Gustavo Parajón, Nicaragua Peacemaker, dies

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

>Gustavo Parajón, Nicaragua Peacemaker, dies

>by Johnny Almond
>Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America

>March 14, 2011

Managua, Nicaragua, March 14, 2011 - The Rev. Dr. Gustavo Parajón, a medical 
doctor and pastor who was a leading voice for peace and justice ministry in 
Nicaragua for more than 40 years, died Saturday at his home there. His passing 
was sudden and unexpected.

He was an active supporter and participant in the Baptist peace Fellowship of 
North America and a former American Baptist missionary.

Parajón served as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Managua, Nicaragua, 
and in 1967 founded PROVADENIC (Nicaragua Vaccination and community Development 
Program) in partnership with the First Baptist Church of Cleveland, Ohio, 
the Nicaraguan Baptist Convention and the First Baptist Church of Managua.

PROVADENIC is a primary health care program that serves 25 rural communities 
by training local health promoters to treat and prevent common illnesses.
Parajón was also the founder of CEPAD (Nicaraguan Council of Evangelical  
Churches), the ecumenical relief and development agency in Nicaragua.

In the early 1980s, Parajón was a key mediator in ending Nicaragua's civil war 
and part of the reconciliation process that followed. Michael Westmoreland-White, 
a Baptist blogger and member of Jeff Street Baptist Community at Liberty (a BPFNA 
Partner Congregation in Louisville, Ky.), said, "I remember his pleading 
with Baptists in the U.S. to stop the Reagan administration policies of support 
for the Contra terrorists." Westmoreland-White recalled that many Baptists 
chose to support the government position "rather than the testimony of a 
brother in Christ. It was disgusting."

Many in the BPFNA network and the broader Baptist family worldwide had worked 
with him over the years. Rev. Richard Myers, a retired American Baptist pastor 
from Rochester, N.Y. who has been involved recently in health care ministry in 
Nicaragua, said, "Over 40 years, Gus's personal courage and Christian heart 
confronted both natural disasters and the exploitation of the people and 
resources of his country. He knit together communities across theological 
lines to form strong networks of compassion. He leaves a lasting legacy. We 
loved him and he us."

Doug Donley, pastor of University Baptist Church (a BPFNA Partner Congregation 
in Minneapolis, Minn.), said, "This is a devastating loss for the world  
peacemaking community. Many of us were lucky enough to call him a close friend. 
He was and continues to be a source of inspiration and grounding for my 
life and ministry."

Parajón received many honors for his work, including the 1980 Dahlberg Peace 
Award from the American Baptist Churches USA and the 2006 Baptist World  
Alliance Human Rights Award. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree 
by Denison University in 1981 and the Sesquicentennial Medallion as an  
Outstanding Citizen of Managua during the city's 150th anniversary in 2002.

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in 
the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians 
in the United States. The NCC's 37 member communions -- from a wide spectrum of 
Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and 
Living Peace churches -- include 45 million persons in more than 
100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 
646-853-4212 (cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org