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107
Latin American Pentecostalism:
A Mosaic within a Mosaic
Manuel J. Gaxiola-Gaxiola*
Introduction
Protestantism in Latin
America,
and in the Latino
community
in the United States has ceased to be the
quaint
choice of a tiny minority. The Third World countries in the Western
Hemisphere
are a long way from becoming mainly
Protestant and it is seriously doubted that this
goal
will ever be
accomplished,
but the fact is that Protestantism is
growing very quickly.
From Catholic
spokespersons
we learn that
every day eight thousand Latin American Catholics become Protestants, Jehovah’s Wit- nesses or
Mormons,
and of
these, fully
two thirds
join
a Pentecostal church. The
growth
of these churches and movements is explained by one
priest
in terms of a “Protestant fascination.”
Since the
beginning
of last
century,
when
compared
to a Catholicism of the masses and a tradition in which the cultural and
rutinary aspect
is preponderant,
Protestantism has not ceased to exert a special fascination over the more cultured and reflexive elements of
society,
and little
by little over the masses as a whole.2
In the United
States,
2 million Latinos have abandoned the Catholic Church
during
the
past
fifteen
years.3
Out of a projected population of 600 million Latin Americans at the end of this
century,
about 25% of them will be
evangélicos,
as
they
are called in
Spanish,
or
crentes,
in Portuguese.4
Close to one hundred million will be Pentecostals who will continue to be both different and similar to the other believers. Our task now is to
try
first to describe
briefly
the nature and characteristics of Latin American
Protestantism,
and then, to examine Pentecostalism in particular
to discern how it resembles
yet
differs from traditional Protestantism.
*Manuel J.
Gaxiola-Gaxiola, a minister of
the
Church, Mexico’s oldest Pentecostal
denomination,
is Director of CERLAM
Apostolic (The Center
for the
Study
of
Religion
in Latin America) and is cur- rently working
on the International
of
Oneness Pentecos- talism. His Ph. D. is from
Dictionary
the
University
of
Birmingham, England.
Zanuso,
Libreria lHermenegildo
Iglesias y Sectas en Amirica
Latina.
(M6xico, D.F.:
Parroquial de Claveria: 1986) 267.
2FIaviano Amatulli-Valente, El Protestantismo en Mixico: Hechos,
Retos.
Interrogantes y (Mexico, D. F.: Apostoles de la Palabra, 1987) 22.
3″Religious Shift,” Latin America Evangelist. 71:2 (April-June 1991), 8.
4Zanuso, Iglesias y Sectas en Apdrica Latina, 267.
1
108
Protestantism Arrives in Latin America
Long
before the
pilgrims
landed at
Plymouth, Massachusetts,
there was a Protestant
presence
in Latin America. It began with some soldiers who came with the
Spanish Army, especially
after Charles the Fifth inherited the
Spanish Empire (1519-1556). Although
this
king
was a staunch Catholic who
fought
the Lutherans in his native
Germany
and hated Luther, he was unable to impede the
coming
of Protestants into the New World.5 He had to authorize, for instance, the establishment of a Protestant
colony
in
Venezuela,
led
by
the same bankers who financed his
wedding.6
The
Spanish Inquisition
in Mexico found and tried its first Protestant as
early
as
1531, only
ten
years
after the
country
had become a
Spanish colony.
Later came British
pirates
and Dutch mer- chants who held Protestant services on Latin American soil. Around the middle of the Sixteenth
Century,
French
Huguenots
founded a colony in Brazil,
but
they
were later
wiped
out
by
the
Portuguese.
The Walden- sians were more successful because
they
came to Brazil
usually
dis- guised
as Catholics and
many
times under false names. Once
they
felt secure in their new
country, they began
to practice, and later, to propa- gate
their
faith.
During
the three hundred
year
Colonial
period,
Church and State fought
hard
against
what was called “the
plague
of heresy,
apostasy
and depravity.” They
were
partially
successful, especially
because few of those Protestants who had come were interested in disseminating their faith, or
were
prevented
from
doing
it.
They actually
came to the New World to
pursue
their trades or to
engage
in business.
Many
of them were tolerated as long as
they kept
their beliefs to themselves. In most every
case in which
they appeared
before the Inquisition, it was because some of their
neighbors
accused them of
deriding
Catholic faith and practices
or because
they
had refused to take
part
in communal
worship, special
celebrations and
pilgrimages.7
The
Inquisition’s
zeal
cannot, however,
be
explained
in
religious terms
only.
There were
many political
and economic factors involved in many
of the trials in which the
people
were condemned as “Lutherans,” “Calvinists,” “heretics,” “alumbrados”
and even “Muslims.” There was even a case in which some Jesuits were called “Lutheran heretical dogs”.8 Although
in those
days
France was as intolerant of Protes-
.
5Marvin James Penton, Mexico’s
Reformation: A History of Mexican Protes- tantism from
its Inception to the Present.
(Ph. D. Thesis. State University of Iowa. Ann Arbor: 1965) 11, 12.
6Jean-Pierre Bastian, Historia del Protestantismo en Amirica Latina. (México, D. F.: CUPSA, 1986) 47, 48.
7Gonzalo BAez-Carnargo, Protestantes
Enjuiciados por la Inquisición en Ibero- américa. (México, D. F.: CUPSA, 1953).
8Bastian, Historia del Protestantismo en Amirica Latina, 83.
2
soil. Most of the
109
a considerable number of
tantism as
Spain,
there were instances in which the French
fought
the Spaniards
for the
alleged
maltreatment of Huguenots on Latin American
Protestants who were tried
by
the
Inquisition
in Latin America were
usually
“reconciled” to the church. A few of them were burned at the stake, while others received
lashes, had their
property
confiscated and in some cases
spent
several
in jail, after which
they
were
deported
to Spain.9
times the
Spanish
authorities claimed that some Protestants, especially
from the non-Iberian
part
of the
empire,
intended
come to the New World to establish Protestant churches. There is no
years
During
colonial
to
record that
they
did
so,
although Protestants
Protestant
presence
by religious reasons,
of the Protestants who came to the
mostly
Jewish.
Early
monopoly
reacted
violently.ll
we do know that
many
of these
The
Spanish
zeal
against
a
was no doubt
inspired
This
eventually
tried to
protect
in Latin from Protestants
countries,
busi-
at their own
chapels, many
Most of the time
engaged
in Bible
smuggling.
in the Western
Hemisphere
but the main
objections
were
economic,
for most
New World were also merchants, sailors,
and corsairs who threatened the
Spanish
business
monopoly
in Latin
America.
This was also true of Portuguese businessmen who were
In a list of 300 men who were tried
by the Holy Inquisi- tion in Latin
America,
the
majority
of the names are not
Spanish.l0
in the Nineteenth
Century
several of the colonies either
won,
or began to fight
for their
independence.
broke the
religious
that the Church had so
zealously
America. First came the
diplomats
nessmen and craftsmen who
worshipped
times within the
embassy
or consulate
compounds.
they
came in spite of the
displeasure
of the Catholics who in some cases
As late as 1824, for
example,
three
years
after Mexico became an independent country, a Protestant, American
cobbler, was killed
by
a mob in Mexico
City
when he refused to kneel before the
of a saint the mob was
carrying
on a pilgrimage.12 Similar in- stances of violence and
persecution
were seen in many other
places
as well.
As soon as a country became
independent,
a Bible
colporteur.l3
These men
opened
the
way
for the missionaries who followed a little later.
By
the
1850s,
American and British churches began
to send their first missionaries to the continent with the
express
image
by
Century. Alburquerque,
it would
usually
be visited
9See, for instance Richard E. Greenleaf, The Mexican Inquisition of the Sixteenth
NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1969. Cf. also Bas- tian, Historia del Protestantismo en America Latina.
1OBdez-Camargo, Protestantes Enjuiciados por la Inquisición, 141.
11H. G. Ward, Mexico in 1?827. London: Henry Colburn. 1928. 2 vols.
12TomAs S. Goslin, Los Evangélicos en América Latina. Editorial “La Aurora”. Buenos Aires: 1956,92.
l3Hazael T. Marroquin, La Biblia en Mexico. (Sociedad Bi’blica Mdxico, D.F.: Americana, 1953) 13, 15.
3
110
intention of winning the natives to the Protestant faith. 14 The number of missionaries increased and a good number of churches were established, although
their numerical
growth
was
very
modest.
By
1900 there were roughly
five thousand Protestant communicants in
Spanish-speaking countries
throughout
Latin
America,
and 11,000 in Brazil, destined to become the “Protestant
(and
later
Pentecostal) giant
of Latin America,.”15
The Protestant Mosaic in Latin America
The
story
of how Protestantism came to stay in Latin America is one that
goes beyond
mere
religious
considerations and includes the ex- pected opposition
of Roman Catholicism to retain the privileged position it had
enjoyed
for three hundred
years.
This
opposition
conflicted with the marked liberal tendencies of
many
of the Latin American
govern- ments that came into
power
and the Constitutions
they
drafted.16 Strangely,
Mexico is the Latin American
country
with the most
stringent religious
laws,
which
fortunately,
and
following
an old custom, are sel- dom
enforced. In
Mexico the churches
enjoy
no
“legal personality,” which means
they
do not exist as institutions and have no rights nor
rep- resentation as such. No one can sue the church; the church can sue no one. All church
properties
are
nationalized,
and nuns and
priests
are not even allowed to wear their
garb
in
public.17
The current
question
in Mexico is whether the laws will be
changed, although they may very well remain on the books without
being
observed
by
the churches. There is in most of Latin
America, however,
a clear
tendency
towards tolerance and
pluralism,
both in politics and in religion.
A Classification of Churches
It would be practically impossible to mention and describe all the
types of Protestant churches now established in Latin America, but the follow- ing
classification
may
be helpful.
1.
Transplanted Churches from Europe,
the United States and Canada. The churches
originally composed
of migrants who came en masse to the New World,
mostly
non-conversionist
groups
that were
primarily interested in
settling
in the new countries and
engaging
in business and agriculture, compose
this first
group.
This
group
also includes those
,
14Goslin, Los Evangélicos en Amirica Latina. See also Robert T. Handy, A His-
Churches in the United States and Canada. (New York: Oxford University Press. 1979), 174-175.
tory of the
l5vyilliam R. Read, Vfctor M. Monterroso, Harmon A. Johnson, Latin American Church Growth. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1969) 37.
16For a now incomplete, but still basic, bibliography on Latin American Protes- tantism, see John H. Sinclair, Protestantism
in Latin America: A Bibliographical Guide. Austin, Texas: Hispanic-American Institute, 1967.
17 See Robert E. Quirk, The Mexican Revolution and the Catholic Church. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1973.
4
111
foreign
Protestants who came when
diplomatic
relations were estab- lished between the
newly independent
countries and some
European nations and the United States. Often the treaties
negotiated
with these Latin American countries included
permission
for the
European diplo- matic
corps
to
worship
in their own churches. In
others,
it was the foreign
residents who asked their
missionary
societies to send
clergy who would minister to them.
Officially
these churches had no intention of
converting
natives to Protestantism.
Many
of their members came from
Germany, England
and
Scotland,
while the number of arrivals from the United States and Canada was
always
rather
small, except
the Mennonites who were citizens of those countries, 18
In South America there is still some resident churches where the German
language
is
used, but most of
the descendants of the
original settlers have
integrated
with the rest of the
population.
In most
every national
capital
and some other
cities, however, one
can find churches that still
worship
in
English
or German in what are
usually
called “Union
Churches,” although they
are
usually quite
assimilated into the prevailing
culture. Some Mennonites
preach
in German to themselves and do not
try
to reach
others,
but other Mennonites
preach
in
Spanish opening up opportunities
for
evangelization. Early
in this
century Protestants came from Russia and Poland and settled
mainly
in South America. These
people
seem to have entered the dominant culture more rapidly
than the
people
from the earlier churches. Some of these churches were
originally
more interested in retaining their racial
identity than in
winning converts,
but with the
passing
of time
they began
to preach
in
Spanish
or
Portuguese.
We must also remember the Mora- vians who since
early
times worked
among
West Indian slaves and later transplanted
some of their descendants to Nicaragua.19 For
many years the Moravians were the
largest
Protestant church in
Nicaragua,
but as long
as
they spoke only English
and were confined to the coast of the country, they only experienced biological growth.
When
they began
to speak Spanish
and to join churches
using
that
language,
the number of English-speaking
churches dwindled
considerably
and
many
of them joined
Pentecostal churches.
2. Churches that were founded by missionaries who came to Latin America to evangelize.
Among
these churches are the “old” or “established”
churches, espe- cially
the
Anglicans
or
Episcopalians, Baptists, Lutherans,
Methodists and
Presbyterians.20
In the
beginning, they
were the churches with
18The list should also include Mormons who came from the U.S.A. to Mexico and other countries to establish agricultural colonies.
19Augustus C. Thompson, Moravian
Missions: Twelve Lectures. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1895.
20See Harlan P. Beach, et al., Protestant Mission in South America.
Chicago: Missionary Campaign Library, 1990; Francis E. Clark and Harriet A. Clark, The
5
112
which the
majority
of Protestants were
affiliated,
but now
they
are com- paratively
a
minority.21 Although
some of these churches have
large numbers and are
self-supporting
and
self-governing,
often others still depend
on
foreign help
for most of their
expenses.
These churches began among
the lowest strata of
society,
as did other
Protestant,
and especially,
Pentecostal churches. After a few
generations,
and once the older families
experienced
a relative
upward mobility, mainly through the education that was
provided by
the
missionary
schools and the middle class
aspirations
that were instilled into them
by
the
foreign missionaries,
for all practical
purposes they
closed the door to the
poor. Now it is almost
impossible
for a poor person to be admitted as a mem- ber in some of the churches that
began
a hundred or more
years ago among
the Indians and in the lowest strata of society. Although some of these churches are
very strong
and a few of them are now
reaching
the lower classes, the
irony
is that some of the churches that have been longest
in Latin America and have risen
economically
and
socially
to the highest
level are most
dependant
on
foreign
subsidies for their
pro- grams.
These are also the churches that have been less flexible and innovative in matters of worship and church
government. Although they remain “most Protestant,”
they
would seem to adapt less to the environ- ment in which
they
live. In spite of this, some of them have
experienced a remarkable
growth.
3.
Younger Churches,
some
of them Holiness Type,
which arrived at the end
of the
Nineteenth and the
beginning of the Twentieth Centuries. In this
group
we would find
Quakers, Disciples
of
Christ,
Seventh- Day Adventists, Pilgrims
and smaller Methodist and
Presbyterian groups. They
have
enjoyed
different
degrees
of success. Others, like the Seventh-Day
Adventists, who sometimes are not numbered as Evangeli- cals,
now have
very strong
churches that combine with
great expertise their
evangelistic, educational,
and medical work.
They
have won most of their converts from
among
a very special group: middle-class
practic- ing
Catholics. Most other Protestants have attracted lower-class nominal Catholics.
4. Faith Missions and/or
specialized agencies.
These
groups
tend to develop more
specialized
ministries like litera- ture, evangelistic campaigns, theological education,
Bible
translation, transportation
of missionaries, television and movies, music, and
youth
Gospel in Latin America. Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1938; Prudencio Damboriena,
El Protestantismo en Amirica
Latina, vol. 1., Etapas y Mitodos
del Protestantismo Latino-Americano. Madrid: FERES (Estudios Socio-religiosos Latinoamericanos),
1962 and vol. II, La Situacidn del Protestantismo en los Palses Latino-americanos. Fnbourg: FERES, 1963.
2lFor a comparative study of the relative size of different Protestant Churches in Latin America see Read, Monterroso and Johnson, Latin American Church Growth, 50, 52, 56, 57, and also the country-by-country figures in the same book.
6
similar people participate
113
.
classification
villages
of them
cated
surgery
5. Small
Independent
Missions.
work. A few of them have
planted
churches and become denominations,
to the
way
it has
happened
in the United States.
Many
of these
in a range of interdenominational work.
Recently they have
begun
to hold
large evangelistic
crusades in
big
cities. To this
belong
also
many
medical volunteers who
fly
to distant
and
perform surgery
or dispense medicine to the
people.
Some
will even
fly
their
patients
to the United States for more
compli-
or medical care.
secretary-treasurer. gregations
are led
by Americans.
missionary
that have flourished
recently,
These are
small,
modest
operations
especially
in Mexico and the Caribbean. In this
type
of mission a man is the head of the
organization
and his wife or a close relative acts as
Their
support
comes
mainly
from
independent
con-
in the United States.
They
are
especially
active
along
the border with
Mexico,
a country that allows
foreigners
to enter and
stay within a 26-kilometer distance from the border without
any papers. Tijuana
alone has more than 300 Protestant churches, of which about 80
Many usually
come on week-ends
only,
with a’ truckload of building materials for their church and food and
clothing
for the
poor.
Others
fly
to the islands and small countries in the Caribbean. In the more
permanent
missions of this
type,
the resident American
will
usually
serve as
pastor
of the church at the
beginning. Later a native will take
charge
of the church or churches,
especially when the
missionary
returns home to raise
money
for his or her
support and
support
of the mission. Most of these missionaries are
usually
small
independent
churches in the United States which some- times also
provide
volunteers for the
building program
and for
evange- listic crusades.
helped by
6.
offshoots from older
groups,
but
tices,
political engagement
large
and
small,
which are sometimes
is especially
overwhelming.
There has in Latin
Independent
Native Missions
of all
Kinds.
There are
many
denominations,
the number of
independent congrega- tions that are bom
spontaneously
never been a count of all denominations and
congregations
America. Yet it would be no
surprise
if it were found that there were between
200,000
and
250,000
meetings places
of which between 25 and 30
percent
were
independent congregations.
Their
worship prac-
church
government, evangelistic methods,
social
participation
and
are varied and
contrasting.
These kinds of churches tend to reflect more autochthonous values and
worship forms, together with a greater reverence for the leader or leaders of the church. There are also
groups
that have
split
off from traditional churches because
they believe that the
parent groups
have deviated from the
original
tenets of the faith.
They
seem to claim, that
they are,
for
example,
“more
Presby- terian than the Presbyterians.”
.
7
114
7. Latino Churches in the United States and Canada.
Beginning
in the latter
part
of the last
century,
Latin
Americans, espe- cially Mexicans, began
to trickle into
Anglo-Saxon
Protestant churches. It was not
long
before some of these denominations
organized Spanish departments,
trained Latino converts and
helped
them build their churches. This
group
would include
especially Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Mennonites, Seventh-Day
Adventists and others. Other people
who were converted in their own
country
and
migrated
to the United States also contributed to the
growth
of their churches. Not a few returned to their countries of origin to preach to their
people.
Besides the Spanish departments
which some denominations have established, other Hispanics
have
organized independent
denominations. Southern
Bap- tists
in Texas
alone claim to be
organizing
200
Spanish-speaking
con- gregations every year.22
While
Hispanics
make
up
33% of all Roman Catholics in the United
States,
the Assemblies of God has a membership that is 9%
Hispanic, compared
with 5% for the
Baptists,
.5% for the Episcopalians
and .4% for the Methodists.23 The exact number of Latino Protestants in the States is very hard to estimate, but if there are at least 20 million
Hispanics (and
some researchers think the exact
figure should be around 25 million), the number of these Protestants should be no less than 5.4 million24 or 23% in 1990,
up
from 16% in 1972.25 Southern California alone has close to 1,500
Hispanic
churches. The evangelization
of
many Hispanics
will be
relatively easy,
for
they
are primarily
concentrated in a few
large
American cities.26
This
study
has not exhausted the
typology
of Latin American
Evangel- ical
churches,
but it
may
suffice to
give
us,:an idea of their
variety,
as well as forms and
systems.
We can
say
that Latin American Protes- tantism is indeed a multi-colored
mosaic,
a prism that reflects
many
hues and
shades,
a never-ending succession of peoples,
places
and
practices that
give
Latin American Protestantism a special personality and color. And
then, …
there are the Pentecostals.
Latin Americans and
Early
Pentecostalism
Mexicans were attracted to the
Apostolic
Faith Mission at Azusa Street in Los
Angeles
as soon as William J.
Seymour began
to
preach
there. Before the end of 1906
(Seymour
had arrived in Los
Angeles
in Febru- ary
of that
year
and Azusa Street
opened
in
April)
there were
already several Mexicans who
“helped
at the altar” and
preached
the Pentecostal
22The Houston Chronicle (Sept. 16, 1989) 2E.
23The Houston Chronicle, IE.
24″Refigious Shift,” Latin America Evangelist 71:2 (April-June, 1991), 8.
25Lynn Smith, “Evangelicals, Catholics Fight for Latino Souls,” The Los Ange- les Times [Orange County edition] (Nov. 24, 1989) A1, A3.
26″U.S. Hispanics: Where Do They Live?” Latin America Evangelist (April-June, 1991),
7.
.
8
115
message
in neighboring cities.27
Later,
most of these Mexicans became part
of the Oneness movement.28 Most other Mexican
preachers
who later
joined Anglo-Saxon-led
churches were converted elsewhere.29 Also in 1906, four Canadian missionaries arrived in Central America with the Pentecostal
message, although
at
present
we do not know where
they
had received it. Pentecostalism in Chile
began
in 1909 after the wife of Willis
Hoover,
a Methodist medical
missionary,
received a tract on the
“Baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
and Fire” sent to her
by a former schoolmate.3? Two South American Pentecostal churches, the Christian Congregation
of Brazil and the Cultural Christian Assemblies of Argen- tina,
were the result of missionary efforts
by Pentecostal Italian-Ameri- cans who arrived in South America in 1909.31 Several
groups beginning in
1911,
contributed to the formation of what is now the Assemblies of God in Brazil. It is presently the
largest
Latin American denomination.32 Not
many years later,
the recently formed American and European Pente- costal denominations
began
to send missionaries to all the countries in the
continent,
and
they grew
to the extent that,
together
with
others, Pentecostals now account for more than two-thirds of all Protestants in Latin America.
The Latin
American
Pentecostal
Mosaic33
1. Autochthonous Pentecostal Churches.
By
this term we are
referring
to churches that are of great importance because often
they
antedate the Pentecostal denominations that were formed in Canada,
Europe
and the United States.
They
were bom rather spontaneously
or
through
the initiative of individuals who either in their country
or another
place,
had contact with Pentecostalism and then launched a work on their own.
27The Apostolic Faith. (L,os Angeles) 1:1-4 (Sept.-Dec. 1906).
28josd Ortega-Aguilar, Historia de la Asamblea Apost6lica Los
tolic
Angeles: Apos-
Assembly, 1966.
29Victor De Le6n, The Silent Pentecostals: A Biographical History of the Pente- costal Movement among the Hispanics in the Twentieth Century. La Habra, CA: Author’s edition, n. d.
30C. E. Jones, “Hoover, Willis Collins (1856-1936)” in Stanley M. Burgess and Bary
B. McGee, eds. Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand
Zondervan, 1988) 445. See also, , J. B. A. Kessler, A Study of the Older Protestant Missions and Churches in Perti and Chile (Amsterdam: Oosterban & Coin- Rapids:
tree, 1967).
3 l Read, Monterroso and Johnson, Latin American Church Growth, 43.
32R?? Monterroso and Johnson, Latin American Church Growth, 67.
33See, “Bibliografia Provisional Sobre Pentecostalismo y Movimientos Caris- m§Jcos en Amirica Latina y el Caribe,” in A. Droogers, (ed.) Algo mfs Una Lectura
que Opio:
Antropoidgica del Pentecostalismo Latinoamericano y Caribeno, (San Josd, Costa Rica: DEI, anticipated 1992).
9
116
Some of these churches are also the result of splits from the American denominations. One
example
would be the United Pentecostal Church in Colombia,
the
largest
Protestant church in that
country. Begun by Canadian and American
missionaries,
the church
grew rapidly.
As a result of
intra-missionary conflicts,
the work was turned over to the Colombians. The missionaries who had
stayed
on the field
expected
the Colombians to continue
depending
on their advice. When this did not happen,
a
split
ensued and the
church,
now under Colombian leader- ship,
retained the name
Iglesia
Pentecostal Unida. The denomination in the States was forced to add the word “International” to its name to differentiate itself from its Columbian
offspring.
There are still others which
began
as autochthonous
groups
but later
joined
or
signed
work- ing agreements
with a foreign church. This would be the case of the Assemblies of God in
Brazil,
a work that was
begun by
other missions three
years
before the Assemblies of God was
organized
in the United States.34
Many
times the result of a missionary’s efforts is a series of
splits
that produce
a chain’of denominations. One
example
of this is the work of Axel Anderson in Mexico. Anderson was a member of the
Philadelphia Church in Stockholm. One
day
he had the vision of a map that was in flames with the words “Mexico” written in the center.35 He understood this to be a call to do
missionary work,
and he arrived in Mexico in 1914. The
beginning
of his work did not look
very auspicious
at
first, and for a time he sold Bibles at the door of churches.
Eventually,
his work
began
to take root and the
group
he founded has now about
3,000 congregations
in Mexico.
Splits
and other
types
of separations have
pro- duced a chain of denominations which
operate
under different
names, but in almost
every
case
they
include the term
“independent.” By
this they
refer
especially
to the
autonomy
of the local
church, something
that Anderson had learned in his native Sweden. There are no statistics about these
churches,
but the
congregations
that have some
relationship
to the work
begun by
Anderson can be counted in the thousands.36
The
majority
of the founders of these autochthonous churches have something
else in common. Almost all of them were bom or originally converted in traditional, older churches. Their lack of formal education and
theological training, together
with the haste with which
they
had to preach
once
they
were
called, as
well as the
rejection they
sometimes suffered in
their
own
churches,
led them to abandon their
original
34Read, Monterroso and Johnson, Latin American Church Growth, 69.
35personally told to the writer by Mrs. Anderson herself around 1947.
36Raymundo Ramirez, Libro Hist6rico: Movimiento de la Iglesia Cristiana Inde- pendiente
Pentecostal. (Pachuca, Mexico: ICIP, 1972). Some correspondence between Joseph
Mattson-Boze and Axel Anderson may be found in the Archives of the David du Plessis Center for Christian
Spirituality
at Fuller
Theological Seminary
in Pasadena,
California..
10
117
church,
and
they
started their own
groups. Many
of them lived to see their churches
grow larger
and more
quickly
than the denominations from which
they
came. In
many cases,
the old churches either became “charismatic” or had to
“pentecostalize”
themselves to survive or to grow.
Many
of the autochthonous Pentecostal churches,
especially
in South America,
also differ from other classical Pentecostals over the doctrine or theory of the
gifts
and the “initial evidence” of baptism in the
Spirit. These churches believe in the
gifts
of
tongues
and
interpretation. They seem to like
“dancing
in the
Spirit”
and other demonstrations as much, or more, than the American-oriented, or directed Pentecostals. Most of them, however,
also believe that besides
glossolalia,
there are other indications or
signs
of the
baptism
in the
Spirit,
such as the
power
to testify
and win converts, the abundance of Christian love, the desire to read
constantly
the Word of God,
dancing
and other charismatic
signs. One of the results of this belief is that in some of these churches close to half of the ministers and workers have never
spoken
in tongues. This is almost unthinkable in most Pentecostal denominations from the United States as well as among
many
others in Latin America.37
Finally, many
of these autochthonous churches
began
their own foreign missionary programs many years ago
and are now found in several countries. One
example
would be the Iglesia
Apost6lica
de la Fe en Cristo
Jesús,
from
Mexico,
which in 1949 sent its first
missionary
to Nicaragua.
The
following year
its sister church in the United
States,
the Asamblea
Apost6lica,
did the same in a joint missionary program. There are now
Apostolic
churches in all of Central America, in Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay
and
Paraguay.
An Italian man was converted in Argentina
and, after
being
ordained to the
ministry
he returned to Italy. The result includes several
Apostolic
churches in that country and also in Spain.38
Many
other churches have had the same
experience.
Not a few of them have followed their members to the United States and Canada and now have
many
churches in both countries. There are also other
Spanish- speaking
churches in the United States that have a foreign
missionary programs.
Colombian Pentecostals have
gone
to other countries in South America, the United
States,
Canada and
Spain.
Brazilians are now preaching
in the United
States, Mexico, Argentina,
Colombia and Africa. Nicaraguans
have
opened
churches in Belize and in Miami, Florida.
37Chrisfian Lalive d’Epinay, Haven of the Masses: A Study of the Pentecostal Movement in Chile, Marjorie Sandle, trans. World Studies of Churches in Mission (London:
Lutterworth Press, 1969), 196–198..
38Maclovio Gaxiola-L6pez, Historia de la Iglesia Apost6lica de la Fe en Cristo Jesils (México, D. F.: Libreria Latinoamericana, 1964). Manuel J. Gaxiola-Gaxiola, The and the Dove: The History of the Apostolic Church of the Faith in Christ Jesus in Mexico Serpent 1914-1968
(South Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1969).
11
118
There are now Pentecostal churches in Mexico that were founded
by Guatemalan
preachers.
In the
refugee camps
on the Mexican side of the border with
Guatemala, a string of mostly Pentecostal Indian churches preach
in their own dialects.
Many
other Guatemalans do the same in California. Latin American Pentecostalism is truly internationalized. 2. Churches Founded
by Foreign Missions, Especially from
the
United States.
The
missionary impulse
in Pentecostalism is a
very early phe- nomenon.
Many Pentecostals, including
Charles
Parham, thought that one of the main uses of
glossolalia
would be the
preaching
to foreigners in their own
language,
even if the
missionary
did not
speak
that language.39
Azusa
Street became a missionary center in the sense that people
came from other countries to the Apostolic Faith Mission
seeking the
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit. They
returned home to found Pentecostal churches or to add the
glossolalic experience
to the
practices
and beliefs of their own churches. Others who came to Azusa Street from the
United States received a missionary call after
speaking
in tongues for the first
time, although they
were not the
only
ones who left for
many foreign
countries. This
missionary program
was conducted
mostly by personal
initiative. As Pentecostal denominations came into
being, however, they began to send their own missionaries abroad. There are now in Latin America thousands of churches that
belong
to American Pentecostal denominations. These
missionary programs
are conducted along many
different and sometimes
conflicting lines,
but some
patterns can be discerned.
The role of the American
missionary
varies from church to church and from
country
to
country.
In
many
instances it was the American mis- sionary
who founded the first
churches, but as missionaries won and
trained native
leaders, they left to their converts the task of winning new converts and
establishing
new churches and
they
became the head of the operation.
In general, most of these missionaries retain some
degree
and form of control over the
indigenous
work even after the church has become
officially self-governing. Although
in
many
countries the churches are
officially autonomous,
it is
very
difficult for the native leaders to do
anything
that would
displease
the American
missionary. There are other churches in which the
missionary
is always the head of the denomination. In the cases in which the missionaries have become actual
helpers,
and not the
leaders,
of the
church,
there is still some form of
ideological
control which is now
exerted, especially by Sunday School materials and other kinds of literature. This is due in part to the cost of
producing
these materials
cheaply
and in
very large quantities. Printing
and other costs are much
higher
in Latin America than in the
390n this point James R. Goff, Fields White Unto Harvest: Charles F. Parham and the Missionary Origins of Pentecostalism
Fayetteville,
Ark:
University
of Arkansas Press, 1988.
12
119
‘
United States. This
problem
is not
peculiar
to Pentecostals alone. It is ironic that some of the best Protestant
theological
books in
Spanish
are being published by
Catholics, particularly
in
Spain.
One of the
largest American Pentecostal denominations, for instance, has for
many years printed
a song book that does not contain a single song originally written in
Spanish.
It is made of
very good
translations of
songs
from the English language.
This
keeps
most of the churches in this denomination from
printing
their own
song books, although many
autochthonous churches have
produced
an abundant and varied
hymnology
in either Spanish
or Portuguese.
There is also a contrast between the work of the
early,
traditional Protestant missionaries and that of the Pentecostals, which is to the credit of the latter. There is a degree of financial
dependance
in most of the older Protestant churches that varies from
country
to
country
and from church to church, but
many
of these churches have not learned
yet to be
self-supporting.
This is not the case of the churches that were founded
by Pentecostal
missionaries. Most of them have been
taught
to take care of their own
expenses, including
the
support
of their
pastors, even if there is frequently a discrepancy between the economic condition of the
pastors
and the
lifestyle
of the missionaries. There are,
among Pentecostals,
fewer conflicts created
by
this
discrepancy
than one finds in the older churches.
Every
one of these
foreign
missions in Latin America has suffered splits,
and the offshoots from American missions have
produced
a num- ber of Pentecostal denominations.40 The reason for these
splits
include doctrinal
differences, missionary policies,
the role of the
foreign
mis- sionary
and the
degree
of control that the
missionary
tries to exert over the
church, especially
when native leaders rise who are equally or more qualified
than the
missioanry. Things get
more
complicated
when the highest missionary authority
for the
hemisphere
does not
speak Spanish or
Portuguese, something that, unfortunately,
has
happened.
There is also the question of ecumenism, which will be mentioned later. 3. Pentecostal Churches in the United States and Canada.
We have
already
seen how Mexicans in Los
Angeles
attended the Azusa Street
meetings
almost as soon as
Seymour
started them in 1906. Not
long afterward,
some
recently-converted English-speaking
Pente- costals, including
a few
blacks, began
to win Mexican and Puerto Rican converts. Some of these men became
outstanding evangelists
and leaders
who,
in a short
time, had large and
fast-growing
churches in practically every
state in the
Union,
in Puerto Rico and even in other
40See the article by Roger Cabezas in this issue of Pnewna, p. 178 where he notes three such groups. A fourth such group not mentioned by Cabezas is Omar Cabrera’s Vision de Futero Church which in 1971 broke from the U.S. based Pentecostal Holiness Church. “Pentecost: International Report,” World Pentecost 30 (Autumn, 1991), 11.
13
120
countries. The first
Hispanic
converts of the Church of God
(Cleveland) were won in
Mexico,
then the Church
began
to
preach
to Hispanics on American
territory.
Several Pentecostal denominations in the United States have
organized Spanish-speaking departments.
In some cases tensions have been created that have
ultimately provoked
a split,
many times because of
leadership struggles
or because the mother church would not create a
satisfactory
environment for minorities. On other occasions, splits developed
because the
Hispanic leadership
felt that since
they
were
only
a minority within the
denomination,
their concerns would not be
properly
addressed or
they
would
always
be out-voted
by the
English-speaking majority.
The number of Spanish and
Portuguese- speaking
Pentecostal churches in the United States
is, nevertheless,
very large,
and
they keep
on
growing, helped
in
part by
the recent influx of Hispanics
to the USA.
Twenty
or thirty years ago in both Mexican and Puerto Rican Pentecostal churches one could
hardly
find
persons
from other Latin American countries.
Now, many
churches have fifteen or more
nationalities represented.
In some
cases,
Brazilian and
Portuguese believers also
join
these churches until there are enough
people
to start a church that will
preach
in their own
language.
The millions of Latin Americans who have
migrated
to the United States in the
past thirty years
include
many people
who were
already Pentecostal in their homeland.
Many
of them found a place in their own denomination in the United States.
Others, however, especially
those from the autochthonous
churches, brought
their own
pastors
with
them, or the
pastor
has come with an entire
congregation.
There are now churches in
many
cities that
belong
to Pentecostal denominations that were unknown there not
long ago.41
These churches have not
only retained the
allegiance
of the
people
who came with them, but are also reaching people
who
speak
other
languages.
The same
thing
has
hap- pened
in
Canada, although
their numbers are much
smaller, both because Canada
only recently opened
its doors to Latin
Americans,
and because most of the newcomers admitted into the
country
are
refugees and others who would not
normally
be
accepted
in the United States. Nevertheless,
there is
hardly
a large city in Canada that does not have at least
one Spanish-speaking
Pentecostal church. This
phenomenon
is part of a new trend. Missionaries are
coming
from the Third to the First World, and not the
opposite,
as it has
happened
for many years. 4.
Special
Kinds
of Pentecostal
Churches.
In Latin
America,
the
presence
of a special kind of Pentecostal church that resembles the
messianic-prophetist independent
churches of Africa is now
being
noticed.
They
have
incorporated
into their
programs many practices
that would fall within the
category
of popular
religiosity.
The
4 1 See, for instance, the article by Manuel Silva in this issue of Pneuma which describes one such church, the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus, pp. 161-165.
14
121
largest
of these movements
may
be the
Light
of the World
Church,
with headquarters
in
Guadalajara,
Mexico. The founder of this church instilled in his followers a mystique that is not
usually
found in
many Protestant churches,
together
with what amounts to practical worship of the
founder,
who is now dead. The founder’s son has inherited the same kind of adoration and
respect
that was
given
to his father. The church celebrates three
“fiestas” every year,
each
having
to do with the “prophet”
or “servant” and his work.
They
include a celebration of the founding
of the
church,
remembrance of the day the founder was told to rebaptize himself,
and the founder’s
birthday,
the
day
in which all the members of the church in every country have to gather in Guadalajara to observe the Lord’s
Supper.
Until a few
years ago
the Lord’s
Supper took
only
one
day.
Now
they
need a whole week to accommodate the nearly 80,000 “pilgrims”
who
go
to
Guadalajara
from
every
state in Mexico,
the United
States,
Central and South America, and even Europe.42
There are similar
groups
in other
parts
of Latin America. 5. The Oneness Churches.
Besides the Canadian missionaries who came to Central America in 1906, of
whom at least one
baptized
in Jesus’
Name,
the earliest Mexi- cans who became Pentecostals and came out of Azusa Street also joined the Oneness Movement at a very early stage. It is well known that since 1913 the Pentecostal movement was
polarized
into the Oneness Pente- costals on one side and the Trinitarian Pentecostals on the other. For
many years
there has been
great animosity
between the two
groups
in the United States.43 Much of this has been
repeated
in Latin
America, where there is a high degree of
animosity
and confrontation between some Oneness
churches,
especially
those of American
origin,
and some of the other Protestant
groups.
This is due, in part, to the
reproduction of some
patterns
that have been
imported
from the United States. In the United States, most churches
grow
at the
expense
of other Protestant groups. Many
Oneness
people try
to do the same in Latin America, although
nominal Catholics are the most accessible field for
winning new converts. Oneness churches of American
origin
tend to be more confrontational than the autochthonous Oneness
groups,
and this
may explain why,
in
part,
these autochthonous
groups
have more cordial relations with other Pentecostal and Protestant churches. In
many
cases
42Roger S. Greenway, “The ‘Luz del Mundo’
Movement in Mexico.” Missiol- ogy,
1:2 (April 1973) 113-124.
43Robert Mapes Anderson, Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism
(New York: Oxford University
Press.
1979) 176-182.
Edith L. Blumhofer, The Assemblies of God (Springfield, MO.:
O. F. the Truth and The
Gospel Publishing House, 1988; Fauss, Buy Sell it Not: History of the Revelation in the Name of Baptism of Jesus, and the Fulness of God in Christ. Saint Louis, MO.: Pentecostal Publishing House, 1965; Fred J. Foster, Their Story: Twentieth Pentecostals. Saint
Century
Louis, MO.: Pentecostal Publishing House. 1981.
15
122
all the Protestant churches have shared a common
experience
of violence and
persecution
and have tended to work more
closely together or,
at the very least,
the leaders know and
respect
each other.
They
have also shared
many experiences
of mutual
protection
and
help,
while American missionaries have not had this
experience
in their
country.
Oneness churches are an important
component
of Latin American Pentecostalism not
only
for their size but also for
their organizational skills,
their stew- ardship programs,
the
way
in which
they
retain most of their native roots,
and their
capacity
to design
ways
of doing
things
which are more congruous
with their culture.
Politics
The
majority
of Protestants in Latin America have tended to be rather indifferent to politics, especially because
they
believe that
politics equal corruption
and that Christians would have to renounce their
principles
if they joined
the political
system.
Pentecostals have not been the
exception to this rule.
They
have added another
justification
for their lack of politi- cal involvement. The imminent
parousia requires
that
they give
their full time to the preaching of the
gospel.
The time
they
would
spend
in politi- cal activities
they
would rather devote to
gaining
as
many people
as possible who
will
participate
in the Second
Coming. Through
the
years there have been Protestants who have been active on the
political field, and not a few have taken
part
in some of the Latin American revolutions. By
virtue of their
being
Protestants
they
were
put
into the same
camp
as the
liberal, anti-Catholic
side.44
The first American missionaries who came to Latin America had a marked
sympathy
with the more liberal and
progressive political camps and
by
their
schools, contributed
to the dissemination of tolerance and democracy.
This
happened,
in part, because some of the Latin American governments
had their own
problems
with the Roman Catholic Church and
they thought
that Protestantism
might
well
change
the
way
of think- ing
of
many people
or would at least counterbalance Roman Catholic power.
On the other
hand,
Pentecostal missionaries
usually
came from lower class
backgrounds
than the others. Even if they had certain
politi- cal inclinations,
they
would tend to hide them or
say very
little about them in order not to hurt Latin American
susceptibilities.
Political neu- trality
was more convenient to them.
Some Latin American Protestants did not remain
politically
indifferent. Slowly, they began
to involve themselves in politics. In different coun- tries in Latin America more and more
Evangelicals
have been elected to office,
from local authorities to Presidente
Municipal,
to Congressman, Senator and even Presidente de la Republica. Evangelical
political partic- ipation
in Latin America became a fact of
life,
and Pentecostals found
44The study of Guatemalan Pentecostalism by Dennis Smith, which appears in this issue, pp. 131-139, may well apply to most of Latin American Pentecostalism.
16
123
themselves those
among
voting
for
specific
candidates or
running
for office themselves.45 Political
participation
has increased in the
past
ten or fifteen
years,
but,
in some
cases,
with a different twist. As we
know, conservative forces in the United States
opposed
Liberation
Theology
to such an extent that
they
succeeded in creating the impression that Libera- tion
Theology
should be
equated
with Communism.
They
were
equally opposed
to the Cuban and
Nicaraguan
Revolutions.
During
the
Reagan era conservative Protestants,
including many Pentecostals, adopted
the same
theological
and
political perspectives,
and
many
American Pente- costals, wooed by
the American
government
and
sincerely preoccupied by
what
they perceived
as the “Communist Menace” and the
possibility that freedom of religion might be curtailed in Latin America if the Left grew
in
power,
abandoned their traditional
pacifism, began
to favor military
intervention in Latin American
countries,
and in the
particular case of
Nicaragua, helped
finance the
political campaign
of Mrs. Chamorro,
the current President.46
It is still too
early
to
predict
the
shape
and outcome of Pentecostal political
involvement in Latin America. Pentecostals have become the deciding
factor in the election of Salvador Allende in Chile.
They
are occupying,
an
increasing
number of
political
offices in Brazil. And we cannot
ignore
their
political weight
in Guatemala nor the fact that several Pentecostals are now
part
of the
government
of Peru. One of the main questions
is whether Pentecostals and other
Evangelicals
in Latin Amer- ica will find a political
way
of their own. What will be their ethical and social contribution to the
body politic?
What influence will the
foreign, especially
American, missionaries have in this
political awakening,
and what
political
inclinations will
prevail among
Pentecostals in South America47 and even in the United
States,
where
already
a few Latino Pentecostals are running for political office?
‘
.
Roman Catholic Reaction
. The
picture
that Roman Catholic sources draw of Latin American Protestantism is more or less as follows:
1. Protestantism more than doubles its
membership every
decade.
One of the fastest annual
growth
rates is that of Guatemala with
17%. There are
Evangelical
churches
present
now in 80% of all
communities in Colombia. Pentecostals
grow by
21 % annually in
45Documented as early as 1967 by Emilio Willems in Followers
of the New Faith: Culture
Change and the Rise of Protestantism in Brazil and Chile. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1967. Brazil now has perhaps the largest number of Latin American Protestants, including Pentecostals, who are holding public office.
46David Stoll, Is Latin America Becoming Protestant?: The Politics
cal Growth
of Evangeli-
(Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press,
1990), 239, 252-3, 324-25.
47Stoll, Is Latin America Becoming Protestant?, 305ff.
17
124
laboratory”
2. Latin America
churches
Mexico. Six
percent
of all Peruvians are now Protestant, while in El Salvador the
figure
is 20%, and in Guatemala it is 30%.
is an “immense
and “sects” are
creating
the
“religious
Twenty-First Century
for
Asia,
Africa and also Eastern
Europe.
3. When
evangelizing,
Protestants
where Protestant
face” of the
go directly
to Roman
Catholics,
Forty-two percent
of those
and not to atheists or “indifferents.”
who are visited in their homes
accept
the
religious change
“with pleasure.” Thirty percent
do not know how to react. The rest
begin to have doubts about the Catholic Church and lose their interest in
any
new
religious experience. 4. The
“indigenization”
decrease
important.
The number rises to 39% churches.48
of the
ministry
is on the
increase,
with a cor- responding
in the number of
foreign
missionaries. The number of women who
participate
in church work is also
very
In
Colombia,
for
instance,
while
only
four
percent of Catholic women
(especially
are active in church work.
in the
fastest-growing
otherworldliness,
nuns)
Pentecostal
The Roman Catholic reaction to Protestantism is more or less the same in all of Latin America. The older Protestant
groups,
which coinciden- tally
are
experiencing
little or no
growth,
are recognized as “churches,” a “historic Protestantism that has
already experimented
its
failure,
for his- tory judged
the
meaning
of its
presence
and
placed
it at its just dimen- sion.”49 All the other churches,
especially
Pentecostal
ones,
are
“sects,” and one
Archbishop
has declared that “sects are worse than AIDS”.50 They recognize
Pentecostals as the fastest
growing group
but criticize its
biblicism and excessive emotionalism. Sects are also seen as a significant menace to national
unity
because
they
work
against Catholicism and serve the
imperialist
Amatulli,
the
expert
that was
brought
to Mexico from the Vatican to fight the sects,
speaks
of the CIA and
says
that the Protestant sects
represent
ambitions of the Americans.
some of the channels it (the CIA) uses for receiving information and for the creation of a climate of general sympathy in favor of the United States. The action of the CIA the Catholic Church has been intensified in a
against
special
manner in the last years because of the new attitude that the Church took
during
Vatican II and in Medellin in
of popular cases. 51 1
support
meeting
48Patricia Cerda, “Avance sin Precedente del Protestantismo en Amdrica Latina.” Excelsior. April 7, 1991, p.
49Amatulli, El Protestantismo en Mexico. 11.
So-This information was given by Episcopal Bishop Espinoza, of Guadalajara, at a
at the Mexico City’s Seminario Católica
Mayor at which the writer and other Protestant Catholic and Orthodox ministers were present.
S 1 Guillermo Correa, “300 Sectas Religiosas Disputan las Almas de los Mexi-
18
125
In all of this we can see how Protestant
groups
or sects are classed as “agents
for American
Imperialism,”
but sects have their
good points too, and the church will do the same
thing
it did in the
Reformation,
the French Revolution and the rise of Socialism. It intends
to discern what is good at any place where it is found, and absorb it. Pro- foundly
rooted in what has been revealed, the Catholic Church is open to all the conquests of humanity, which little by little become a part of its patrimony.
The same thing will happen with the values now proclaimed by
sectarianism. Little by little the Catholic Church will make hers the Evangelical
instances that they proclaim and will absorb them,
depriving the sects of their banner and the reason for their existence. This then will be the end for them, for they will not be able to face the comparison with a church that is so big, with so much experience and so rich in old and new values (Mat.13:52).52
The best
way
to counteract this “Protestant
invasion,” according to this theory,
is by a new
“evangelization,”
that is being tied to the celebration of the five centuries of the
discovery
of America. The
conquest
must be seen
mainly
as a missionary
enterprise.
In practical terms the Roman Catholic church is working and
fighting on several fronts. One of the first
steps
is a rapproachement between the Catholic
clergy
and the
government, especially
in countries where there is a tradition of anti-clericalism, like Mexico.
Although diplomatic
rela- tions between the Vatican and Mexico have been
suspended
for more than one hundred
years
and
may
not soon be renewed, there is the
pos- sibility
that the
anti-religious
laws of the Mexican Constitution will remain on the books but will be
ignored
while the Church will be allowed to continue to
operate
its schools and universities.53 There is growing suspicion
that the
government
is now
financing
some of the Church
programs, although
this is against the law.
Another front would be the charismatic movement as a substitute for Pentecostalism. Some Catholic authorities feel that the older Protestant churches do not
represent
a danger for the Church,
especially
because they
do little
evangelizing
of others.
They
can be said to be “domesti- cated.” The Church intends to
adapt
the
good points
from the Pente- costals and to make Catholics feel
they
do not have to
go
somewhere else for the satisfaction of their emotional and
religious
needs. In the United States where it is estimated that
60,000 Catholic Hispanics are leaving
the church
every year,
“some
analysts point
to charismatic re- newal as one of the church’s success stories in retaining Hispanics,” for
Groups that are charismatic offer people something that law-and-order
style of worship does not offer, for the Hispanic soul is very visually and
spiritually oriented, and they express that through the senses … What
canos y Tambi6n su Dinero.” Proceso. M6xico, D. F. (20 April 1987) 20.
52Amatulli, El Protestantismo en Mexico, 14.
53 Jos? Antonio Roman, “Aporta la Iglesia Propuestas Para Modemizar la Edu- caci6n.” La Jornada (26 July 1991) 15.
19
126
renewal movement tells us is that we need more balance in their direc-
tion. They cater to a great need: the aspect of feelings and emotion in the
person. 5
In the third
place,
and
especially among charismatics,
there is a return to the
Scriptures by Bible studies,
cursillos and biblical retreats. Most of these materials are
provided by
the Protestant Bible Societies and now more Catholics than Protestants
buy
New Testaments from them
(Evan- gelicals prefer
a copy of the whole
Bible).
In both cases there is a strict control from the Church. In general, charismatics are not allowed to mix with Pentecostals and Bible studies are
closely supervised. According
to Catholic
authorities,
one of the main reasons for the loss of members is the
shortage
of
priests,
nuns and other
religious
workers,
especially because enrollment at the seminaries tends to be on the decrease. Mexi- can
priests
will soon be sent to work “from three to five
years”
in some of the American dioceses where
large
numbers of
Hispanics
are found.55
The Roman Catholic church believes its biggest asset in stemming the Protestant wave is the
Pope
himself. Between the
years
1990 and
2,000, with
money
raised
among
transnational
companies
and Catholic charis- matics,
the church is spending 400 million dollars for the
project
Evan- gelizaci6n
2000 and another
large
amount for Lumen 2000.56 Both electronic
programs
will have the
Pope,
with his
great facility
for speaking
and
learning languages,
as a 24-hour
preacher
on satellites all over Latin America. Some Catholics have called these
evangelistic plans a “conservative offensive” and an attack
against
a Theology of Libera- tion.
They
have also criticized it as a “spiritualized”
message
with the “flavor” of the charismatic renewal. The
Pope
is seen as being
against
a Theology
of Liberation because “behind the
terminology
of the poor one finds
communism,” so
that this “silent
apostasy”
in Latin
America, together
with the inroads of Protestantism, and
especially
of Pentecostal- ism,
and
including
“the
irruption
of the African world” of the animist movements,
demands a response. Consequently,
‘
Within this context, Rome insists on the Evangelizaci6n 2000 for a new
project
evangelization.
At the intellectual level, from the official viewpoint,
there will be room for the voice of the the Vatican Council and Medellin are
Pope only. Today
being silenced.
In Argentina, for example,
the books on Theology of Liberation have been forbidden; they circulate
clandestinely among
students of
theology
and even in the bookstores.57
54The Houston Chronicle, lE….
”
55Josd Antonio RomAn, “Intercambio de Sacerdotes Entre los Episcopados de Mdxico y EU.” La Jornada
(26 July 1991) 15.
56Carlos Fazio, “Mensaje Evangelizador Via Satdlite.” Proceso. México. D. F.: (7 August 1989) 40, 41.
57Giancarlo Zizola, La Restauracidn del Papa Wojtyla. Madrid: Ediciones Cris- tiandad. 1985.
20
and there is also
eration
all Catholic charismatics,
have
ing
127
Mexico
The Latin American Office for this
project
is in Guadalajara,
a “laboratory,” the Centro de Estudios Latinoamericano Ad
Gentes,
in Bogotd,
Colombia,
with the idea of creating “a new
gen-
of missionaries”
very
distinct from
Theology
of Liberation. A Mexico
City magazine
claims that the leaders of this
program,
who are
met with the
Wycliffe
Bible Translators “to teach them the best
way
of accomplishing the Evangelical
proselytiz-
of the Third World. We want to teach them the
technology,
to show them what
they
can do.”58 These
plans
seem, to
say
the
least,
rather
Lumen 2000
rejects
the Catholics who believe in Theology of Liberation but is
willing
to work with the
Wycliffe
Bible
Translators, who in Latin America are the most criticized and
denigrated
Protestant institution. On the other
hand,
there are Catholics who criticize both
paradoxical:
Lwnen 2000 and
Evangelizaci6n
their main and
perhaps only preacher
on
television,
the native hierarchies
does not trust
the Church around himself. The
strength
cism and Pentecostalism that
2000 because,
by having
the
Pope
as
it
suggests
that he and wants to centralize
everything
in main conclusion we draw from all of
unequal
more coherent
group.
Pentecostalism
this is that the Catholic Church is
fully
conscious of the
growth
and
of Protestantism in Latin America and that it is mainly Catholi-
will be called to determine the
religious future of
Christianity
on the continent. It
may
well turn out to be an
confrontation. Catholicism, in
spite
of all its
differences,
is a
Ecumenism
top
Protestantism
groups.
When Pentecostalism
is sadly fragmented.
and
Unity59
proved
that it was here to
stay the other
groups.
There is relations are now more churches or
Pentecostal
presence. However,
Christian
unity, good relationships
within Protestantism in general and within Pentecostalism in
particular,
are not items that have been at the
of
anyone’s agenda.
In the Nineteenth
Century,
there was a certain degree
of unity, or at least there were consultations between the
foreign missionaries who founded the
early
churches in Latin
America,
but as
grew
and the number of native ministers and churches increased,
a confrontation
developed, resulting
in animosity between the
appeared,
it was at first derided and dis- missed as a passing event.
Things began
to change when the Movement
with
growth
which was faster than that of
still some
degree
of
polarization, although
cordial. In
many
countries no
fellowship
of
interdenominational
program
will be
complete
without a
.
Pentecostalism
is
clearly
divided
58 Michael Tangeman, “Guadalajara, Centro Piloto de la Evangelizacidn por Tele- visi6n.” Proceso. México, D. F.: 5 February 1990.
59For a world-wide perspective on Pentecostalism and Ecumenism, see, Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., “Pentecostals and Ecumenism: An Expanding Frontier,” an
at the
unpublished manuscript presented
Conference on Pentecostal and Charismatic Research in
Switzerland, July 5, 1991.
Europe, Kappel,
21
128
between an ecumenical churches, especially denominations
branch,
(CLAI),
of CONELA, one
single
Pentecostal
CLAI
aligned
rather, seeking
made
up mainly
of autochthonous
and most mission-oriented
Many
of the churches in the Latino Americano
Iglesias
one must remember a
of one
single group,
but are
in South
America,
that,
because of American
influence,
tend to join a more conservative side and be anti-ecumenical.
first
group
are affiliated with
Consejo
the Latin American Council of Churches. Others are now
part
the
Evangelical
Confederation of Latin
America,
in which
church,
the Assemblies of God in
Brazil,
over- shadows the
membership
of the rest of churches which
belong
to it.
is often seen as an arm of the World Council of
Churches,
while CONELA is perceived as the creation of American conservative Protes- tants and/or of the
Billy
Graham Association.60 Some Pentecostals
with CONELA or who are affiliated with American-oriented groups
and who have dared to attend ecumenical
meetings,
have either been
disfellowshipped
or
severely reprimanded by
their churches. When
judging
ecumenism
among Pentecostals,
very strange sight. Many
of the
people
who attend the so-called conser- vative
meetings (CLADE, Lausanne, etc.)
are the same
people
who will be seen at
WCC-sponsored gatherings.
The
opposite
is also
true,
and would seem to be an indication that
many
Latin Americans cannot be labeled as either members or
sympathizers
a way of their own.
Many
Pentecostals in Latin America speak
like anti-ecumenicals without
knowing specifically
what is meant
in other
parts
of the world.
Things
are bound to change as Latin Americans learn about the International Roman
Dialogue.61
Since
many people
in the Assemblies of
God,
Church of
God, Foursquare
and other Pentecostal denomina-
in Latin America seem to
ignore
that their
counterparts United States have been
very
active in this
Dialogue,
we have to wait and see their reaction and the
changes
this will
bring
when the results of this
Dialogue
are more
widely
known.
by
the term, or what is happening
Catholic-Pentecostal
tions
survive
masses,”
in the
Conclusion
Pentecostalism has found a fertile soil in Latin America, and with its pragmatism
and
capacity
for
innovation,
it has
proven
to be a sturdy and fruitful
plant.
In each
country
and each culture it has not
only
learned to
but it has also
brought hope
for millions of people from the low- est strata of
society. Although up
to now it has been a “religion of the
it is also
proving
to be
very adept
at retaining the
majority
of those from its own ranks who have achieved a higher socio-ecomonic status and to reach
many
of the middle classes that other Protestants thought
could not be won to the
gospel. Except
at the local level, Pente-
responses
60S toll, Is Latin America Becoming Protestant?, 174.
6lFor a summary of this dialogue which has existed since 1972, together with
to the most recent quinquennium see Pneuma 12:2 (Fall, 1990).
22
129
costals do not seem to be very interested in social and political participa- tion nor in
providing
much
help
for their
neighbors
who do not believe like
they
do. Their social ethics and. their
political
involvement are
neg- ligible
and defective. One would
hope
that Pentecostalism will retain all the
qualities
that made it such a big and influential movement and will discard those features that sometimes have
given
it a distorted look. If this
happens
and
if, as good
Pentecostals
say,
“the Lord
tarries,” the study
of its future will be considerably more
interesting
and useful than the
study
of its past.
23
