wfn.org | 'Encounter with Christ' hopes to put Latin America on map

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 28, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-32-71B{556}

By Michael Wacht*

MIAMI (UMNS) -- A recent episode of "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS
dealt with seven places that were "off the map" in terms of world politics,
according to the Rev. Wilson Boots. The seven places included locations in
Asia and Africa.

Latin America and the Caribbean were so far "off the map" they weren't even
mentioned, he said.  
"Except for the conflict with Cuba, natural disasters and the drug war in
Colombia, they've been forgotten after the Cold War of the '70s and '80s."

Boots is the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries' interpreter for
the Encounter with Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean, a permanent
fund created by the board to support the ministry of the Council of
Evangelical Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean (CIEMAL). It was
established in 1992 to support evangelism efforts, new church development,
ministries with women and children, and community-based health care.

The immediate goal of the Encounter is to collect $1 million in cash. Once
that goal is met, the New York-based Board of Global Ministries will begin
awarding grants from the interest earned to specific ministries. According
to Boots, the fund currently has $385,000 in cash gifts and $482,000 in
deferred gifts. "We are close to bearing fruit from the Encounter with
Christ fund," he said.

Four bishops from CIEMAL joined two United Methodist bishops and a host of
missionaries, annual conference interpreters and churchwide agency and board
representatives at a daylong meeting Nov. 15 in Miami. The meeting preceded
the annual meeting of MARCHA, the Hispanic caucus of the United Methodist
Church. It was designed to celebrate the work of the Encounter with Christ
and to develop plans to garner more support for the fund.

Bishop Aldo Etchegoyen, CIEMAL's top official and leader of the Methodist
Church in Argentina, said connectionalism is the method of the work of God.
"The Encounter with Christ is an expression of connection between north and
south ... in an area where the largest problems are north-south. The south
is poor. The north is developed."

Etchegoyen said that despite the differences between north and south in the
Americas, people experience many of the same problems, including poverty,
terrorism, war and violence on personal, family and structural levels.
"Encounter with Christ represents justice in an unjust world," he said.

The Rev. Franklin Guerrero, a global ministries staff executive who works
with the Encounter, said nearly 90 percent of United Methodist Volunteers in
Missions teams go to Latin America and the Caribbean, but that region is
still not a priority for the denomination.

"Latin America has been an afterthought," Guerrero said. "Most of our funds
and missionaries go to areas that need to be civilized and 'Christianized'
...China, India and Africa. We're strengthening and developing the United
Methodist Church in Russia. We have great opportunities to help the children
of Africa and build a college in Africa. It's time to correct history and
deal with the areas that have been forgotten."

The Rev. Minerva Carcaqo, superintendent of the Portland District in the
Oregon-Idaho (regional) Conference, said that money is always an issue for
missions and ministry, but she warned the United Methodist Church against
becoming self-absorbed in ministry.

"United Methodists raised millions of dollars for the victims of the
September terrorist bombings," she said. "The truth comes out. United
Methodists are people blessed with abundance. But we should not be satisfied
with just sharing Jesus Christ with those like us. If we minister just among
ourselves ... our encounter with Jesus Christ will be limited."

The Encounter with Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean is General
Board of Global Ministries Permanent Fund #025100.
# # #
*Wacht is the assistant editor of the Florida Annual Conference's edition of
the United Methodist Review.

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United Methodist News Service
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