by Gena Morgan

The congregation is embarking on a 5-year financial and relational commitment called Journey With A Village (JWAV). This JWAV brings Bethany into partnership with

• Agros Uno, a rural village in Honduras comprised of 22 farming families;
• Agros International, (a Christian development organization dedicated to ending poverty through land ownership, www.agros.org); and
• North Delta Evangelical Free Church, a partnering church based in BC, Canada (www.ndefc.ca).

This partnership has been over two years in the making! More than 30 people from Bethany have spent time at Agros Uno over the past two years. Among them, Gil and Jane Ward in January 2004, a high school team in July 2004 (read Rachel Anderson's report), and an adult team this last summer (see slideshow).

Over the last 18 months the Bethany youth have sustained a monthly prayer time for the families at Agros Uno, and prior to our current commitment, five Bethany families had already made financial commitments to support the Agros Uno families.

The partnership with our neighbors south of the border has also been enhanced by a partnership with a faith community north of the border in British Columbia. Eight families from the North Delta Evangelical Free Church have made similar commitments to Agros Uno, and two of their members joined the Bethany team last summer.

Specifically, our five year partnership includes:

1. a financial commitment of $10,000 per year for 5 years
2. continuation of the monthly prayer time begun by Bethany’s youth for Agros Uno
3. a plan to send volunteer teams at least annually to the community, and adequately train volunteers before each trip
4. a commitment to build relationships with villagers through regular communication.

Our hopes for this new and sustained relationship include the following:

• Bethany youth may return to Agros Uno to continue relationships and build houses
• Bethany adults may return to continue relationships and take others along
• that we at Bethany would be transformed into the mind of Christ through the prayers the people of Agros Uno offer for us
• that we would learn to be faithful and patient through consistent prayer for these Honduran families and their challenging realities, including severe weather, poor health, lack of drinkable water, crop failures, etc
• that we would meet the challenge of the emotional, spiritual and financial commitments for a five-year period with this remote community at its most fragile and embryonic stage.

Learn more about Journey With a Village (pdf).

What is Agros Uno?
Agros Uno is one of the newest fledgling communities in Central America founded and funded with assistance from Agros International.

The community is comprised of poor landless Honduran families who have moved to land purchased through Agros with the ultimate goal of establishing a fully functioning and self sustaining community where families:

• own their own land,
• have firmly established basic community infrastructure (e.g. houses, roads, irrigation systems),
• have access to the skills and resources that enable them to flourish (e.g. education, micro-enterprise training, sustainable agricultural practices).