wfn.org | ALC News Noticias Nov 9 2003

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALC HEADLINES:	Nov 9 2003
PERU: Ayacucho, leader of Evangelical growth in Peru
ARGENTINA: Evangelical Kairos Foundation rejects presentation of preacher 
Franklin Graham
CUBA: Latin American Churches and institutions celebrate anniversary of the 
Reform
BRAZIL: Issue of Black identity addressed in Evangelism Congress
BRAZIL: "Citizen Rights in Information Society" seminar inaugurated

PERU
Ayacucho, leader of Evangelical growth in Peru

LIMA, November 4, 2003 (alc). The southeastern department of Ayacucho, one 
of the poorest in the country, has become Peru's leading department in 
terms of evangelical growth. The number of faithful increased from 31,000 
in 1993 to more than 80,000 today according recent studies carried out by 
the Peru for Christ Association.

Ayacucho, with nearly 500,000 inhabitants was the center of Shining Path 
activity in the 1980s and 1990s. It has also traditionally be considered a 
bastion of Catholicism.  The capital city of Ayacucho, for example, has 33 
Catholic Churches.

However, Evangelical communities were among the few that stood up to the 
Shining Path and continued to offer material and spiritual support despite 
the fact that more than 500 faithful were killed, according to the daily El 
Comercio commenting on the results of the study.

According to researchers, at some point in this struggle Evangelicals 
identified the Shining Path and its crimes as the work of the devil and 
organized and led campesino defense groups that confronted subversives and 
threw them out of the countryside.

The seeds of that work have borne fruit in 779 Churches distributed in 
different provinces and cities in the department, according to the daily. 
The Evangelical Pentecostal Church of Peru is the most numerous with 15,000 
members and 369 communities. The Assemblies of God, also Pentecostal, has 
12,500 members and 275 congregations.

The National Evangelical Presbyterian Church has 62 communities and around 
4,800 faithful. It is followed by Baptist Churches that are members of the 
Peruvian Baptist Convention with 14 congregations. The rest of the faithful 
and communities correspond to different denominations.

ARGENTINA
Evangelical Kairos Foundation rejects presentation of preacher Franklin
Graham

BUENOS AIRES, November 4, 2003 (alc).  The Evangelical Karios Foundation 
rejected a call made by US preacher Franklin Graham, son of the famous 
Evangelist Billy Graham in the city of Rosario, calling it an "ethical 
scandal." Graham was calling on people to participate in the "Festival of 
Hope of the Littoral" slated to take place November 20-22 in Rosario.

Karios stated that it does not have a problem with the event. "We 
appreciate and recognize this effort of Christians of good will, said 
Kairos in a statement. However, there is a "major ethical problem given 
that Franklin Graham is a religious advisor for George W. Bush, something 
that became frankly offensive because of the US preacher's explicit support 
for the US invasion of Iraq, among other things."

"While the entire world and many Argentines perceive actions by the Bush 
and Tony Blair governments to be criminal acts, how can we Argentine 
Evangelicals welcome someone who contributes to using our faith to justify 
this action," said the declaration.

Kairos recalled that leaders from the Evangelical Church of Ecuador 
questioned Graham last month when he was to attend a similar event in that 
country. In an "Open letter to Franklin Graham," Ecuadorian leaders pointed 
out that Graham collaborated with Bush to present the attack on Iraq "like 
an Evangelical crusade."

After voicing their surprise about the fact that representative Argentine 
Evangelical organizations did not make any statements regarding Graham's 
visit, Kairos noted that "any apathetic, ambiguous attitude that we express 
regarding these ethical problems will have negative, counterproductive 
effects" on our witness.

It added that the Council of Pastors of Rosario, which is promoting the 
activity, should inform its members about this ethical dilemma and decide 
whether or not it will go ahead with this event, giving that the public 
repercussions will effect the credibility of the Gospel in Argentina.

CUBA
Latin American Churches and institutions celebrate anniversary of the Reform

HAVANA, November 5, 2003 (alc). The Reform initiated by Martin Luther in 
Germany on October 31, 1517 was commemorated with services, celebrations 
and messages from Latin American Evangelical Churches and institutions.

In Havana, Reinerio Arce Valentin, president of the Cuban Council of 
Churches (CCC) said "Luther must inspire and challenge us to reach a 
profound ecumenism... in order to celebrate his legacy above and beyond 
differences regarding creeds and practices."

The anniversary was celebrated with a worship service that took place in 
the First Presbyterian-Reformed Church of Havana, a temple that was 
overflowing with believers from different denominations and religious 
leaders from the United States, Puerto Rico and South Korea.

In Managua, Nicargua, Gustavo Parajon, pastor of the First Baptist Church 
of Managua and founder of the Evangelical Pro-Denominational Alliance 
Council of Churches (CEPAD) said that we must shout and cry like the 
prophet Habakkuk demanding justice and we must not lose hope that one day 
that justice will come.

In Managua the anniversary of the Reform also brought together deans from 
the Evangelical universities of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and 
Guatemala, who continued discussing the project to constitute a Federation 
of Evangelical Universities of Central America and Panama.

The dean of the Poly-technical University of Managua, Sergio Denis Garcia, 
said that this initiative was born two years ago when they celebrated the 
100th anniversary of the arrival of Evangelicals in Nicaragua. For his 
part, the president of the Evangelical Martin Luther King University, 
William Gonzalez, said that he hopes that the project becomes reality next 
year.

During the closing act a honoris causa doctorate was given to the dean of 
the Mariano Galvez university of Guatemala, Alvaro Rolando Torrres, one of 
the main people behind the project.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Lutheran World Federation's Latin American 
Education Network, said that the Reform of the XVI Century was the 
beginning of a post-feudal era and broadened the concept of liberty, 
favoring the first manifestations of critical thinking.

Caridad Diego Bello, head of the Religious Affairs Office for the Communist 
Party's Central Committee attended the worship service in Havana.

Methodist Bishop of Puerto Rico Juan Vera, who gave the sermon, said, "the 
Reform calls on us to see the world through new eyes, with the 
extraordinary legacy that we can do better."

After pointing to the current situation of misery on the planet, where 1.5 
billion people live on a dollar a day and where 32,000 children die on a 
daily basis due to hunger and malnutrition, Vera said that these figures 
challenge Christians to the great mission to reform, transform and 
revolutionize the world.

In this commemoration of the Protestant Reform, God invites us to the 
Church of the Way, a Church under construction, a Church committed to its 
people, a solidarity Church, concluded the Rev. Vera.

In Managua, Pastor Mendelson Davila of the Christian Church and a member of 
the Latin American Council of Churches' Committee in Nicaragua, called on 
pastors from different denominations to return to the principles of Martin 
Luther, who confronted both the crown and the Catholic hierarchy in order 
to maintain a prophetic voice in the face of injustice.

BRAZIL
Issue of Black identity addressed in Evangelism Congress

BELO HORIZONTE, November 7, 2003 (alc). The Church needs to address the 
racial issue, overcome the demon-ization of the African culture and turn 
its gaze to the more than 2,000 Black communities in the country if it 
really wants to assume its Mission from an integral perspective, according 
to the coordinator of the Black Evangelical Leadership Forum, Hernani da
Silva.

Da Silva was participating in the II Brazilian Evangelism Congress (CBE2) 
meeting in Belo Horizonte from October 27-November 1.

Da Silva lead a discussion group on "discrimination, exclusion 
and  inclusion" in the CBE2. The Congress reflected on the issue of Black 
identity motivated by its social understanding of the Gospel of Christ.

Very few participants at the CBE2, according to Da Silva, were aware of the 
issue of Black identity in Brazil and many afro-descendents, participants 
in the event, were pleased to discover that the Church is beginning to 
analyze this issue.

In the discussion group Da Silva explained how prejudice is born and 
demonstrated the different prejudices that exist in Evangelical Churches 
regarding Black identity.

In some cases Evangelicals tend to "demonize" Afro-culture. "In order to 
deconstruct this demonization we need to look at Christianity through the 
African matrix, said Da Silva.

  The president of World Vision Peru, the Rev. Ariovaldo Ramos emphasized 
the contrasts that exist in Brazil that has one of the most celebrated 
racial democracies alongside a perfidious racism. This racism "is subtle, 
un-confessed and disguised, where Black people, sung in prose and verse, 
are not able to be citizens and are condemned to poverty and ignorance."

Brazil has one of the most religious people in the world "alongside a 
shameful religious manipulation and deeply rooted superstitious practices 
that make it a prisoner of evil forces," he affirmed.

Ramos pointed to that part of the Brazilian Church that is apparently 
growing the most. This sector, he said, rather than denouncing social 
injustice and encouraging a solidarity economy "began to preach a theology 
that sustains inequality, in affirming that wealth should be the objective 
of the believer."

  Rather than denouncing the misery and the debt of the State with the 
excluded, this Church "began to denounce the probable lack of faith of the 
wretched" and rather than combating racism "began to stigmatize everything 
that is related to the Black culture, as if the devil were Black and 
therefore everything Black is of the devil."

The leader of World Vision Brazil said it is necessary to rethink 
systematic theology and Protestant identity and to reflect "on ways of 
making the message of the cross understood in a changing world."

He emphasized "We have a kingdom to live and manifest," recalling that the 
believer is not alone but has the presence of the Holy Spirit that will 
lead the Brazilian Church to a new revival, the revival of the clamor of 
Jesus."Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

BRAZIL
"Citizen Rights in Information Society" seminar inaugurated

SAO PAULO, November 7, 2003 (alc).  The Citizen Rights in an Information 
Society" Seminar was inaugurated Nov 6 in the Methodist University of Sao 
Paulo (UMESP) with the participation of more than 60 invited foreign guests 
and numerous Brazilians. The World Association for Christian Communication 
(WACC) convened the event.

Over the course of four days different speakers will analyze the 
consequences of the technological transformations in the communications 
field and participants will discuss practical actions to confront reality 
and defend the rights of civil society in the face of this situation.

The academic vice dean of the UMESP, Clovis Pinto de Castro welcomed 
participants and lauded the work of this university in the area of 
communications, noting that 25 percent of journalists who work in the state 
of Sao Paulo have passed through its classrooms. Pinto de Castro also 
underlined the importance of the seminar, which will address communication 
as a key area of citizenship.

Marma Elena Hermosilla, Chilean journalist and president of the Latin 
American WACC region said that in this part of the world there is constant 
concern about ensuring the right of citizens to be duly informed.

She added that it is fundamental to change the way communication is 
exercised in Latin America because it constitutes part of the formation 
process in society. Communication, she said, should be participatory, 
because there is no worse exercise of power than what is imposed by force.

Randy Naylor, general WACC secretary, which is based in London, England 
said the Tower of Babel demonstrates that power of communication, adding 
that God confused all languages because the builders wanted "to make a name 
for themselves," to win praise.

Pentecost, he added, when different people speaking different languages all 
heard the Gospel in their own tongue, was the counterpart to the confusion 
of Babel.

For us, he said, the Christian principals of communication establish that 
it should be participatory, create community, be liberating, prophetic and 
should support and develop culture. The WACC actively participates in the 
campaign for the Right to Communication in the Information Society.

Within a few weeks, he announced, we will launch the book "Many voices, one 
Vision," in which Peruvian Rolando Perez has contributed a chapter. In the 
book we ask what the right to communication means to millions of people who 
are marginalized by political and economic interests, due to the 
concentration of media ownership and the cultural gap.

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