Love and Gangs

We finished last evening with an intentionally scheduled theological discussion, with students raising whatever theological questions they had. We wrote the questions on the board and then discussed a few of the questions by passing around a “talking stick” so we could hear many voices. Students had rich insights and wonderful questions.

After centering prayer this morning, we had our final two sessions on “Youth and the Fullness of Humanity” with Isra. These sessions were focused on “our highest calling: love.” Isra began by having us read I Corinthians 13, the “love chapter,” and then finished by singing “Jesus Loves Me” and then collectively praying together.  We’ve been so grateful for these insightful, provocative and authentic messages from Isra, and have been profoundly impacted by the sessions.

The day finished with two sessions dealing with gangs in Guatemala. The last session was with sociologist Bob Brenneman, who was Skyped in from his office in Vermont. Bob wrote Homies and Hermanos, a text about Latin American gangs, and talked with us about how all of us have social needs as well as physical needs: we need to belong, and we need to be respected. Most of us get our belonging and respect from our families, our schools, teams we are on, our workplaces, or our friends. For those who join gangs, these typical avenues have been blocked, and the gang fills in the gaps.

Bob interviewed more than 50 former gang members from across Central America for his dissertation and then book, and noted that joining an Evangelical Church — and living a life in line with Evangelical expectations — was one of the only safe escapes from gang life. Former gang members have too much information, they know about the violence that has been done, and where the money is, and what police were paid off. But committing to an Evangelical or Pentecostal church is the one safe way to depart from a gang because — historically, at least — gangs haven’t messed with churches.

Before hearing from Bob, we heard a similar sort of personal narrative from Angelita, a former gang member who escaped the gang by joining a Mennonite Church across the street from her home. Angelita joined the gang at 13 and was a member for eight years; she began to think her only way out was prison, a hospital or the cemetery. But, as she said, “God sent Janette,” pastor of the local Mennonite Church and now head of the Guatemalan Mennonite Church. Angelita and her husband, who also was in the gang, were able to become members in the congregation which — like many Evangelical churches — believed God could fully transform anyone. Although life has still been hard since she has a felony record, and tattoos that evidence she has been in a gang, Angelita is surviving with the help of the church.

This evening we will finish with worship led by a group of students, and then tomorrow morning we leave for a day and a half in Antigua, a nearby city and the former capital of Guatemala. We’ll be back on Friday afternoon for a final classroom session and then we’ll pack for departure Saturday morning. Grace and (generally) good health abound. We are grateful for the quality and collegiality of this remarkable group of students.