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Background Briefing PaperNumber 3 Latin America Mission5465 N.W. 36 Street (33166)P.O. Box 52-7900Miami, FL 33152-7900(305)884-8400

March 15, 197 9This paper is not an off ic ia l document of the Latin AmericaMission-USA, in the sense tha t i t has not been approvedby any l eg is la t ive body of LAM USA. I t has been preparedby the Administration primarily for internal use. I t may notbe quoted or reproduced without permission. I t i s dated,and subject to revision a t any t ime.

PROTESTANT RENEWAL IN LATIN AMERICA

There i s some question as to the val id i ty of the term Protes tant renewal inLatin America. To have renewal (or revival or renovation), there must f i r s t bestoppage, stagnancy, reversal or withdrawal. And the Protestant church in LatinAmerica is a minority movement--still young, s t i l l v i t a l , s t i l l growing.Much of what has sometimes been cal led renewal, therefore, i s real ly churchgrowth: the rapid expansion of the Pentecostal churches, the mushrooming of theautochthonous denominations (mostly charismatic also) , etc . Nevertheless, we sha l linclude these la te r in th i s summary and take the l iber ty of modifying the t i t l es l igh t ly to mean Manifestat ions of Vital i ty in the Latin American Protes tantChurch--Growth and Renewal. 11l Juan Carlos Ortiz and the 11Renovacion. Beginning in the decade of the 1960 's ,a revival movement s ta r ted in Argentina under the leadership of an Assembliesof God pastor, Juan Carlos Ortiz, and missionaries Keith Benson and Orvi l leSwindall and others. The movement was influenced in i t s beginnings by aninspir ing vi s i t from L M General Director R. Kenneth Strachan, and by the

l i te ra ture produced by Watchman Nee, of the Li t t le Flock in China. Themovement was charismatic in emphasis and incorporated the chauvinistic conceptof ttacoyuntamiento (being 11 yoked together in a structured pyrar;;i.d of author-. i ty) . For a time i t published a magazine, of which All2.erto Hottesi was editor .Begun in Buenos Aires, the renovacion movement's impact soon sprea,-1 to otherparts of Argentina, and to Chile and Brazil , with spotty influence elsewhereas well . Ort iz was expelled from his deLjmination, however, and other leadersmoved to new ministr ies in other countr ies , with the resul t th2t the movement'simpact in recent years has great ly diminished.

2. Vino Nuevo. Similar in outlook and or ienta t ion to the Juan Carlos Ortizrenewal, but owing i t s impetus to the group by the same 2ame in the UnitedStates , ra ther than to Argentina, is the New Wine movement. I t pubL shesi t s own magazine and i s a bi t l e s s rad ica l than Ortiz in matters of churchstructure and disc ip l ine , but follows t f :e same authori tat ive, charismatic,chauvinistic l ine . Although the Vino Nuevo groups are neither numerous norlarge, the magazine--which i s largely a t ranslat ion from the English NewWine 11 --has some impact on Christians in more t radi t ional groups.

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-2- Protestant Renewal in Latin America

3. Autochthonous churches. The most exciting area of Protestant growth in LatinAmerica is the fantast ic expansion of new or autochthonous denominations.These are especial ly numerous in Chile, Mexico, and Brazi l . They are generallyPentecostal or charismatic, and come to exist around a leader of charisma, thusi l lust ra t ing the strong Latin tendency towards caudillismo, rallying arounda person rather than a cause. These indigenous churches are not linked to anyforeign mission or denomination, with a few exceptions such as the Asociacionde Iglesias E v a n g ~ l i c a s del Caribe, founded by and s t i l l indirect ly related tothe Latin America Mission in Colombia. Others, l ike the Methodist PentecostalChurch, broke away from a parent mission many years ago. These two examplescould legit imately be called renewal movements.Many autochthonous churches, however--a nd i t would take pages to l i s t themal l - -are simple manifestations of the vigorous church growth in Latin America.Some typical examples would be the Igle s ia Apostolica (Rev. Manuel Gaxiola,Mexico and Brasil pare Cristo (Rev. Manuel de Mello, Sao Paulo, Brazi l) .This la t ter denomination claims to h ~ v e bui l t the largest Protestant churchin the world, with capacity to seat 26,000.

4. PTL and 700 Clubs. Of very recent, and hence unmeasured, impact are the PTLand 700 Club programs on television. PTL is an or iginal Spanish-languageweekly program, but taped in the United States and with heavy show-bizovertones. The 700 Club i s dubbed from English to Spanish and Portugueseand telecast five days a week. Both are charismatic, of Pentecostal origin,but strongly evangelistic in the i r emphasis. Their impact on nominally RomanCatholic audiences has been phenomenal. They have been cr i t ic ized however,for communicating a very bourgeois image of Christ iani ty and for excessivesimplification and personalization of the Gospel, without dimensions of socialconcern. St i l l they consti tute one of today s most effect ive instruments ofevangelism and renewal.

5. Penetration of charismatic style. Even the casual vis i tor to Latin Americathese days is-impressed by the part ic ipatory style of worship in t radi t ionalas well as Pentecostal, churches. Tamb.:urines, gui tars clapping of hands,l i f t ing the arms, amens and hallelujahs --these spontaneous gestures andthe use of contemporary h ~ ~ s and Bible choruses are as common today in manyPresbyterian, and even Roman C a ~ h o l i c churches as they were yesterday inPentecostal congregations. .Since three out of every four evangelicals arecharismatic, i t is not surprising that these patterns of l i fe -s tyle and worship have thoroughly penetrated the ent i re Protestant community, bringingwith them a noticeable degree of spi r i tua l renewal.According to one Brazil ian leader , Latin America's charismatic awakening isthe great miracle of th is century. When linked with what i s happening todayin the Roman Catholic Church, i t const i tutes, as he has said, ' 'a new chapterin our history. ':

W Dayton RobertsVice ?resident : Senhor Ivan Espindola de Avila, a lay preacher of the Congregational Church,the executive secretary of the Bible Societies of Brazil and a congressman inthe Legislative Assembly of the State of Sao Paulo.