wfn.org | Lutherans In Puerto Rico 'Communicate Hope' To The World

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 25, 1998

LUTHERANS IN PUERTO RICO 'COMMUNICATE HOPE' TO THE WORLD
98-236-MR

     SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (ELCA) -- "The Lutheran church in Puerto Rico
has become rich in tradition, rich in leadership, rich in service and rich
in faith," said the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  "It has done this despite
many challenges -- from struggle over national identity, from distance to
other parts of the Lutheran church and from nature itself."
     Anderson spoke to more than 400 mission-minded Lutherans as they
gathered for the ELCA's Global Mission Event (GME) Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the
San Juan Grand Beach Resort.  "Communicate Hope" was the theme of the event
organized by the ELCA's Division for Global Mission.  
     "My heart is saddened as I see the destruction caused by Hurricane
Georges, and I know that it is not the first time this island has
suffered," said Anderson at the GME's opening celebration.  
     Hurricane Georges tore across Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
before making its way through the rest of the Caribbean and to the Gulf
Coast states late September.
     "In all of this hardship, the world needs to hear our message of
hope," said Anderson.  "The Lutheran church in Puerto Rico has taught us
all how to trust God and the power of the resurrection."
     At the GME, Anderson said he learned more about the destruction to
churches and homes caused by Hurricane Georges when he met with 10 ELCA
pastors serving congregations in Puerto Rico.   
     The Rev. Nelson L. Velasquez-Rodriguez, Iglesia Luterana El Redentor
(Redeemer Lutheran Church), Rio Piedras, said his entire community and
church had been without electricity since the hurricane struck the island
five weeks earlier.  
     "The immediate presence and response by Lutheran Disaster Response
and Gil Furst, was important for congregations here," said the Rev. Marysol
Diaz, Iglesia Luterana Emanuel (Emmanuel Lutheran Church), Bayamon.  The
Rev. Gilbert B. Furst is director for Lutheran Diaster Response, a ministry
of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
     "The church was there not just with prayers and presence, which are
valuable to us, but also with financial support.  The presence of the wider
church continues to mean a lot to ELCA members here," Diaz said.
     Anderson told pastors, "You are not only care-givers but people who
are drained and challenged.  Share and support one another.  The recovery
work is a long process, and you will need to pace yourself."
     In his workshop, "The Beginnings of the Lutheran Church in Puerto
Rico," Angel M. Mattos, Iglesia Luterana Sion (Zion Lutheran Church),
Bayamon, said, "The end of the Spanish-American War in 1898 opened the door
to a long and diverse succession of missionaries from North America." 
     Mattos' workshop was one of 40 courses offered in four "global
university" sessions at the GME.  
     "Gustav Sigfried Swennson, a Swiss seminarian from Augustana College,
Rockford, Illinois, was the first Protestant missionary to launch a
Lutheran effort in Puerto Rico," said Mattos.  "He arrived in San Juan with
only five dollars in his pocket Oct. 5, 1898, just two weeks before the
United States flag was raised in 'El Morro' fortress, San Juan."
     "Swennson came to visit a country that was originally evangelized,"
said Francis Ramos, Guaynabo.  "Swennson sought to bring the Lutheran
perspective on faith and life here.  What he really wound up doing was
bringing a new spiritual perspective for a people that had only known one
Christian experience, which was Roman Catholicism."  Ramos was the local
coordinator for the Global Mission Event.
     "The first preaching of Protestant churches in Puerto Rico was
directed to attack the Roman Catholic Church," Mattos said. "The Lutheran
church, however, did not foster this kind of attack.  Its preaching was
directed to the gospel and the saving word."
     "The first Lutheran worship service held in Puerto Rico took place
Jan. 1, 1899.  The service was held in English and it is believed that this
was the first Protestant worship service celebrated in San Juan after the
United States' military occupation in 1898," Mattos said.
     "The first Lutheran congregation in Puerto Rico was organized on Jan.
1, 1900, with 23 members.  The name of the congregation was First English
Evangelical Lutheran Church of San Juan," he said.
     "The first recorded Puerto Rican to become actively engaged in the
work of the Lutheran church was Gabriela Cuervos.  She was confirmed on
April 15, 1900, the same service that inaugurated Iglesia Luterana San
Pablo (St. Paul Lutheran Church), the first Lutheran Spanish-speaking
congregation.  Cuervos became the first Puerto Rican missionary on the
island," Mattos said. 
     Mattos added that "the first ordained Puerto Rican was the Rev.
Eduardo Roig, who graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia in 1926."
     Today there are 26 ELCA congregations in Puerto Rico.  The ELCA has
5.2 million members in 11,000 churches in the United States and Caribbean.
     The Global Mission Event had a special component celebrating the
100th anniversary of the Lutheran church in Puerto Rico.  A worship service
commemorating the centennial was held Oct. 31 at the Interamericana
University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon.  The service was organized by the
ELCA's Caribbean Synod.  
     Dr. Jose Miguez Bonino led Bible studies at the event.  Miguez Bonino
teaches liberation theology at the Evangelical Institute for Higher
Theological Studies (ISEDET) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
     The Rev. Francisco L. Sosa, bishop of the ELCA's Caribbean Synod,
spoke at GlobalFest.  GlobalFest is an interactive festival of music, dance
and discovery during the GME.

For information contact:
Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Director (773) 380-2955 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html