BBP17 1990 Pretiz Christ for the City

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Background Brief ing

Paper

Number

17

Lat in America Mission

5465

Vl

36th

St .

(33166)

P.O.

Box 52-7900

Miami,

FL 33152

- 7900

(305)

884 -

8400

August 13

.1990

I

This paper i s not an of f i c i a l document of the Lat in

America Mission-USA,

in

the sense t ha t i t . has not

been

approved

by any

l eg i s l a t i ve

body

of the

LAM-USA. t

has

been pr epa r ed by the Adminis t rat ion pr imar i ly fo r

i n t e rna l use. t

may

not be

quoted

or reproduced without

permiss ion. t i s

dated,

and subjec t

to r ev i s ion a t any

t ime.

CHRIST FOR

THE

CITY

A

Brief History

and

Current Sta tus

Background

The

Lat in

America Mission,

s ince

i t s ear ly

days

as the Lat in

American Evangel iza t ion

Campaign,

has focused on the

c i t i e s

of

Lat in

America.

I t s ear ly

campaigns

were genera l ly c i ty

-

wide

un i ted

campaigns

a t

a t ime when

such

interdenominat ional

e f fo r t s

were an

innova t ive

approach

Because

of

LAM's

i n t e r e s t i n rad io

l i t e r a -

publ ica t ion and d i s t r ibu t ion and 1.:heolog

i c a l

educat ion, i

t:s

personnel nave usual ly

loca ted in

Latin American c i t i e s .

After dives t ing i t s e l f of i t s minis t r i es in 1971, tu rn ing them

over

to nat iona l ly -

operated

boards and then coopera t ing with these

minis t r i es by loaning

them

missionary personnel through the Lat in

American

Community

of Evangel ical

Minis t r ies

(CLAME),

the

increas-

ing s t rength of these na t ional i n s t i t u t i ons

required

l e s s suppor t

from the Mission.

A growing sense developed

t ha t in

addi t ion to

loaning

personnel

to these autonomous nat ional

bodies , God had a

new dimension fo r t he

Mission

to

adopt

as

a

d i r ec t minis t ry .

Provident ia l ly Clayton L."Mike" Berg, J r . then

Pres iden t of

the LAM at tended the

In te rna t iona l Consul ta t ion

on

World

Evangel i -

zat ion in Pataya, Thai land.

He was

ass igned

a

room with

Ray

Bakke,

a l eading

promoter of

minis t ry to world-c lass

c i t i e s .

This,

along

with other f ac to r s re inforced a

growing

convic t ion t ha t a major

e f fo r t should

be made to reach the people of

Lat in America ' s

l a rges t c i t i e s .

Early

Developments

In May 1983

mendation by the

the LAM Board of Trustees approved

pres ident

t ha t

the Mission

become

1

a recom-

d i rec t ly


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involved in reaching unreached Latin peoples in

urban

areas .

There

was

ear ly concern

t ha t

adequate

research be

done and

t ha t the

minis t ry

maintain

a s t rong

re la t ionsh ip with ex is t ing

churches

as

new

churches

were

plan ted .

Paul

Pre t iz

was

named the

f i r s t

d i rec to r

of

the Chris t for the

City CFC) program. Four c i t i e s

were

i n i t i a l l y chosen:

Mexico

City

(est imated populat ion

metropol i tan

area,

1986:

19,305,000) Being

the world s

l a rges t

c i t y and

located

in

Lat in America, t h i s

urban

colossus

could

scarcely

be overlooked. Spi r i tua l ly t

i s

one of the

needies t

on

the cont inent .

There were al ready some L M

minis t r ies there with which the program could col labo-

r a t e .

MeqellJ_n_.._ Colombia (es t . pop. metro. area: 3 mil l ion )

The LAM-related Associa t ion

of Evange l i ca

l Churches of

the Caribbean had appealed

for

missionary personnel to

p lan t

churches

here

and

in

other

c i t i e s . At

the

t ime

we

were

not fu l ly aware

of the

s ign i f i cance

of

developing

a

program in what soon would be the un iver sa l ly recognized

drug

cap i t a l of

the world.

Caracas ,

Venezuela

(es t .

pop. metro.

area: 4.5 mill ion)

Samuel

Olson, member of

the L M Board

of

Trustees and

pas tor of t h i s l a rges t church,

i s sued

the

appeal

for Caracas.

Miami, Flor ida

(es t . pop.

metro. area: 1.9 mill ion)

There was a growing

consciousness

t ha t a

miss ion 's

respons ib i l i ty should include the community a t i t s

doorstep.

The

Miami

outreach,

because

of

i t s

d i f f e r en t

nature and the

c i t y ' s

var ied

cu l tu res , organiza t iona l ly

has re la ted di rec t ly to the L M adminis t ra t ion and not

the

CFC

di rec to r .

The Mission l eadersh ip

had

the expectat ion t ha t

ex is t ing

personnel

would

fee l

ca l led

to move to these c i t i e s and

become

- The misBionar ies with L M a t the t ime r because

of

t he i r

average

age

and

t he i r ac t ive

and fu l f i l l ing

involvement

in t he i r

current minis t r ies , were not

as

read i ly ava i lab le

as

expected.

Emphas i s

was

then placed

on recru i t ing

new

personnel

for CFC.

Meanwhile, to

keep i n t e res t

from

f lagging

in

Caracas ,

were re leased for a coa l i t ion of churches to employ two

zuelan

missionar ies to

begin

helping coa l i t ion churches

daughter

congregat ions in unreached neighborhoods.

funds

Vene-

plan t

Colombians

were

recru i ted to begin the Medell in pro jec t .

This

was

opportune in

view of

the

depar ture of

the

f i r s t North

American

CFC

missionar ies due to family and

heal th

problems.

2


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-

Each pro jec t began

with

research

and the compilat ion of

a

of evangel ica l work in t ha t c i t y . This

provided a

bas i s

upon which

to

compare the growth of

the

churches as a r e su l t of

the

program.

t

a l so included a

l i s t i ng o f

unchurched

neighborhoods

where LAM teams

or o the rs could

go and i n i t i a t e

church

-p lan t ing

e f fo r t s . The Mexico

City

research became p a r t of a l a rger i nves t i -

gat ion,

which

was

al ready

s t a r t i ng

a t

the

t ime

and

coord inated

l oca l l y by VELA, a

Mexican

minis t ry .

Similar

research

i s a major component of the

Miami

da ta i s

gathered

sec t ion by sec t ion from the c i ty . By

of t h i s

information,

churches can

become

aware of t he i r

commun i t i e s '

sp i r i t ua l and s oc i a l needs.

Local ly , t h i s

the

Community

Awareness

Program

(CAP).

program as

making use

respec t ive

i s

ca l l ed

The s t a t i s t i c s revealed

t ha t these

Lat in

American c i t i e s

conta ined some of the

grea te s t

concentra t ions of

11

unreached

peoples . Evangel ical Chris t ians

have

been presen t i n

some

of them

for over

a

century . S t i l l , the extremely low

percentages

of

evangel ica

l

bel ievers in

those we

surveyed--one

t h i rd

of

one

percent in Medel l in--confi rmed for us the need fo r major evange-

l i s t i c e f fo r t s

to help nat iona l

brethren in each place .

This

e a r l i e r

per iod was

dedicated to

def in ing CFC's approach

and the prepara t ion of the

CFC Principles ,

a

document

ava i l ab le

upon

reques t . These

pr inc ip l e s

include: a commitment

to

mo

b i l i

ze

every be l i eve r in witness , networking

with

churches ar.d agencic=s,

working

toward

the

uni ty of the Body of in a

given

c i ty , and

a compassionate care dimension

t ha t

in teg

r a t e s

concern for

phys ica l

and soc ia l

needs

with

our

evangel i s t i c

t h ru s t .

The CFC

in te rna t iona l o f f ice

was f i r s t

loca ted

in Mexico City ,

where

new

personnel

a r r ived for

or i en t a t i on

and

l

anguage

study.

Language

programs

there

were

disappoin t ing , and

eventua l ly

the

off ice

was

moved to

San Jose , Costa Rica, the t r ad i t i ona l f i e ld

headquar ters

of

the LAM

Recent

Developments

Since the

move

of th

e off ice to

San

Jose

in 1989 and the

appointment of John Huffman as di rec tor , var ious new elements

have

been added to Chr i s t fo r the c i ty :

1 .

A

modif ied Evangelism-in-Depth (EID)

program was

i n t r o -

duced in to the

Mexico

City

and Medell in endeavors , and

l a t e r incorpora ted in the

plans

for coas ta l Colombia

(Cartagena and

Barranqui l la ) .

EID was

the

LAM s t r a t egy

in the

60 ' s which

sought

to mobil ize

churches

to coor -

d ina te t h e i r evangel i s t i c e f fo r t s during

a

given per iod

of t ime, usual ly

one year ,

with spec ia l emphasis

on

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motivating and t r a in ing the rank and

f i l e

in personal

evangelism. MIL MEX

(Spanish

acronym for Latin America

Mission

of

Mexico) had been

promoting

EID

pr inc ip les

for

years

and

was en l i s ted

to carry

out t h i s component as

par t of the Mexico City ef fo r t .

The

EID

approach

in

Mexico

City

has

been

l imi ted a t f i r s t to Iz tapalapa,

an

area of

the

Federal Dis t r i c t chosen for

our in it

a l

th rus t .

Later ,

other

areas

wil l

be t a rge ted

fo r s imi la r

outreach.

To the

usual

elements of the

program

have been added

workshops to help

pas tors

and

leaders

disc ip le

new

converts ,

adopt

more ef fec t ive worship s ty les , among

other th ings .

2. The Par t ic ipa tory Missionary Prayer Program draws upon

in

through

prayer , as well

as systematized prayer for spec i f ic homes and people to

be

reached by

vi s i t a t ion .

3. National missionar ies have become

increas ingly

involved.

4 .

While Venezuelans and

Colombians

were al ready

involved

in

CFC Costa Rica

was a l so

tapped for missionary

personnel .

Many

of

these

volunteer for shor t - te rm serv ice (up to

a

month) fo r vi s i t a t ion . Others

are

pas tors who conduct

evange l i s t ic

crusades. Some (with

f inanc ia l

support f rom

Costa Rican

churches)

of fe r

longer

pe r iods

of

serv ice .

New ca teqor ies

of

service for

missionary

personnel have

been made

avai lable .

In

addi t ion to career cont rac ts ,

shor t - te rm teams

are being

used

and a

category

for

shor t -

term

volunteers

three

to

f ive

years)

has

created

broader

oppor tuni t ies

for

minis t ry

within

CFC.

The

Mission

i s

now explor ing another avenue for volunteers ca l led to

incarna t iona l ministry among

the

poor.

5 . The

development

of

Costa

Rica

as

a base has been taking

place. While

San Jose

i s

not

a major urban area,

models

minis t ry have - bequn th e

re

which make a

ccn t r ibu t ion

in

t h e i r

own r igh t . These

models

a l so provide t r a in ing

and

experience for new candidates while they are st ll in

language school regardless of t he i r f ina l des t ina t ion on

the f i e ld .

Curren t Status of the

Program

(June, 1990)

Mexico

Citv.

Church-plant ing i s

being

car r ied

out

in the

Gustavo

A.

Madero

area, with a

whol i s t i c approach to

a

squa t te r

set t lement

as \vell as an outreach in a middle

c lass neighborhood.

The EID program in Iz tapalapa enjoys

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the support of some 50

(out

of perhaps 110)

es tab l i shed

churches . A minis t ry involving smal l medical c l in i c s

c lose ly i den t i f i ed

with the

loca l

churches i s

being

s tud ied .

Medel l in .

This

c i t y a l so has a bvo-pronged approach: .

church-p lan t ing

with a

medical c l i n i c in

a spec i f i c

bar r io

and

the

ci ty-wide

EID

t ra in ing

coordina ted

by

the

loca l

m in i s t e r i a l

assoc ia t ion . A 40 i nc rease in church

a t tendance

was the r e su l t of

the f i r s t

t en

months

of

EID.

In t e r e s t on Colombia 's Caribbean coas t has l ed

to a

s imi la r program cur ren t ly und

e r

way

in Cartagena and

Barranqui l la . The

research

in Cartagena demonstra ted

t ha t only

1.5%

of

the popula t ion i s evangel ica l .

Caracas. Church p lan t ing with the Venezuelan miss ionar -

i e

s

under the Caracas coal i t ion cont inues . Non-

coa l i t ion

churches a re

encouragea

- - to

ca tch

-the

vis ion through

Vision

15000 . Given the

lack of

l eader sh ip

for the new churches to be plan ted , many of

the

LAM

personnel

are

involved

in the

Caracas

Evangel ical

Seminary.

Miami.

The above-mentioned Community Awareness Program

w i l l

have f in i shed

i t s

information-gather ing phase by the

end

of 1990.

The

team

w i l l

have personal ly contac ted 800

pas tor s , 250 school

principc. ls ,

severa l hundred soc ia l

and

parachurch agencies,

plus

hos

p i t a l s , po l i ce and loca l

governments,

e tc

. This

wil l

r e s u l t

in a se r i e s of

publ ica t ions and gather ings

to

enable churches

to more

e f fec t ive ly

min i s t e r

to

t he i r communities. Unity

a t

a l l

le

ve

l s of Chr i s t i an leadersh ip i s being encouraged in a

c i t y

t r ad i t i ona l ly

fragmented

along

r ac ia l ,

e thn ic

and

l i ngu i s t i c

l i ne s . Spec ia l programs to

reach Mid-Eastern

peoples and i n t e r na t i ona l s tudents a re under way.

San Jose . A whol i s t i c church-p lan t ing endeavor in a

s qua t t e r se t t lement , San Pedro de

Pavas,

i s c r ea t i ng a

model for s imi la r works

elsewhere .

The

resources

of

Costa

Rica ' s

l a rge evangel ica l

popula t ion

a re being

mobi l ized for shor t - and

long-term

se rv ice by Costa

Ricans in o ther count r ies . To date , shor t - te rm t r i p s

sponsored by CFC to Mexico and Colombia

have

involved

140

Costa

Ricans. Seven others

have

long-term

se rv ice

con t rac t s of

s ix months or more. Contacts are being made

fo r t he

extens ion of

Chris t fo r

the

City

to

other Lat in

American

metropol ises .

Paul Pre t i z , June

1990

5

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