Newsletters

Date: April 8th 2010

by Bill and Liz Branch
April 5, 2010

What an exciting week this has been! During long days and into the evenings we have worshiped, learned, discussed and developed new directions for the accompaniment program. Thirty very bright and committed people from the U.S. and Colombia worked long and hard to evaluate the first five years of our ministry together and to vision the future of our partnership.

Participants included Rick Ufford-Chase (former PCUSA General Assembly moderator and current PPF Director), Maria Arroyo (PCUSA area coordinator for South America and the Caribbean), Mark Koenig (Presbyterian Peacemaking Program director), three leaders of the displaced community, some former volunteer accompaniers and the current ones, long-term pastoral accompaniers Mamie Broadhurst and Richard Williams, and leaders from all three presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (IPC), along with Anne Barstow, founder of the Accompaniment Program, and Sarah Henken, its current coordinator. Adding insight and wisdom were administrators from the Universidad Reformada and faculty member (and long-time PCUSA mission worker) Alice Winters.

The accompaniment program received resounding affirmation, and we developed a work plan that will guide us into some changes and expansions in 2010-2011. One important intention is that the program be broadened to include the Urabá and Central Presbyteries. How we coordinate the work of long-term accompaniers, short-term volunteer accompaniers, and the partnerships of the three Colombian presbyteries with four U. S. presbyteries is a work in progress. One area that likely will be strengthened is the use of accompaniers with specific skills in specific projects in the presbyteries in Colombia. For example, it is possible that Bill and Liz might return to Colombia to lead a workshop on Critical Incident Stress Management for pastors and/or theological students.

If we had to select a highlight for this stimulating week, it would have to be our visit to the community of Villa Blanca. In this rural community outside Barranquilla, some displaced families have been given land to use while they await a more permanent resolution of their application for land. The mayor of the town has given this land so the families can raise food for their families and food to sell.

While in Villa Blanca we celebrated a special worship service, asking God to bless the land, to bless the mayor, and to dedicate this land to God´s work. In a worship center were tools, seeds, fruits and vegetables, watering cans, boots, candles, a cross, and a pastoral stole. At the close of the service, people were invited to step forward, select something from the center and describe its symbolic significance. Displaced persons, the mayor's representative, leaders from the Presbyterian Church of Colombia and leaders from the Presbyterian Church USA and Presbyterian Peace Fellowship all reflected on the meaning of seeds, tools, the cross. Toward the end, Bill pointed to a beautiful wild flower which was growing there in the worship center. For him, the flower (purple, the color for Holy Week) represented the beauty of the land of the people of Colombia.

May God bless the displaced families who finally have at least an interim place where they can work the land, the mayor who generously supplied the land, and the Presbyterian Church of Colombia, who have accompanied the displaced in their struggle to find land and purpose. And may God grant that soon the displaced will have their own permanent land on which to settle and build a life for themselves and their families.


For anyone who is interested, our blog is at erwwbranch.blogspot.com

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