By Bill Jungels

On February 15th 2009, Christine Eber and I climbed up the mountain to the home of Cristóbal Arias in the highlands of Chiapas in southern Mexico. We came bearing donations that members of the Peace Center, among others, had made so that the little community of Chixiltón could build a new church and community center.

Cristóbal and other representatives of the Word of God community awaited us. In a tour of the community, he explained that it was comprised of members of the Abejas, the Zapatistas and even “the PRI”, by which he referred to followers of any official political party.

The movement of liberation theology within the Catholic Church was a primary ground on which both the Zapatista and the Abeja movements for social justice were laid, and we were impressed by the villages rich theological history.

After the donation was received we descended to the area where the church was rising and we were in truth a bit shocked. The raising of the money took over a year, and the construction of the church had advanced a long way by the time we arrived to convey the final installment of aid.

The members of the community take turns volunteering their labor in the construction. Though the church had no architect and no plans existed, a mason they had hired to help them had guided the community to improvise a sophisticated facade in front of a simple but large cement block hall, covered by a metal roof.

Given the people’s sacrifice in money and labor, this church has to be seen as a true expression of the community. It is my hope that it will continue to foster that community when they are finally all able to gather there and will allow them to grow in size, but more importantly that it will further the spirit justice and peace which is at the center of the Word of God movement.