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"[Pastors] need to be visible in helping the poor and meeting needs," Woodbury says.

"One reason given by the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] guerrillas for the difficulties of pastors and churches is that churches discourage their members from being involved in communal work," says Alvin Góngora, a Colombian missionary with Latin America Mission.

Many of the more than 300 churches that have been closed in the past year were shut simply because they were located in areas where guerrillas demanded that villagers evacuate their towns. The number of displaced people in Colombia has doubled to 180,000 people a year during the past three years.

In the past 15 years, more than 1.5 million people have been displaced by conflict or forced removal.

That dislocation has opened doors for ministry. "In Cartagena, where there is the largest slum of displaced families in the country, at least four new evangelical churches opened in the last four years," says Hernán Bravo, a Colombian missionary with Latin American Mission. "People hunger for the Lord."

Additional reporting by Compass Direct and United Methodist News Service

Our earlier coverage of the church in Colombia includes:

Colombia's Bleeding Church | Despite the murders of 120 church leaders, Christians are fighting for peace in one of the world's most violent nations. (May 18, 1998)

Fate of Kidnapped Missionaries Still Unresolved | Colombia remains thought to end questions are not human after all. (Mar. 29, 2000)

Twenty-five Pastors Killed This Year (Oct. 4, 1999)

Christians Held As Hostages (July 12, 1999)

The U.S. Department of State has recent reports on religious freedom and human rights in general in Colombia. Both are available at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's Web site.

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June 12 2000, Vol. 44, No. 7