Del Camino Network is a community of local churches who participate as servants in the life of the Kingdom of God in response to Jesus’ radical call to ¨love one another as He has loved us.¨ We are connected as friends who are committed to accompanying one another and serving together in what we understand to be our collective mission in Latin America and the Caribbean to work out God’s plan for the restoration of all things. The network is joined as well by pro-church organizations that identify with and form a part of this same spirit of mission.

In the network we see ourselves as being part of a ¨movement¨. We do not seek to become institutionalized. Rather, we hope to develop as stimulated by the Holy Spirit and passionately carry out our mission in such a way that encourages other local churches to serve integrally for God´s Kingdom.

During the 90´s several churches began to dream about forming a community of diverse churches following God´s call to live out His mission integrally. We understood that all humanity was the object of God´s love and that Latin America and the Caribbean urgently needed to experience that love incarnate. These local churches were characterized by their powerful presence in the life of their communities and their commitment to be inclusive living out a Kingdom alternative to the exclusive practices of the world. Together we began to work towards the formation of these networks starting in our own local and national contexts.

At the Consultation on Integral Mission and Poverty celebrated during the 4th Latin American Congress on Evangelization (CLADE IV), in Quito Ecuador, 2000, several representatives of these emerging networks shared their testimonies of church based service and integral mission.

As we mentioned before, Del Camino Network identifies itself fundamentally as a movement. None the less, as we work to develop the best way to live, learn, and serve together in this network, we are continually recreating our organizational structure in simple yet dynamic ways.

Each national network is organized with a coordinating community that serves as the connecting point for the national movements as well as internationally in community with other national networks in Latin America. At least once per year, national connectors meet together to share the ways in which they are working together and living out the mission of the Kingdom in their contexts. At the continental gathering, networks are encouraged in the understanding of our mission and are strengthened through our lived experiences and collective reflection and the bonds of love are strengthened as well.

Relationships of Love
As a network we are deeply persuaded to community and mission by the love Jesus demonstrated to us. We cultivate friendships as a testimony of the presence of the Holy Spirit that is present in our lives. It is this love in community that constitutes the church as the people of God. To give our lives for our friends’ means much more than dying for them, it means living proactively in ways in order to be a blessing to our neighbors. Our mission is to live and share life in our present context of death and suffering in which we live as Latin Americans. We appeal to the liberating imagination possible through life in Christ, to instill hope and the practice of constructive and creative alternative communities. We encourage forgiveness and reconciliation from the life of the church and in community we denounce injustice while pronouncing the possibility of the abundant life in Christ.

As we shared earlier, the network is formed through relationships of love in Christ. To form a part of the network is to enter into relationship with the churches, servants and ministries that are following Jesus on this road. In order to facilitate entrance into these relationships in the network we outline here some simple processes to guide your steps…

One fundamental step to enter into the network is through the creation of environments that promote healthy connections and deepen our friendships on the Way. This is a process which is continually in operation, but it is important to share that the network is first and foremost built on these relationships of love and friendship.