Lausanne World Pulse – Urban Articles – Gathering Manna in the City: Ministry in Lima, Peru
By Brian Langley
October 2008
On one of the darkest nights that I can remember, a young friend of ours who grew up on the streets came to our meeting in hysterics. This was our weekly Friday night street gathering in one of the most notorious red light areas of Lima, Peru. Assembled on the cold street corner was our usual ministry team, a motley group of young men and women from different national origins, conservative and liberal, clean-cut and sloppy, outgoing and timid.
Love in the Midst of Pain
Our young friend’s loud shouts and frantic body movements called immediate attention to himself. To a point, our meetings can tolerate what in most social settings would be considered disruptive and/or destructive behaviors. We believe our theological reading of the stories of Jesus Christ embracing the outcasts of society should translate into our strategies for ministry. Our community seeks out authentic love relationships with young people who live on the streets. Period. We do not ask them to first get off the streets or change their lives around in order to be loved and touched by us. We want them to get close enough to be cleansed by God’s touch.
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The culture of the street is rough, anxious, and belligerent; people who live in this environment internalize these characteristics and then slowly forget how to act any other way. At our meetings on the street there are always a few drunk people, many more who have been inhaling shoe glue, and a handful who are very upset and ready to fight. But this was more than we could tolerate; this young man was shouting wild accusations against us and pushing people around. After this, he threw the cup of hot chocolate he had just received to the ground in front of everyone.
What made this more difficult was that our community had been in relationship with him for many years; in addition, he had quite a reputation on the street. When he stormed off around the corner, a handful of people followed him, which seems to be the case wherever he goes. I thought I had seen this kind of exit before, only to be confronted shortly after with an angry person holding out a broken glass bottle or a freshly stolen kitchen knife intent on threatening someone. So I also followed him.
After abruptly brushing my hand off his shoulder as we walked the length of the dark street, him telling me “where I could go,” and how much he hated me, he finally broke: standing completely still, he looked at me through streaming tears and said he was afraid that if he got lost no one would come to find him. But this was practically his neighborhood—the streets, corners, and stores that he had been navigating for seventeen years. “Well, I am here right now with you and I love you,” I told him. He came toward me and we embraced, experiencing God’s loving and reconciling presence in each other’s arms for a few moments, and forever marking both our lives.
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Brian Langley has lived with his wife and two daughters in Lima, Peru, since 2000, working among street populations. |