Bogotá: Latin Liaison

Evangelical Protestants in Latin America have long had too many differences and not enough leadership. But the first Latin American Congress on Evangelism (CLADE), held November 21–30 in Bogotá, Columbia, made significant steps toward developing cooperative leadership. CLADE brought together 760 independent and denominational leaders from twenty-four countries; most of the delegates were Latins working among Spanish-and Portuguesespeaking people in the Western Hemisphere.

Events at Bogotá’s International Fairgrounds were not without some hitches; the congress was nearly half over before workmen erected the sign announcing its name. But that was minor. What was significant about the congress was its result: a well-designed plan for evangelism that had both structure and content.

Dr. Carlos Lastra, former minister of exterior relations in Puerto Rico and now a university professor there, described a seven-point program that could be implemented by any of the more than seventy groups represented. Lastra, who was congress co-president with Dr. Clyde Taylor of the National Association of Evangelicals, proposed sophisticated use of mass media, increased responsibility for young people, reappraisal of local church structure and approach, evangelistic programs to appeal both to intellectuals and to the poor, greater emphasis on training lay people and on the Church’s social responsibility, and closer cooperation among evangelical groups in technical and educational efforts.

The need for technical leadership in communications—and particularly in television—is urgent, Lastra said. Although satellite communication in Latin America is close to reality, evangelicals there are ill equipped to develop its potential. He suggested creation of institutes to train Latins in production and programming. He also suggested creation of a “think” magazine to discuss land and food distribution, education, birth control, and other social problems.

No vote was scheduled during the congress to implement Lastra’s suggestions. Rather, regional conferences are expected to meet during the next six years and then to gather in 1976 for evaluation of the proposal. Immediate reaction to the emphasis on social concern was favorable.

Latin evangelicals, while appreciating the Reformation roots of their faith, recognize that some Protestants brought with them to Latin America unnecessary antipathy for the Roman Catholic Church. The Reverend Ruben Lores, assistant director of Latin America Mission, said those missionaries often attributed to Catholics sole responsibility for problems that actually were and are more complex. Some missionaries, noted Dr. Samuel Escobar, taught Latins not to sing native folk songs and then imported North American folk songs.

Rather than dwelling on anti-U. S. themes, however, the congress was devoted mostly to self-examination. Escobar noted that the “questions of the second generation have taken us by surprise. Youth are going to others with questions for which we have no answers.” He said that the Church has developed a machinery that has become more important than the interest of mankind. In order to further its organization, he said, church officials have “flirted with right-wing oligarchs who have promised certain advantages. The sounds of infantile anti-Communism have permitted us to be manipulated.”

In one of his three addresses, Lores examined the Pentecostal movement, which claims nearly two-thirds of Latin Protestants. Although he avoided direct discussion of glossolalia, he praised the spontaneity of groups only vaguely tied to denominations and noted also that the movement has spread to non-Pentecostal denominations and even into the Roman Catholic Church. More than one-third of the congress delegates came from Pentecostal organizations.

If interchange and inspiration were among its major purposes, CLADE was successful. A Parade of Nations down Bogotá’s Seventh Avenue began and finished in the rain but attracted more than 9,000 persons, who heard evangelist Santiago Garabaya preach. At the close, more than 300 persons, some of whom stood in the shelter of the massive 150-year-old Catholic church nearby, raised handkerchiefs to indicate recognition of their spiritual needs.

ELDEN RAWLINGS

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