wfn.org | Colombia: Churches Directly Affected by Decades-Long Violence

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CLAI's General Assembly Elects New Office Bearers 

BARRANQUILLA, Colombia/GENEVA, 6 April 2001 (LWI/ENI) - One of the central
themes at a recent meeting of Latin America's leading ecumenical
organization was the intensifying violence in Colombia.

Participants in the Fourth General Assembly of the Latin American Council of
Churches (CLAI) said they regretted that fighting parties in Colombia are
not willing to listen to churches' advice concerning the very complicated
political and military situation in the war-ravaged South American nation.
Since 1991, more than 30,000 civilians have reportedly died in the
37-year-old war, pitting rebels against the armed forces and paramilitary
groups.

The fighting has intensified in recent years fueled by a booming drug trade.
In one incident in early April, around 30 people were killed in clashes
between leftist guerillas and right-wing paramilitary groups in a
strife-torn area.

At the January assembly, churches expressed their willingness to maintain
contact with parties involved in the conflict and to support the peace
efforts of the Colombian churches, many of which are directly affected by
the violence. Churches have been closed, pastors murdered and whole
congregations forcibly removed, church leaders attending the general
assembly last January noted. A CLAI member, the 3,000-member Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Colombia, joined the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in
1966.

Another issue that generated heated discussion at the CLAI assembly was
growing religious pluralism and how churches should respond to it. Retiring
CLAI President, Dr. Walter Altmann, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran
Confession in Brazil, emphasized that this type of pluralism was often
characterized by great rivalry and offensive talk. CLAI General Secretary,
Israel Batista, a Cuban Methodist called for more modesty. "At times we
reproduce in ecumenical circles the same denominationalism that we criticize
in the churches," he stated.

Another controversial point was a planned restructuring of CLAI. The
proposal provided for the elimination of several permanent staff positions,
replacing them with volunteers from the churches in these areas. Critics saw
this proposal as an attempt to strengthen the CLAI headquarters' staff in
Quito, Ecuador. Since delegates did not support most of the proposals, each
region was granted the possibility to propose alternative staffing plans.

In their final declaration, participants outlined the main challenges for
Latin American ecumenism in the coming years: violent conflict in Colombia,
difficult relations between the different Christian groups in the region, a
greater integration of women, the participation of members of indigenous
groups and those of African origin in CLAI governing bodies, and the
reorganization of the council of churches itself. CLAI brings together more
than 150 churches and ecumenical organizations from 21 Latin American and
Caribbean countries.

Around 500 church leaders attended the general assembly. Delegates elected
as new CLAI president the 53-year-old Bishop Julio Cesar Hulguin, head of
the Episcopal Church in the Dominican Republic. Noemi Espinoza, representing
the Evangelical-Reformed Church in Honduras was elected first vice-president
of the CLAI executive committee while Juan Schvindt, general secretary of
the [Lutheran] Evangelical Church of the River Plate in Argentina, is the
committee's second vice-president.

President Holguin urged for a further opening up of the ecumenical group and
inclusion of the rapidly growing Pentecostal churches in the council of
churches. Similar calls were received from Espinoza and Schvindt.

Schvindt stated: "The historical churches practice a religion of books. It's
illustrated Protestantism. What would we be without our Bible, catechism,
and hymnal? Yet to use these one should be able to read and write. How can
the poor of the region, many of whom are illiterate, have access to the
understanding of spirituality if they can't get it out of books?"

The Lutheran church representative continued: "Pentecostalism is the reverse
of historic Protestantism. Whereas Protestants read first, Pentecostals
experience first, and then later on may read. These are two forms of
spirituality with distinct logic, and CLAI has space for both of them." The
47,000-member Evangelical Church of the River Plate joined the LWF in 1991.

Traditional churches have long dominated CLAI's leadership in the southern
part of Latin America. The election of Bishop Holguin means that the
organization's leadership remains in the hands of the traditional Protestant
churches. Holguin is the first Caribbean church leader and the first
Anglican to assume this post. In the newly elected executive committee only
one of the 17 members belongs to a Pentecostal church, as against three in
the previous committee.

(This article is based on a contribution by Paul Jeffrey, ENI - Ecumenical
News International)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 131 member
churches in 72 countries representing over 60.2 million of the nearly 64
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
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