wfn.org | ELCA and Bolivian Lutherans Walk Together

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 17, 1997

ELCA AND BOLIVIAN LUTHERANS WALK TOGETHER
FE-97-02-MB

     SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (ELCA) -- The Bolivian Lutheran Church
has an ambitious plan to work with migrant people in Santa Cruz,
one of Latin America's fastest growing areas.  Surrounded by
farmland and wide open spaces, this small city southeast of La
Paz has experienced an influx of 60,000 peasant farmers in the
past 15 years.  The migrants, mostly from indiginous groups, have
come looking for a better way of life but find no schools, no
electricity, no water.
     Jobs are few in Santa Cruz.  Most migrants rely on an
"informal economy," cleaning windshields, shining shoes, selling
gum or candy on the sidewalks.  The church sees education as a
vital link to development so, in addition to worship services and
Bible studies, it has plans to provide education for children and
adults.
     Once the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) might
have sent missionaries to evangelize among Santa Cruz' one
million families. Now, in a new approach to mission work called
"accompaniment," the ELCA is providing financial support to help
the Bolivian Lutheran Church send its own missionary there.
     The accompaniment mission philosophy puts a new face on the
church's still vital commitment to spread the gospel to the ends
of the earth.  It works through interdependence between the ELCA
and other Lutheran churches around the world -- many of which
have their origin in traditional missionary efforts.
     "Previously it was a one-way relationship -- what we were
doing for them," said the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, director
for Latin America in the ELCA's Division for Global Mission.
"[Now] it is not our strategy, our mission, our work, but theirs.
The Bolivian Lutheran Church sets the priorities, the goals --
they are the ones in charge."
     For the Bolivian church, the poor are a priority.  "We need
[the ELCA's] solidarity and support to address the needs of these
migrant people," said the Rev. Eulogio Soto, a pastor of the
Bolivian Lutheran Church.  Soto will serve as the church's
missionary to Santa Cruz.  The ELCA will provide $10,000 per year
toward his efforts in education, Bible study and worship.
     This way of doing mission may feel new to church members,
but its roots are in the gospel itself, said Malpica. "The
philosophy of accompaniment is modeled after what we understand
about God's relationship with us -- God has decided to walk with
us in Jesus Christ."
     Leadership development is another priority of the Bolivian
church. In support of this aim, the ELCA provides scholarships to
help train pastors and other leaders on their home turf.  The
ELCA has begun a new program of study Wartburg Theological
Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, focusing on theology, development and
evangelism.  The two-year program will train leaders from
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador and Nicaragua who will
return to their churches to train others.  The ELCA has commited
$90,000 to this leadership development in work in 1997.
     The Bolivian Lutheran Church seeks to expand its medical
ministry to people in the highlands who live beyond the reach of
medical facilities.  The ELCA will help pay for an effort that
will involve medical specialists from neighboring Chile.
Another grant from the ELCA funds a loan program in Bolivia that
makes small loans available to highland families who want to
start small businesses such as pig-raising.
     The philosophy of accompaniment depends upon a relationship
rooted in a shared faith, according to Malpica.  So, while
financial support play a part in the ELCA's partnership with the
Bolivian Lutheran Church, the relationship is not built upon
money.
     Malpica said, "Two points are important in accompaniment --
mutuality and interdependence. Not only what we can give, but
what we can receive."  The vigorous witness of Lutherans in
Bolivia will bring the gospel into the lives of Lutherans in the
United States in new ways.

[Marcia Erickson Bates, a member of Advent Lutheran Church,
Everett, Wash., is a freelance writer who visited Bolivia through
the ELCA.]

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html