I just returned from a short trip to Medellin, Colombia and I am blown away at God’s faithfulness to those who co-labor with him in his field.

The front of the City of Refuge building (More images)

On August 17, City of Refuge in Medellin, dedicated their new building to the Lord. I had the privilege of witnessing this celebration. Today, the men’s homeless shelter and men’s and women’s rehabilitation centers are housed in one building. Let me try to describe the architectural layout of this five-storey building and what each floor is used for.

In the evenings, the first floor is the men’s homeless shelter but in the daytime, it is currently used as a parking lot. On Sundays, it’s the church. I know it sounds weird — a parking space — but in order to build a five-storey building, there has to be enough parking space to accommodate the occupants of the building. To solve this issue, the 1st floor can be used as a parking lot, the 2nd floor is for the men’s program and the 3rd floor is for the women. In order to keep them separate, the women have a different entry to their floor. The building has three separate entrances. The 4th floor has rooms that can be used as conference or class rooms. The children’s ministry uses these rooms as classes on Sunday during the church service. The office and kitchen are located on the 4th floor too. The 5th floor has rooms as well as a terrace which will become a children’s playground. Finally there is 6th floor which is just an open space. Currently, the men from the program use this place for their quiet time and to pray. From here, one gets a panoramic view of the city of Medellin. In the future, this space on the 6th floor can be converted to rooms.

I don’t think I’ve done justice in my description of the place but trust me, the building is very well thought out. Ah, I forgot to mention that there is a space on the first floor which is the bakery and bodega. The bakery will be a work place for the women from the program, and the bodega, well it’s a bodega. City of Refuge hopes to be able to reap some monetary benefits from these two programs.

The City of Refuge fam/retreat in San Pedro (More images)

Before I end, let me also tell you about the farm City of Refuge purchased a few months ago. It’s located in San Pedro and I’m excited about this place. Really, I don’t know what to call it – a retreat, a farm or just a blessing! The Saturday before the building dedication, I went to the farm for a baptism service. Some of the graduates from the men’s and women’s programs were getting baptized. Although the whole baptism was conducted in Spanish, I know for sure that these men and women are proud to confess and profess their faith in Jesus Christ.

Having spoken to ministry director, Douglas Calvano, about the farm, I found out that it is large enough to feed ten milk cows, house a pig farm and a chicken coup. What is produced from these livestock will help the programs. They can have milk for themselves or sell it. One of the reasons for the pigs is that their manure makes good fertilizer for the grass to feed the cows; pork can be used for the feeding program or be sold at the bodega. Eggs from the chickens will be used for the feeding program, the bakery, or sold in the bodega. This place is going to be fully utilized and the produce will be a great blessing to ministry.

Blessings,
Suansee Chan