Study Materials

Today’s Work and Our Latin American Experience
Rev. Eladio Medina

Presented at the AWF International Assembly in Dalfsen, Netherlands, April 2004

“Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed . . . and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors . . . and they have no comforter.” Ecclesiastes 4:1

We are living in times of Crisis
Political Crisis: Leaders have lost a great measure of credibility. A Global Confidence Crisis: After the 9/11 destruction of the twin towers and the steady advance of other attacks around the world, people are scared. The needs of many nations are becoming more and more obvious. Hunger and poverty is destroying nations. Worst of all is that the Church is also in the grip of Crisis.

David Bosch in his book, “Transformation in Missions” says that this crisis is evident in the following areas:

• Faith is becoming redundant: “The advance of science and technology, along with the secular process globalization seems to have reduced faith in God to something redundant.
  
• Missions is less and less Christian: “Related to the above is the fact that the Western World (traditionally not only the birth of Catholic and Protestant Christianity, but also the sole base for the modern missionary movement) is slowly coming to a point of de-Christianization.
  
• Re-examination of traditional stereotypes: The world today is not divided in a Christian and non-Christian world, separated by an ocean. Due to the de-Christianization of the West and the multiple religious migrations, we now live in a pluralist world where Muslims, Buddhists, and other religions co-exist side by side. This proximity has caused the Christians to re-examine their traditional stereotypes of these religions. At the same time the followers of these groups have a more attractive and aggressive missionary outreach than missionaries from Christian Churches.

The triumphalism that the Church lived in during the last century, where writings prognosticated that the whole world would be reached by the Word by the 1990’s, has proved unfounded. Authors wrote this in books like “The Vital Force of the Gospel” and “The Living Christ and the Moribund Paganism.” Today we realize just how mistaken their appreciations were since the Christian Faith is still in the minority while world-wide paganism shows a vigor that no one would admit some short years ago.

• Here are some statistics that show our present condition: (graphs)

This condition should not bring on us a paralysis or collapse. To the contrary, as a Church we should look upon our society’s condition as a challenge to Missions worldwide. We should move forward in our understanding of basic biblical principles and believe that the Christian Faith is intrinsically missionary in its cosmological commitment.

The Latin American Region is seeing this reality through the eyes of various technological advances like the Internet, 24-Hour News Channels, Grants to study in various Universities, and various personal trips to missionaries on the fields where we have seen the reality of a world without Christ.

In view of this we can not justify ourselves before the Lord as not knowing what the reality is around us.

We are anxious to live the experience of a Gospel of re-commitment to the expansion of His Kingdom, reclaiming the truth that Jesus shared with His disciples that “the fields are white unto the Harvest.” We understand too well the needs of our peoples, the spiritual poverty and idolatry that flood their beings with hopelessness.

The Latin American Region is establishing a structure able to mobilize and facilitate the sending of missionaries that are well prepared doctrinally and transculturally. What we have experienced in Latin America gives us confidence to unite in order to send missionary teams that are multinational and bi-vocational to the 10/40 window. We can send them, administer the work and sustain them financially and spiritually. We are confident that we have the potential in our countries and the last years have proven that Latins can and have won over the hearts of many groups of peoples in the 10/40 Window. This has been done even in the midst of crisis and poverty amongst them. We marvel at this as do people from the first world countries.

What we have lived with AMACOS (Southern Cone Alliance Missionary Agency), with an investment of $40.000 dollars a year, maintaining 2 missionary families in Bolivia for 15 years and another couple in Paraguay, has convinced us that we can all work together, independent of what each country can do separately.

For example Peru invests $150.000 dollars al year, maintaining 32 missionaries. Chile, with over $100.000 dollars a year maintains 5 couples and 4 single missionaries. Brazil 5 couples. Argentina makes investments in 4 couples and 2 single missionaries. Also Colombia and Ecuador are beginning to invest in one couple each in transcultural missions.

All of this organization and mobilization would not be possible if we did not have in each country a structure, a Department of Missions, with full-time personnel. This allows us to involve pastors and churches and commit them to missionary outreach and make investments in missionaries before, during and after they have left their native countries to work “overseas.” We help them in the following areas:

• Theological Training
• Professional Training
• Language Acquisition
• Health Issues
• Transcultural Living and Adaptation
• Emotional Life
• Family Life
• Their Financial Situation
• etc.

The local church is the grand partner of the National Missions Department: they pray, the give, they pledge men and women with proven ministries and a clear conviction of their call to minister transculturally. The local church has been the first to support the missionary extension overseas. In some cases some have sent their very pastors to the mission fields with sadness at their going but joy in their obedience.

Our National Administrative Structure consists of the following:

• National Department of Missions
• National full-time Director
• Logistical Team that Supports the National Missions Dept.
• The pastor as a promoter and active supporter of World Missions in his Local Church
• A Missions Deacon as a promoter of Missions in the Local Church
• A Local Church Missions Committee that assist each church dept in its Vision of Missions around the World.

The result of this National Administrative Structure will be:

• A Church with a Vision and Commitment to World-wide Missions.
• A Collegiate Body of Pastors that support National Missions Committee.
• Missionary Candidate Pool willing to be sent by the Dept of Missions to the Mission Field.
• Laymen who offer their services to the Missions Dept to be sent on Mission trips.
• Increases in the Faith Promise giving as local churches continue to understand and expand their role in foreign missions.
• Then…we can win a world for Christ in Unity, going to the entire World, and as Jesus said, “As the Father sent me to the World, so send I you to the World.”

Conclusion
John Harvey as Director for the C&MA in Europe wrote in “What should we Expect” (1995 for the South Korea meetings) in our Missions activity:

• We should Finish the Task. As our support and compliment we have the Scriptures and over 200 years of dramatic advances.
  
• The Costs will Increase. This will be evident in the evident cases of violent persecution for the Gospel’s sake.
  
• The Muslim World will do all it can to Hinder the Advance of the Gospel. After almost 10 years of these words, our reaction to events has been slow, while false religions advance. As Latins, we are challenging ourselves and taking bold steps. Nevertheless we need to speed up, organize and prepare a large army to complete the task to which the Lord is commissioning us.