HUMAN WRITES |
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~ J. Shannon Webster |
Six members of a Presbyterian youth group were gunned down in Calqui, Perú in 1984, by mercenaries under employ of the government. Not long after that, there were sixteen members of a Presbyterian church in Ayacucho executed by the Maoist guerilla group Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path"), as the congregation was forced at gunpoint to continue singing. Before this, Protestant churches in the Andean highlands had taken the position that the church was not called to be engaged in social issues or community politics. "When they started killing us, that changed," a Presbyterian seminary student told us. "The church had to become involved."
In July the Synod of the Southwest took a mission study trip to Perú, visiting Presbyterian and Reformed church partners there, and learning about their faith and the challenges they face. Sierra Blanca Presbytery was represented by Las Cruces 1st Elder John Tomlin, Rev. Wayne Hawkins, UNM student and Roswell Westminster member Lizzie Bennett, and EP Shannon Webster. We engaged congregations and mission work of the two Reformed denominations to whom we relate – Presbyterian and Reformed, and Evangelical Church of Perú, as well as Methodist, Evangelico Peregrino (Pilgrim Brotherhood), University of Lima campus ministry, and others.
Over half of Perú's population lives on less than $2 a day; real work is scarce. A "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" is helping the country find its way out of 2 decades (1980-2000) of the kind of violence described in the first paragraph. The time of violence saw the death of over 70,000 people and the disappearance of similar numbers, the execution of over 600 Protestant pastors, and millions displaced from the mountains and fleeing to Lima or other coastal cities. It is a country in great sorrow.
And so the church had to be involved, as that student told us. The result of that involvement was that in those twenty years the Protestant population grew from 3% to over 17%. Presbyterians, Assembly of God, Methodist, Baptist – these were the ones whose leader stayed with the people, proclaiming God's care in the very face of death and working for a safer and more just society. Everyone saw it. Some Andean villages are now almost 100% Protestant.
Universidad Biblica LatinoAmericana (UBL) is an ecumenical seminary producing just this kind of courageous pastor, who can think theologically in this Latin American context. Presbyterian missionary, Harry Horne, teaches Bible and Greek there. Peruvians don't hold much hope that the perennially inept government will be able to bring change. The best hope for change may come from the Protestant churches, who are committing together to bring faith, justice and life back to their country – from the bottom up, one community at a time.
The Synod of the Southwest hopes to help by establishing a partnership with UBL. An entire seminary education in Perú consts only $2500; that is $625 a year. $300 a semester. Sierra Blanca Presbytery's Council created the Perú UBL Scholarship Fund for students from the Presbyterian and IEP (Evangelical Church) denominations, and put $1500 in it, and are inviting congregations or their members to contribute. We are going to have names and bios on the students we are helping. Who knew it would be so inexpensive to change the world, at least a small part of it? $625 a year. One community at a time.
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