I joined the Newbigin Fellowship after one year living in Davis, California. It was a transition time for me because I left my home country, Mexico, and came to The United States. During this time, I was trying to adapt to a new life. Being a Newbigin fellow was not just an intellectual or spiritual opportunity to grow, but rather a refreshing experience in the context of a rather painful transition time in my life.

At the beginning just reading a lot of books in English -by itself- was a huge challenge. Firstly, because it is not my mother tongue, and secondly because reading directly from the authors was something I was not used to do. Nonetheless, I found it fascinating and a valuable gift from God.

I enjoyed our weekly dialogues with a group of believers in Christ. It was an opportunity to recognize in depth my passions, feelings, beliefs, and at the same time learn from theirs. We read and talked about our character, relationships and how God has mercy for every heart in a tangible way. We also discussed about sexuality, missions, social justice, science and other very interesting topics. All of these experiences taught me and encouraged me to show more mercy to myself and to others.

I am so thankful to God for taking me through this experience, and I feel very privileged of being part of this Christian dialogue, as one of our speakers said: “Welcome to the conversation folks!! It´s being going on for two thousand years thinking people trying to put all the pieces together (…) Takes a lot of effort to think through it, but it’s not a new idea. It´s a welcome to the Christian conversation”. Peter Enns

Newbigin Fellowship Now Accepting 2014-2015 Applications: Deadline July 15th

More about Newbigin Fellowship

Diana Garay is a Newbigin Fellowship 2013-14 Alumni