketball court (that I played on today). Since that time, they have not expressed a need for the kinds of physical unskilled construction projects that Volunteers in Mission teams can do most easily in a week and a half of time. So we’ve gone elsewhere and our relationship with the school that we helped to build has gotten complicated.

For the last three years (from what I understand), we have gone back to Cambita to visit for a few hours each time a team has come down here. We have continued to sponsor scholarships for students at the school, but our communication with the director of the school and her husband, the lay-pastor of the adjoining congregation, has been pretty limited. Our conversation with them today began a little tensely. It turns out they have had financial shortfalls that we haven’t known about. The upshot of the conversation is an agreement from them to provide us with a presupuesto (budget) for the next school-year as well as monthly reports of how the money is being spent. In addition, we’ve asked them to provide us with a wish-list beyond the budget in case there are individuals in our church who want to help support special side-projects that catch their eye. We also talked about getting photos of the teachers at the school with short bios to help our congregation have a greater sense of who we’re supporting. They’ve got photos and videos of what they do at the school but it’s difficult to transmit some of the larger files online.

One thing that’s complicated is that it’s easier to ask people in our church to pay for the scholarship costs of individual students at Cambita when the reality is that the school has many legitimate overhead needs that can’t be described in terms of an individual student’s educational experience. Another complication is the fact that Cambita hasn’t had the physical labor need that we use as an “excuse” to get people from our congregation down to the Dominican Republic to create the longer-term spiritual and economic solidarity which is the deeper goal of short-term mission work.

Since the town of Samangola needed a church building, we’ve come down to work on their church at least the last couple of summers. Now we’re starting to develop a relationship with Carolina, the pastor of Samangola, and all the laity in that church community, which draws us away from being as committed to Cambita as before. It’s challenging to me that our relationships are being determined by the ability of Dominican congregations to give us unskilled labor projects that short-term mission teams can accomplish when what they might say they need from us is straight-up liquid cash (that could go for example to employing local workers to pour concrete and build church walls). Sometimes there is a tension between the twin objectives of mission — creating discipleship opportunities for those serving and addressing the real needs of those being served. It’s complicated.

I think we just have to be honest about the fact that what we do down here is every bit as much about our discipleship as it is about serving our brothers’ and sisters’ concrete physical needs. We need to be intentional about continually evaluating whether our need for something to do jives with what our brothers and sisters in Christ need for us to do with them. Both needs are legitimate, and we need to name the fact that we are no less needy than the people who we serve. We need to serve because that’s a critical part of how we are fed by God.

We have talked in very vague and preliminary terms about how to handle our expanding set of relationships in the Dominican Republic. One possibility is to add a January mission trip that would return to Cambita along with the summer trips that would perhaps continue to come to Samangola or other places. Our Cambita friends shared some unskilled construction needs that they have which are legitimate; we also need to be in community with them and to continue to support the important work they are doing with the 60 preschool students who come to their school.

What makes missions complicated is there’s a whole globe of need out there. I really think as the church, we’re supposed to build relationships with other faith communities and develop how we help people out of those relationships rather than randomly shotgun blasting our support across the globe of need without creating the critical ties of genuine community that make the body of Christ different than secular relief organizations. How do we this in practical terms? It’s complicated.

Dominican Republic May 2011

Previous Post

May 27, 2011

Day 3: Aprendiendo Cantar Mas Bajo

Next Post

May 28, 2011 Day 5: Un Bautismo Binacional

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who had a coat of many colors?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Moses Saul Joseph Jacob