Salt Beyond Suburbia

In the Chicago suburb where I grew up, it wasn’t unusual for our family of eight to share Sunday lunch with a missionary who was visiting on what was then called “furlough.” My dad was the chair of the missions committee at our Baptist church, so we met Maxine who served in Niger, Earlene from Pakistan, the young couple serving in Eastern Europe. I eagerly listened to their stories during Sunday school and over my mom’s pot roast—usually with some underlying fear that God was going to call me overseas. I grew up hearing stories of “real” Christians who gave up everything to become missionaries, often in a country I’d never heard of before. So somehow I internalized the idea that God only called you to places or work that felt scary and unfamiliar.

If God called me into missions, would I be brave enough to say yes?

I never had to answer that question because I never received that call.

Recently I visited our Covenant global personnel in Medellín, Colombia—and suddenly realized it was the first time I’d ever visited a missionary in their context of service.

Sure, I’d participated in mission trips with youth groups and nonprofits. But none of those trips had ever partnered with on-the-ground personnel who lived in the country, engaged in long-term relationship with the local church and their neighbors. My experience had been limited to a sort of “swooping in” to share the gospel in campgrounds or vacation Bible schools, then packing up to return home.

So I’d never been truly proximate to global service. This is probably why I found myself confessing to my husband as I packed my suitcase, “I’m not even sure what I think about global mission.” I knew that the Covenant is engaged in amazing ministry around the world. I know that our partners are building bridges by helping communities access clean water, working toward peace, facilitating micro-enterprise opportunities, providing disaster relief, and aiding refugees. I knew that we have sought to move away from those old patterns of “swooping in,” as if we in North America have all the answers about anything. But I had not witnessed up-close what a holistic understanding of mission “from everywhere to everywhere” could look like.

On our first morning in Medellín, Serve Globally team members Brandi Sanders, Deborah Masten, and I joined a dozen or so pastors of the Colombian Covenant Church gathered at the home of Gary and Mary Lou Sander, who have been serving in Colombia with the Covenant since 1990—35 years.

When we arrived, Gary was sharing what it means to be salt in the world. He explained the variety of ways we can participate with the Spirit in that process—in our actions, our words, our posture, our attitudes. The pastors took turns reading the passage in different translations: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:5-6, NIV).

Listening as global personnel Cathy Campobello translated the conversation for us into English, I thought, “Yeah, I know how to apply this metaphor.”

Or maybe I didn’t.

As the group unpacked different ways to be salt in the world, one pastor stood up to share his story. Local mafia members had made false accusations against his wife. The allegations were severe and had led to death threats. Her mental health was suffering, and she feared for her safety. They had to leave their neighborhood.

“What you say can produce life, or it can produce death!” her husband proclaimed urgently.

Sobered, I realized my simplistic understanding of being light in the midst of darkness was far too shallow, too limited by the comfortable circumstances of my life. I listened to fellow Covenanters share their experience of the very real presence of evil in their community. Being “seasoned with salt” when it comes at a cost—that took Jesus’s call to a radically new level.

After our conversation, Nelly González, executive director of the Hands with Hope Foundation, which is a Covenant World Relief and Development partner, shared with the group about the ministry. Hands with Hope teaches women crafting skills—sewing, macrame, leather working—as well as how to do manicures and pedicures. The nonprofit was started 20 years ago to help raise up women leaders in ministry.

One of the pastors in the room, Jacqueline, explained that as a graduate of the program, she had learned to design and sew her own clothes. Standing to model one of her creations for the room, she explained, “For 10,000 pesos [around $2.50], I made a whole blouse. So I made some more and brought them to our daughter, who lives in the U.S. It really is a beautiful project. I only have to buy the cloth—this would cost four times the amount to buy in the store!” 

Our next stop was Hands with Hope where we could meet other participants for ourselves.

In the community center space Hands with Hope currently uses, half a dozen women gather for their first meeting in the new year. They are eager to be together, and the sheer joy in the room is palpable. Each one enthusiastically introduces herself to us, sharing their stories of where they have come from, the skills they are learning, and the new ways they are able to provide for their families and improve their lives, thanks to what Hands with Hope has taught them.

We met Catalina Lalinde, who had fled Venezuela when the country’s economy collapsed, creating the worst economic crisis in the country’s history. Now living in Medellín, she tells us that the first thing she learned at Hands with Hope was how to sew a pair of pants. At first, she was uncertain about her ability, but her teachers encouraged her, saying, “You can do this!”

Now she tells us, “In December I sewed so many pairs of pants!” That meant she had the funds to buy a bed for her seven-year-old and to move out of the one room they shared into a better living situation. “This is the best part of my life,” she says gesturing at the group. “I found a family here. I love it so much.”

The next morning we visited Seminario Bíblico de Colombia, which recently celebrated its 80th anniversary. Covenant connections began there in 1968 when Covenant missionaries Wayne and Mary Anne Weld arrived in Medellín to serve on the faculty. They were joined a year later by two other missionary couples, Dale and Arlene Bishop and Dean and Donna Erickson. Together with Covenant students from Ecuador who were studying at the seminary, they formed a team with the vision of starting a Covenant Church in Colombia. Now more than 50 years later, that dream is a thriving denomination.

Global personnel Katie and Julio Isaza teach at the seminary. We sat in on a class taught by Katie, where students engaged with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s call to live in community, looking up passages in actual Bibles (not on their phones!) and discussing what it means to respond to God’s call to life together. In Julio’s class on culture, Deb and Brandi shared some of their experiences as African Americans living in the U.S. and responded to questions from curious students. Unlike in many seminaries in the States, enrollment here is growing, not declining, and we met students eager to learn. One young man told us was studying to be a missionary. When asked why, he said, “I met Jesus through missionaries, so that’s what I want to do.” Their hunger and authenticity were striking.

In addition to our front row seat to transformational ministry, we also experience generous hospitality from our hosts. Within three days, we were hosted by three global personnel families in their homes. They fed us. They unflaggingly translated everything for us—conversations, menu items, instructions in the airport. They shared—and showed us—how God is moving throughout the Colombian Covenant Church.

In just a few short days I witnessed something far more profound than my old, simplistic understanding of mission. I saw evidence of our Covenant commitment to share the gospel from everywhere to everywhere: Women finding dignity and empowerment through handicrafts. Seminary students enthusiastically studying Scripture, preparing to serve wherever they are called. Colombian pastors are courageously being salt in the midst of deep challenges. And global personnel who have dedicated their lives to serve and walk alongside local leaders. I didn’t just witness mission work. I witnessed the global church in its fullest expression—vibrant and bearing fruit in ways I never could have imagined at my parents’ dinner table.