Below is a follow up post to Gayla’s article, Be Angry, But Do Not Sin. To read the original article click here.

1. There are 100 million street children – 60 million living in Latin America. What is the church doing?

2. 1.2 million children are victims of sex trafficking.  I hear more celebrities talking about what they are doing than I do the church. Jesus’ ministry had an intentional focus on children and he showed they often understood him better than adults.

3. Statistics show Christians have the resources to eradicate poverty worldwide. So what part of the Bible are we not reading? Jesus talks about the poor over and over and over. Read Matthew 25 over and over and over.

4.  Racism, sexim an elitism continue to exist. In the church. Let’s remember that Jesus directed his admonishments to the those that considered themselves the religious leaders at that time. He would be addressing those same issues with church today.

5. The drug war in Mexico is fueled by so many things;  including the U.S. consumption of  drugs and a total disregard for human life by the cartels.

6. Some American Christians have adhered to an isolationist theology forgetting that God doesn’t see borders. Where in the Bible does it say we can sort by self? I get really angry when I’m told that ‘we need to help our own’. What does that mean anyway? (please reread the ‘Love thy neighbor’ passage)

7. Every Sunday we sings songs of worship saying things like, “I will follow him wherever he leads me.” Will we? It makes me angry that we talk out of both sides of our mouths.

8. Someone actually told me that our homes are a ‘standard house building kit’ that we can push off onto another group if they canceled. After 30 years if that is how we are perceived, then I’m in the wrong ministry.

9. Instead of trusting God, we are living in a paralyzing fear that is affecting our ability to serve God and follow Him wherever He leads.

10. We are spiritual pigs asking what the church can do for us instead of what can we do for the church.

11. We are selective in who we choose to love. Thank goodness Jesus doesn’t do that. “And they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, and they will know we are Christians by our love.”

“In your anger do not sin; do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.”

Ephesians 4:26 (NIV)

Scott and I recently had a guest from England stay with us after his group returned home from their Amor Mission Trip.  We wanted him to have a true Southern California cross-cultural experience so, we took him to Disneyland!  Taking an adult from another country on their first Disneyland experience was more fun than I could have imagined.  We bought him a ridiculous hat with mouse ears, put his name on it, took a picture of him wearing it, then promptly put it up on Facebook!

As much as I love the rides, my favorite part is the opportunity to people watch and listen.  Despite being the so-called “happiest place on earth,” one can often hear conversations that aren’t so happy.  For example, I nearly always hear a mom or dad sternly instructing a child with “We will have fun here today.  I mean it.  You are going to have fun!”

As this particular day was winding down, our group was walking to another ride when I overheard a very loud conversation.  An angry woman was yelling so loudly that I had to turn to get a glimpse of the beneficiary of such a verbal beating.

Her anger, directed at presumably her husband, seemed to stem from something trivial.  She had purchased a bottle of soda and had entrusted him to carry it.  Unfortunately, he made the mistake of opening it—which she repeated over and over again, she hadn’t given him permission to do.  She was furious because her plan to drink it at 10 p.m. was now ruined because all the carbonation had been let out at 9 p.m..

Anger manifests itself in many ways.  It can be represented by vile language, a vulgar gesture, or even a gun shot.  The woman at Disneyland reminded me that we spend needless emotional energy being angry about things that simply don’t really matter.

In The Message, Paul’s verse on anger is translated this way, “Go ahead and be angry.  You do well to be angry but don’t use your anger for fuel for revenge.  And don’t stay angry.  Don’t go to bed angry.”

I like this.  He goes on to say that there are things that should make us angry—like the exploitation taking place at the temple that caused Jesus to turn over the tables of the money changers.  Likewise, Moses was often really ticked off at the children of Israel because of their sin.

Lately, I pondered this issue of anger.  If Jesus were here today, would he be angry about the same things that set us off?  I seriously doubt he would be upset about the loss of carbonation in a coke bottle.  And, I just can’t see him driving with road rage.  What would make him angry?

I think the same things that made him angry when he walked the earth would probably make him angry today.  Conversely, I doubt that the politics of our day would move him to anger.

Rather, I agree with what Philip Yancy’s says in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew.  “If the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church, then I hardly believe the political contemporary scene is much of a threat.”  Likewise, I am reminded of what Dr. Jack Hayford said to his congregation after an election years ago: that God is sovereign and throughout history has had His way.  So, why do the temporary things of this world cause so much anger?  Let us remember that there is only one kingdom that matters.

Jesus made it very clear to the rich young ruler that he needed to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor in order to follow him.  What makes us think that we get a free pass on this?  Isn’t his promise of eternal life good enough?  Another consideration: To get what we want, people are often exploited.  How do we reconcile this when we are called to love our neighbors?

People are angry at each other.  Christians are yelling at one another and the world is watching and listening just like I did at Disneyland.  The issues have gotten so heated that prominent Christians in the United States signed a covenant of civility—committing to engage in thoughtful and kind discussions on subjects which they disagree.

I just read a story about Leonardo da Vinci that speaks to the true spirit of this.  As da Vinci was painting The Last Supper, he became angry with someone for impeding his progress and lashed out at that person.  After that incident, he went back to his painting. When he reached the point of painting the face of Jesus, he found that he could not continue without first making things right with the individual who caused his anger.  Regardless of our emotional makeup, anger affects all of us.  When we allow anger to control us, we feel poorly, knowing that we must make things right.

May we look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith and be angry about what makes him angry.  So, be angry but do not sin.

If you would like to see a list of things that make Gayla angry, click here.

With permission, I am posting an email sent by the Mission Pastor from Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, Tom Theriault. He was responding to the concerns being shared at the church about going to Mexico in light of the most recent events in Juarez.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this since the news hit the streets. On Tuesday I attended a town hall forum with the current moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA. Before we heard him speak, we did some small group digging into Luke 10 – Jesus sending out the 72. One person highlighted verse 3: “I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.” His comment: “Just because there are wolves out there doesn’t mean we should stay home.” This hit me like a thunder bolt from heaven. Jesus makes it abundantly clear: “I am sending you out, not into security and safety, but to go into the world where there are wolves. If you stay home, the wolves win.”

Tom continues by saying that this word from on high has been “ringing in my ears and heart”.

Somehow, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we’ve got to press past the American faith that automatically rules out sacrifice and danger. I can’t find that kind of faith in the Bible (except in those held up as a negative example). The only way we and our ancestors got the gospel is because faith filled saints ventured out beyond the safety of home and took risks for and with Jesus. Where is that spirit of daring faith in our American churches???? We are not called to be foolish. The Lord of all, however, does call us to walk in faith, not in fear.

Tom finishes his call to serve this Memorial Weekend with these final comments:

The difficult situation facing our neighbors to the south give us a privileged opportunity to display the timbre of our faith. Are we fair weather only friends, or will we show up when there are dark clouds overhead??? Our Amor friends would not open the door foolishly. They are opening the door of faith. Oh Lord, inspire your people at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church to step up and walk through!

I read this and welled up with tears. Not because of what I hope you hear as much as Tom saying what we all need to hear. Amor Ministries has to continue being a “lamb among wolves” as we respond to God’s leading us to expand to other parts of the world.

Jesus is who we follow and he was definitely a “lamb among wolves”. I want to be like him.

At the end of last year after seeing the movies Blindside and Invictus, I posted an article called ‘Have I done enough?’ In the interest of doing more, Scott and I had the opportunity to volunteer with our church, Solana Beach Presbyterian, when it closed its doors on a recent Sunday morning and went all over San Diego County to serve.  In completely honesty, I loved telling people about the sacrifice Scott and I were making by participating in this project -  knowing just how impressed they would be given how much we already do, of course!

I was able to find a project close to our home where we were going for 3 hours to clean a Boy’s and Girl’s club.  Those who know me well are aware of what a clean freak I am (read: bordeline OCD). Thus, I was happy when I was assigned to clean the kitchen.  Until I walked into the kitchen… by myself… as no one else wanted to be assigned that project!

Now I am going to give you a hint of why I’m not allowed on twitter.  Sometimes my thoughts don’t always reflect well on who I am. Sometimes I need a kick in the rear to remind me being great in God’s kingdom means learning to be a servant of all.

The first thought that was going through my mind was how much better I could organize that kitchen.  While cleaning the walls where the kid’s food had landed after missing the trash can, I was thinking how I would never have let that happen under my watch.  Sounds like the people that just drive me crazy when they come to Mexico and tell me how they would change things!

I’m not done.  It gets better.  Three other volunteers were spending their time organizing all the board games. They spent 3 hours counting Monopoly money! That takes 3 people!?  And the more they laughed and talked the more frustrated I became. Because: I was by myself in that dirty kitchen doing real volunteer work.  At some point I began envisioning an awards ceremony at the end of our project where I was awarded the hardest worker of the day!

I know what you are thinking, and you’re right.  My ramblings sound like one of those people Jesus spoke about who was not happy with their lot in life.  Like the servant that worked more hours but got paid the same.  Or Martha (who I’ve always thought got a raw deal) wanting Mary to help out a little when Jesus visited.

So, I apologize to those 3 women. They came to serve that day with joyful hearts and made me ask myself, “Who’s the servant of all?”

Have I Done Enough?

Over Thanksgiving weekend I got a text from our Chief Operations Officer, Wendy Johnson, that she had just seen the movie, Blindside and the Sandra Bullock character reminded her of me. Yea, I can see that, well except for the hot body and millionaire husband, that could be me. Michael Oher, the homeless youth taken in by the Touhy family, was interviewed on CNN and the anchor finished the interview with how wonderful it would be if the movie inspired others to reach out and take someone in.

Last Saturday I was in Tijuana attending the Ministry Planning Board Christmas party at Pastor Armando Ponce’s church. He has been with us almost from the beginning when his church and home were housed in a facility that resembled an aluminum Quonset hut. A lot has changed since then but what is the most inspiring is that Pastor Armando has planted 10 mission churches in the city of Tijuana.

Tonight Scott and I went to see the new Clint Eastwood movie Invictus. I’ve been thinking about that prison cell where Nelson Mandela lived for so many years and how this one man helped change the course of history in South Africa that makes it now possible for us to serve there. A great and inspiring figure in our lifetime.

These two movies and the testimony of Pastor Armando inspire me to do more. And so this holiday season I am asking myself, “Have I done enough?” I am 55 years old and I know that if I died today I could go to my grave feeling good about the fact that I made a promise as a 9 year old to be a missionary and I kept it. Honestly, since I made that commitment at Guadalupe Christian Service Camp people would say I have accomplished a great deal. And yet until the day I die I will keep asking myself, “Have I done enough?”

Have you done enough?

By Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO of Amor Ministries

Read more by Gayla by clicking here.

“Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father; there is no shadow of turning with thee; thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not; as thou hast been, thou forever will be.” – Hymn by Thomas Chisholm, 1923

We all have memories of a time and place that we remember so vividly it is as if it occurred yesterday.  Some memories are so clear that I can even recall what I wore that day.

I have just that kind of memory to share.  Though I don’t remember what I was wearing, what I do know is that Scott and I were driving home from work. At the time, the Amor offices were located on the Hope International University campus in Fullerton, CA.

During that ride, we discussed our friend, Glo Spivey who, as I said that day, was the very definition of the word “sweet” in the dictionary.  In doing so, I asked Scott a question that will forever live on in infamy.  I asked Scott if he thought of me as “sweet.”

The look on his face I’ll never forget because it was intense and tiny beads of sweat formed on his brow.  He gripped the steering wheel of our little yellow Toyota Tercel knowing that he was treading on thin ice with his answer.  Now, any woman reading this will agree that the simple answer was, “Yes, honey.  I think you’re sweet.”

Being Scott, however, he instead said what he thought rather than what I wanted to hear.  I have always been able to count on Scott to say what he thinks yet I haven’t always appreciated being told the truth (especially after getting ready to walk out the door and being told that my outfit isn’t a hit!)

As I waited for him to answer, I wondered why he was taking so long.  Then, his face changed from incredible intensity to great tenderness as he looked over.  So much so, that I truly believed he would say exactly what I expected—that my name would be found next to Glo Spivey’s beneath the definition of “sweet” in the dictionary.

With the kindest voice a wife could wish for, my husband delivered the words I will never forget as long as I live, “Honey, no.  I really don’t think of you as sweet.  I want you to know that I think of you as well, I think of you as efficient.”  And with that pronouncement which he was quite proud of, he returned to the moment before this conversation began.

“Efficient!  Efficient! What do you mean I’m efficient?” I asked.  Poor Scott.  In trying to answer my question honestly and with a real desire to compliment me, he didn’t know what had just happened.  The little yellow Toyota became smaller as he sat beside a raving maniac.

Scott and I, however, remember that day as a defining moment in our marriage because I can trust that he will always be honest with me even when I don’t want to hear it.  In the end, we look back and laugh at our “men are from Mars and women are from Venus” view of the word “efficient”!

Truth be known, he was right.  I am efficient.  Am I sweet?  Well, as my friend Bill Miles says, “I don’t think of you as sweet, but I do think you’re a sweetheart.”  I’m okay with this.

This particular memory came to me recently because of a question that was asked in our Fall Leadership Bible Study.  In Mike Yaconelli’s book, Messy Spirituality he asks what we would like said at our funeral.  I can tell you right now, efficient is not it.

Instead, I would like to hear that I have been faithful.  When I enter those pearly gates, I want Jesus to say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”  I want to be remembered as faithful to my God, faithful to my husband and family, and faithful to the ministry I committed to when I was nine years old.

In this thanksgiving season, we have much for which to be thankful, but it is His faithfulness that inspires me daily.  It’s why Amor Ministries has stayed the course by serving in Mexico when things have been tough and why we continue to respond faithfully to the Pastors and their ministries as they move forward in these challenging times.

2010 will be our 30th Anniversary.  Over a quarter-of-a-million of you have faithfully participated with us over these 30 years in serving the church in Mexico and most recently, in South Africa and San Carlos.  We ask you to join us on one of our 2010 projects as we work alongside the Church in a year of Jubilee celebrating God’s faithfulness to Amor Ministries!

“Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness morning by morning new mercies I see! All I have needed thy hand hath provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!”

By Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO of Amor Ministries

Read more by Gayla by clicking here.

“Strip down, start running and never quit.  No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.  Study how he did it.  Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever.  And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside of God.” – Hebrews 12:2 (MSG)

Today, we take each person’s spiritual life in the Ministry seriously, but it wasn’t always that way.  Sure, we had a fall Bible study and we prayed daily for the Ministry but as I look back, we were going through the motions—that is until we had a study on the book of Romans.  You can’t study Romans without looking at what “righteousness” is and isn’t.

During that time, I began praying that God would reveal the unrighteousness within the Ministry.  When He did, it wasn’t pretty!  In fact, it began with Scott and me.  We realized that we didn’t have our finger on the pulse of the spiritual life of those serving with us.

We made assumptions, many of which were wrong.  We assumed that because we are in a ministry that serves the Church, that everyone working with us would be just as committed to their local church.  We also trusted that the lives our staff lived while away from the Ministry reflected the words of Christian character as set in their job descriptions.

When I began to confront these issues and others, I was met with great resistance in particular by those that were being held accountable for their behavior. As a result, I was not very popular.  Most were either mad at me because I was perceived as unfair to them personally, or felt I was being unfair to a fellow teammate.  Eventually, someone had the courage to come tell me what people were saying about me.

Although these “little foxes” of sin were not horrible, we all know that it doesn’t take much to bring down a ministry.  Regardless, Scott and I felt we hadn’t given all these years of our lives to see the Ministry destroyed by a lack of accountability.

It was during this time that I became the Chief Spiritual Officer of Amor Ministries.  Though it wasn’t a promotion with a pay increase, this change was about dealing with the issues at hand and about developing a strategy so that spiritual life would take center stage.This is how our yearly scripture themes became our annual focus and is why the theme is often reflected on the shirt we give each participant.  If you follow us closely, then you usually know our topic because I refer to it on a regular basis.

[If you can name the themes from the last five years, you can win a free trip with us!  Hint: Last year’s topic was taken from Revelation 3:16.  Remember that whole lukewarm thing with the Church in Laodicea? NOTE: First person to respond will receive a waived participation fee.]

The idea of a new theme has been on my mind as I considered that next year we will celebrate 30 years of ministry, especially in light of this past year and all the challenges we have faced.  And I got some incredible advice from a beloved friend of the Ministry, Dan Kuban.  Our dear brother has pancreatic cancer and yet still had time to assist me in setting the course of study that would become a part of our spiritual life during this anniversary year!

Our scripture from Hebrews 12:2 in the NIV says, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Fix our eyes on Jesus.  When I look back over that period in the Ministry when our spiritual pulse wasn’t quite right, I get a big pit in my stomach.  I think about all that was at stake and how close we came to the edge.  More importantly, I feel responsible.  Yet, the one that started and finished the same race that we are in, never took His eyes off of us.  It took time, but we turned things around.

Today, we have an intentional spiritual life strategy that is woven into the fiber of our existence as a Ministry.  This year, together we will study the one who did it and never lost sight of where He was headed—that exhilarating finish line in and with God!  Join us on this spiritual journey and together, we can face any challenges we find along the way!  This past year is certainly proof of this.

By Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO of Amor Ministries

Read more by Gayla by clicking here.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you can be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (NIV)

This Scripture has been my “go to” passage whenever I’m asked my favorite Bible verse.  I memorized it back in Bible College and it has stuck.  It wasn’t until recently when a friend of mine told me that he didn’t like those verses that I began to re-think my commitment to it.

At 55 years old and with thirty years of Amor Ministries behind me, I was living “la vida perfecta;” never in my wildest imagination, would I have believed that our 29th year of ministry would present us with “trials of many kinds.”

When it became increasingly evident that groups were afraid to come to Mexico because of reports in the media, I hit the road to meet with many of you to discuss your concerns and fears.  It was a huge disappointment to see the cancellations even though we didn’t feel it was necessary and still don’t.

We could have survived this and had genuinely believed that we had until a new plague hit—the swine flu.  In the month of May, more than half of our summer groups canceled making this the final straw for some of you.

So, we worked diligently to recover rather than let any staff go.  We raised money, took pay cuts, had a garage sale, rented out one-half of our office space and yet; in the end, losing half of our yearly participants was simply too much for the Ministry to handle.

This past week has been the most difficult for Scott and me in our 29 years of ministry.  We have never laid anyone off and not one staff person warranted being let go.  It was not easy.  There have been many tears and heartache.

Tough decisions were made by our leadership and some amazing people that have served the ministry well, were released.  And that hurts.  Those that remain are also hurting but in a different way.  To see their teammates leave is just plain hard (not to mention that all of them will be absorbing additional responsibilities so that the Ministry can move forward.)  In the end, we laid off about ¼ of our work force.

And sadly, this is where we are but, Scott and I are not the kind of people to let this keep us from forging ahead.  Our experience reminds us that this isn’t the first time we have faced trials and it won’t be the last.  I genuinely believe that these things happen to make us as the Scripture says, “mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  As hard as this has been we still see God’s hand on the Ministry.

In fact, Scott and I have had many discussions over this past year similar to the one’s we had when we first founded the Ministry.  So much that has happened recently has reminded us of those early days.  People were afraid to go to Mexico, the economy in the United States was in dire straits and fear of sickness on a mission trip was a frequent concern.

We overcame that just as we will overcome this.  The joy in all of this is that we have a peace from trusting that God knows exactly what He is doing with Amor Ministries to make it healthier and stronger for the next 30 years.  Scott and I truly believe that our best years of Ministry are ahead of us and that this season is preparing us for it.

I ask you to pray for Amor.  Those who have left and those who remain all need your prayers.  As we plan for the future, pray that we are sensitive to God’s leading for Amor Ministries 2010 and the future of the work.  Please pray for us as leaders.  We are humbled by this opportunity to serve God in this way and are so grateful that He continues to disrupt our lives in order to make us more like His son.

Consider it pure joy.

By Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO of Amor Ministries

Read more by Gayla by clicking here.

I remember those words posted on signs when I was a little girl in the 50’s and 60’s.  Of course, it was blatant and legal racism.  Sadly, it was in no way based on a person’s ability to perform the job.  Unfortunately, we continue to see discrimination in other forms, like sexism, elitism, and ageism  continuing worldwide.

I considered this as our team finished studying the lukewarm church of Laodicea, found in the Book of Revelations.  I was struck by the thought that I wouldn’t want any of their parishioners to apply for a job at Amor Ministries—especially this past year!  I don’t think any of them would survive.  Lukewarm believers are just not tough enough, and God’s work can be hard.  It requires denying oneself, picking up the cross, and following Jesus.  (Incidentally, Luke says that we are to do this daily.)

That’s why it’s important to be surrounded by those that are made of the “right stuff,” so they can stand in the gap with you when the going gets tough.  Wherever you may stand in your theology about the Great Tribulation, consider this: who would you want right beside you in times of trouble?  Certainly not Judas Iscariot! What about Peter, James, and John?  They fell asleep once before and just might do so again.  In the end though, they may have slipped a little but eventually went on to establish the church during pretty challenging times.  Do you get my drift?  They weren’t perfect, but they were tough as nails when it mattered most.

In war, men and women often talk about “being in the trenches.”  There are legendary stories of those who valiantly fought side-by-side, all the while knowing the other person would cover his back.  Unfortunately, there are also stories of those who gave in to their fears, turned tail and ran, leaving their fellow soldier exposed.  It takes courage to stay the course, courage to be a part of a team.

At Amor, there are soldiers working in the trenches with us daily.  Yet, the Amor team has been criticized for being too young to be responsible for groups in Mexico.  What about the shepherd boy named David who took on Goliath or Daniel in the lion’s den?  And let’s not forget Timothy and the other disciples who were quite young themselves.

George Barna of the Barna Group recently published statistics stating that of the 30,000 Christians interviewed for his new book, 66% were considered “Casual Christians,” and out of this group, 16% were considered “Captive Christians.”  When I shared this information with our staff, I made sure they understood in no uncertain terms that everyone at Amor should be in the “Captive Christian” category.  It is with great confidence that I can say we are people who are trying daily to be “fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”  This passage, taken from Hebrews 12:2, is our theme for 2010, so I will be writing about this as we struggle together to understand what Christ considers the “right stuff.”

Everyday, I walk into the Amor office to serve with men and women that are captive to Christ.  They are a joy to work alongside, and it is refreshing to see what our staff is made of from the perspective of this recently-turned 55-year-old.  They have taken criticism from family, friends, and group leaders they know and love.  They have taken pay cuts and worked longer hours in order to serve the groups that came.  What’s more, they sit daily wondering if they could be laid off.

I want these people by my side—in the trenches and during tribulation. In the end, I would post a sign outside our office saying, “No need to apply.”  It wouldn’t be due to race, sex, economic background, or age, but it would certainly apply to grit.  Many simply could not cut it working for Amor Ministries.

I am honored to serve with the men and women of Amor Ministries.  It is a privilege to be your partner in serving the only Kingdom that matters.  I will never forget this time in the history of the Ministry where you have valiantly served in the trenches.  I salute you with the love of Jesus Christ!

By Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO of Amor Ministries

Read more by Gayla by clicking here.

By the very nature of who Jesus is, people want to be like Him or run. Jesus spoke to the prostitutes and didn’t judge them. He didn’t go to them after they got their lives together. He also didn’t ignore or avoid them. He met them in their need and reflected God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and repentance while holding them accountable, but loving them with the grace of God. He allowed them a chance at changing their life because of His love and mercy. And for the most part, as members of the church, we get it. It is about loving people and meeting them where they are at in their need because that is what God did for us.

The Church is an interesting dynamic to watch – to see a group of believers and observe how they live out their faith, interact, and deal with conflict. It is an amazing thing. God gave us the church. Everything that we read about in the scriptures talks about the body, the Church. If you are not a part of a church, you are denying a body of believers your amazing self, and the opportunity to see how you live out your faith.

Maybe you have been hurt by people in the church or by organizations, but how does that benefit the kingdom of God? What does being a part of the Church mean and how does that truly make us different? It is all about Jesus. Do not look at what is good about the Church or what is bad about the Church. I challenge you to look at the Church with a new and fresh perspective, especially if you have grown up in it. Ask God to teach you new things about the Church and why He established it.

Some of my earliest memories of the church are of transformation. When I was in the 4^th grade, I witnessed my Church embrace the town drunk. They reached out to his family, helped walk the father through AA, restored his confidence, and helped him get on his feet again. I saw transformation. I saw a man become whole again. And it was a blessing to our entire church to witness and share in his transformation.

I have grown up in the Church since I was eight years old. And I have always loved it. I thank God for His Church, and for you, the body. This love for the Church and the importance of it is also why it is a core value of Amor Ministries. This organization will live beyond Scott’s and my leadership. We work through the Church in Mexico, and they share Christ with the people in their communities. It is such a privilege to be a part of that. We are grateful to help with their ministry through vacation bible schools, outreach activities, and providing homes, food, clean water and school supplies for the community. But on a day to day basis, when it is all said and done, the local Church is the true ministry presence.

After an Amor building team packs up to go home, crosses the border, eats Mom’s cooking and takes a warm shower, the Church is still in Mexico.  Every day, perpetually, the Church is there.  It brings a community of people together to share, to encourage, and to support each other.  I love the Church.  And the Church is at its best when we are serving together.

All around us are incredible transformations. And that’s why Amor is more than a ‘house building’ ministry.  We are a ministry that serves the Church.  When people see us serving, they see the Church the way it is supposed to be—the body, living out the values, practices and teachings of Jesus, by the leading of the Holy Spirit.  And the result is transformed lives.

By Gayla Congdon, Founder & CSO of Amor Ministries

Click HERE  to read Part 1