wfn.org | Chile: "Diaconia is The Face of The Church"

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Making Social Service Work More Effective

SANTIAGO DE CHILE / Geneva, 19 July 2002 (LWI) - "I feel very
closely connected with the real-life problems around me," said
Veronica Chacon, director of a continuing education center run by
a congregation in Santiago.

She spoke for a majority of her colleagues. Nearly all the social
service projects of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile
(IELCH) are located in Chile's poorest neighborhoods.

How the social work of the IELCH could be made more effective was
the theme of a recent nation-wide social work seminar in the
capital, Santiago de Chile. Social service staff and church
representatives from all the congregations continued discussion
about the basic principles and values that should undergird their
social work.

Forty psychologists, nursery school teachers, accountants, pastors
and church board representatives took part. Offering children,
youth and adults an education or further opportunities was
considered by all participants as a goal worthy of church efforts.
"We can't just shut ourselves up in the church for worship on
Sunday. We have to work for the public good," said Sergio
Fernandez Araya, a member of the Talcahuano congregation church
board. A guest speaker, Gisela Beulke, a deaconess from Brazil,
put it this way: "Diaconia is the face of a church, because faith
in itself isn't something one can see."

The diaconal or congregational representatives agreed that social
service work was necessary. But what was more difficult to define
was the church or Lutheran identity of the projects. Those working
in nursery schools or advice centers were hired according to their
professional qualifications as educators or psychologists. Only a
few of them were Lutherans; most are Roman Catholic. Moreover,
many participants complained that the social service projects are
isolated within the congregations, living a life of their own.
There is too little communication between the congregation
representatives and social service workers. All agreed that this
needs to change. "We all have to pull together, social workers and
church members, that's what we all want," said Ximena Mena, a
nursery school teacher.

The seminar participants began by defining for the first time the
central values which should characterize social service work.
These include defense of human rights, fighting for social justice
and solidarity with the powerless in the society. "Our diaconal
work must always follow the example of Christ," said IELCH
President Gloria Rojas. She cited as an example Mark 9.37:
"Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me..."

It was a weekend seminar and there was only enough time to make a
list down the key values. A commission comprising a smaller group
drawn from the participants will formulate these points more
precisely and expand them. The Santiago seminar was one step in a
long-term process. The IELCH is re-thinking and restructuring its
work overall, and is halfway through its so-called Project
Metanoia (Change). The results of this work could be interesting
for other Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches, for the
basic discussion on faith and helping others is an old issue but
one that must find new approach in changing social conditions.

The IELCH has only 3,000 members, but carries out extensive social
service work. Each of its ten congregations, from the capital
Santiago, to Punta Arenas in the far south, has a nursery school,
main school, offers continuing education courses for women, grants
micro-credits for very small businesses or maintains an advice
center for women who are victims of domestic violence.

The church has 18 projects employing 239 people, and costing the
Lutheran congregations about USD 1.2 million annually. The
congregations cannot finance the projects out of their own
resources. They receive support from the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF), as well as aid organizations in Germany such as Bread for
the World, Children in Need and Project Aid to Chile. Many of the
projects are also subsidized by the Chilean state and cities.

(Contributed by LWI correspondent Alexandra Jaenicke, assisting
with the public relations work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Chile.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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