As Joe and I made our way home driving west, we stopped in La Grange, Georgia, where we stayed with some relatives. We were greatly encouraged by a brief visit with Anton Flores and by the work of the Alterna Community. They are a small Christian community that has endured tragedy over the recent years, and yet, has sought to hear God’s leading through mourning and grief.
After school tutoring program
Alterna always has had a strong presence with immigrants from Mexico and Central America. Currently the community has its center on Mona Lane, an out-of-the-way street lined with duplexes. The development, which was originally built as housing for the service “help” of the wealthy, now primarily is the home of Guatemalan families. It also had become a dumping ground for discarded furniture and garbage. Over the past couple of years, Alterna has elicited the help of the city in removing the garbage and building a beautiful playground for the children of Mona Lane.
With the help of two Mission Year couples, Anton runs an after-school tutoring program for neighborhood children. We were privileged to be there when the school bus arrived after school. Several adults, neighbors as well as interns, walked together to meet the bus and welcome the students home with hugs, cookies, and conversation about their day. As we all walked up the block to the Alterna duplex for the tutoring session, the adults engaged the children with questions about their day and their homework. Anton threw in a math problem or two to solve as they walked. As the children got settled into their tutoring work, Joe and I left this hive of activity with a sense of God’s grace administered through Alterna.
Alterna’s story is one of God’s shalom, creativity and hospitality. As they continue to discern God’s leading, we encourage you to hold them in prayer and gratitude. God continues to show up in all sort of places! The stories must be told to encourage faithfulness and awareness that this work is above all things, God’s work. It goes beyond the buildings, programs, gardens and particular practices each of our communities may have. And the stories will endure as we continue to share them long after the tangible signs and evidence has disappeared. Indeed, there’s evidence of God’s work through Christian community in the southeast.
Scripture tells us that it is faith, hope and love that remain as evidence of God’s presence. May these be front and center of our lives and communities, even as we still have the tangible structures around us.
Nancy Gatlin
NCN leadership team
Hope Fellowship, Waco, TX