What would you do if you knew 150,000 people every year would walk past your door seeking the way to God, desiring to make sense of their lives?
That’s the situation at the home of Nate and Faith Walter in Spain. They live in Santiago de Compostela, the destination for 150,000 pilgrims per year who undertake the journey along El Camino de Santiago in Spain. El Camino means ‘The Way’, and it has been a spiritual journey for over a thousand years.
With 90% of these pilgrims undertaking the Camino for spiritual reasons, it is surprising that most of them never have an opportunity to process their pilgrimage and interact with others in a meaningful way regarding their questions of faith. The Walters believe God has positioned their team to make a deep and lasting impact in the lives of thousands of people each year.
Their vision is to establish the Pilgrim House Welcome Center to invite pilgrims and aid them in processing their questions of faith.
Be the Welcome Center
As the Pilgrim House Welcome Center project unfolds, the Walters are embracing the encouragement of a friend to “Be the welcome center before you have a welcome center.” Every day a river of pilgrims streams past the front door of their apartment overlooking the Camino.
“It’s fulfilling to live among the pilgrims,” say the Walters. “We’re obviously excited about a future of serving them through the Pilgrim House Welcome Center. In the meantime, we are reaching out intentionally to interact with them now. There’s no reason to wait until we have something open.”
The Way: A new film by Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez
Released in American cinemas in October 2011, The Way chronicles the journey of a father as he walks the Camino in order to understand and grieve the loss of his son. The film faithfully and dramatically represents how modern Camino pilgrims wrestle with brokenness and search for meaning as they travel. It also highlights the sense of community that pilgrims from all over the world can experience together, and the kinds of questions they often ask along the way.
In a recent interview, Martin Sheen commented that he hopes The Way will also make a statement to Hollywood that contemporary films can have substance and profound meaning, and can do so on a much smaller budget.
View the movie trailer below.
I am really excited to hear about this project, and intend to see the film The Way as soon as it’s available in our area (next week)! Has anyone reading this seen the movie already, or visited the Camino?
I’m excited to see this film as a window into the lives of the people that the Walters’ are serving in Spain.
I saw the film on an international flight about a month ago. I think it’s a great insight into the variety of reasons a person may choose to make this journey, and the possibility of relationships and insights that can come of it. I love the gracious acts of hospitality, encouragement and warmth the Walters are attempting to share. I’m sure many will be touched by it. What a great idea for helping the travelers process their experience.
I am really looking forward to seeing this film! As a longtime supporter of International Teams and now a member of the ITeams BAM Center, I am increasingly amazed at the creative ways the ITeams people strive to have Kingdom impact one life and now one pilgrim at a time. The Pilgrim House Welcome Center is another great example!
How great it would be to have someone walk our path in an attempt to understand who we really are. Someone like a father willing to go outside of his own comfort zone to connect on a deeper level to understand his only son and process his own grief.
The Pilgrim House Welcome Center is an opportunity to connect with those searching for acceptance, hope and truth. Those on the journey are mainly looking for a place that goes beyond religion, clever slogans, campaigns and following a certain protocol with a bunch of rules. Most on the journey want to find just one person who is willing to show real love. Actually, we don’t need a Pilgrim House Welcome Center to find people on “a journey”, but rather just open our eyes to those searching who are already in our lives. Being a friend at a critical time can make all the difference in the path someone takes.
Edward, have you seen the film? Were you already familiar with the Camino prior to the film?
I definitely agree with some of what I think you are saying. But I’m not sure if I’m catching your meaning clearly.
I do think that one aspect of the Camino experience is about getting out of your own comfort zone to face what’s inside without the distractions of your daily life. And that is a special place to be, even if, like in the film, you are facing painful life situations. You are right in that pilgrims are looking for genuine relationship, and you are right that we all can and should be looking around us to connect with people who are searching.
But are you challenging the need for creating a space to interact with pilgrims and share acceptance, hope, and truth because we should be looking to help those around us? You may not be saying that, but I not completely sure.
I saw the film in Chicago and I’m so glad I did! It was outstanding on so many levels. I want to write more about it soon and will post another comment once I do.