"The Hot Air Balloon Festival is coming up in two weeks," said our friend, "We should all go and camp at the park." It sounded like a great idea. Nearly everyone in our group was willing and able to go to the park and camp out for a night to see the famous Festival de los Globos in the Metropolitan Park here in León. This type of group activity and the desire to do things together is exactly what we have been wanting to see from the members of our group and it was very exciting to see that they were coming up with things to do as a group by themselves. Saturday morning several of our friends helped us out by setting up the campsite and getting things arranged for us, because we were busy all afternoon in a meeting in Irapuato. When we returned we realized that most of our friends in the group were upset with one another. Each one of us had done something that had upset the other.
The idea behind our group is that we not only are centered on the gospel word but we are also centered upon the gospel community. The end result that we are striving for is that we are not only hearers of the Word but doers of the Word and that theology and praxis are united. We are realizing that uniting a diverse group of people in one Spirit is not something that we are able to do. We have tried to model love, grace, and community. We have done the best job we can of proclaiming the good news of Jesus to those in our group. Yet, we are still very slow to make the jump from head knowledge to heart living. We are realizing that uniting these wonderful friends of ours in one Spirit is not something that we are ultimately able to do, rather, the unity comes from the Holy Spirit herself. We are also realizing that ministry is a path filled with highs and lows as we see ourselves and our friends making great strides in maturity and understanding and as we see each other fail to live out the grace and love of God we have received. We want nothing more than to see our friends become the body of Christ to one another and to this city. We are certain that this is the desire of God and we are waiting upon him to move among us in this way. We must be faithful and persevere and be careful not to rely on ourselves or our abilities to accomplish His purposes.