Background
During the past two school years Lutheran Campus Ministry led 3 groups of college and high school students to visit and work with the Costa Rican Lutheran Church in CROSS: Costa Rican Outreach-Simplicity and Service. Funded by a Youth Leadership Initiative grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, each trip included preparatory meetings, time in Costa Rica and follow up reflection on the service learning experience.Details of the project
Mexico Outreach Simplicity and Service is the final stage of this service learning project. Working with the Lutheran Center in Mexico City, students will explore the Mexico City area, experience the lives of the poor and better understand how the church works globally for justice and peace. Travel to and from Mexico City will be by bus for most participants, helping us see and directly experience the interconnectedness between central Texas and central Mexico.The immersion program at the Lutheran Center in Mexico City challenges and empowers participants as God's people to become advocates and promoters of a more just and human world in the context of a global order that increasingly robs the poor of life and dignity. Participants experience the reality of the poor; reflect critically on the root causes of this reality; experience the hope for transformation through movements and projects arising from marginalized sectors of society; and return home with a recommitment to the gospel of Jesus, who lived in solidarity with the poor and excluded.
Dates: March 8-16, 2008
Cost: $300
Applications will be due by January 20, 2008. Please include $150 with the application and the other $150 by February 20. However, in order to keep the cost of the trip this low we can only take a total of 14 persons, so applications will be accepted until trip is full. Approximately 60% of the true expenses of the trip will be covered by the remainder of the CROSS Thrivent grant. We hope each participant can raise at least half of the $300 they are responsible for from local friends or congregation, which will help publicize our global connections while also supporting the Lutheran Center in Mexico City.
Pastor Paul Collinson-Streng, Lutheran Campus Pastor in Austin, will accompany the trip. Pastor Paul has spent over 4 years living and working in the Mexico City area.
For more information, contact Pastor Paul at or 512-472-5461.
Applications will be posted here on our web site at a later date.