The Formation Of Popular, National, Autonomous Pentecostal Churches In Central America

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23

The Formation of

Popular, Autonomous Pentecostal

Central America

National, Churches

in

Douglas

Petersen

It is the intent of this article’ to demonstrate that the churches identified with the Assemblies of God in Central

America,

led

by

the movement in El

Salvador,

came into existence

largely through indigenous

efforts with little external assistance or

foreign

control.

2 Religiously

inclined

persons

contextualized

Pentecostalism, adapting features

appropriate

to their

circumstances,

to make their churches not only

the

region’s largest expression

of Protestantism, 3 but also one of its most

important grass-roots

social movements.3

For the

purposes

of this

study,

Pentecostalism refers not

only

to characteristic beliefs and

practices (e.g., glossolalia

and faith

healing),

‘ This article is a revision of a

paper

read at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Society

for Pentecostal Theology in Guadalajara, Mexico on November 11-13, 1993. Funding

for research to this was

Enablement a

leading publication

for mission scholarship supported by The

provided by the Research Pew

Program, grant program

Charitable Trusts,

Philadelphia, PA,

and administered

by

the Overseas Ministries Study Center, New Haven, CT.

2 Sociologists

of

religion,

as well as have the Pentecostal religious movements in Central

theologians,

America. A

largely ignored

survey of the literature will demonstrate that the majority of scholars studying the

in

religious phenomena taking place

Latin

America, particularly

with

Pentecostals, has concentrated on the massive

groupings

found in Brazil and Chile. The research

Ecumenico de Investigaciones (Editorial DEI) and Luis E. Samandu,

published by

the Protestantismos y

Departamento

Procesos Sociales en

CentroAmerica, (San Josd, Costa Rica: Editorial Universitaria Centroamericana, 1991) are

among

the few serious

of Pentecostalism in Central America.

investigations

Central America, nevertheless, offers a superb contemporary context in which to study

and

analyze

Pentecostalism as a

religious

and social

phenomena. Pentecostalism, the largest representative of Evangelical Protestantism, comprises a significant segment

of the Central American

Furthermore,

the Isthmus

because of its relative

people.

provides, precisely smallness, a unique opportunity to observe the interplay between socioeconomic and political transition with the emerging and exponentially growing

Pentecostal movement among the popular masses. ‘ Based upon the statistical data of several research there were an estimated 1,500,000 communicant Evangelicals in Central America in organizations 1988 (Table 5). Non-Pentecostal scholars are in agreement that 75 of these Evangelicals are of Pentecostal persuasion (see note

30).

Because Las Asambleas de Dios percent has the largest

denominational membership in each of the Central American republics they provide a suitable prototype for analysis

and evaluation of historical Pentecostal characteristics. This essay considers “historical Pentecostals” to be those groups that have had an existence of several decades and whose total membership accounts for the greatest proportion of Pentecostals in Latin America. For aggregate totals of the Assemblies of God, see Table 1.

1

24

insurgency. Protestants,

both

but to

essentially popular, self-sustaining

churches of this

genius

that fall within the historic Christian tradition. These Pentecostal

groupings

owe little to

foreign

influences

beyond

their inducement of

religious

Pentecostals were

essentially

different from other

in the traditions introduced

by immigrant

communities and in those established

by

transcultural missionaries as overseas

denominations.

extensions of their own

mechanism

easily adapted groups. Moreover, viewing

Latin

Pentecostalism

influence was

Americans, cultures, significant

scale

among

Pentecostalism,

with

its

determined

personalities

whose

providing

models for

beliefs and

practices

to their

Only

Latin

emphases

on freedom of

expression

in

worship

and the affirmation of the individual’s worth within the

community, provided

a versatile

to a variety of

cultures,

social classes and

age

there has been

increasing scholarly support

for

American Pentecostalism as

essentially

a social movement

provoked by the disruptive

conditions of life

experienced by the common

people,

thus

making

social or

personal

crisis-and its solution—one of its

distinguishing

features.’

in Central

America,

as

elsewhere,

was often marked in its

beginning stages by strong,

more

catalytic

than

institutional,

Latin Americans who

applied

Pentecostal

own situations without

becoming dependent

or subordinate.

because of their

familiarity

with

popular

Latin American

were

capable

of

implementing

radical

programs

on

any

common

people. Ultimately,

what North American missionaries

conveyed

to Latin Americans was not their

which were not in

any

event transferred

Latin Americans to become assertive 5

control of their own

personal

and

community

affairs.

It is

important

to bear in mind that

during

the entire

period

of Pentecostal institutional

development

in Central

America,

from about World War I to at least the

1950s,

the Pentecostal

foreign missionary

institutions, encouragement

to

presence

was minimal. As still

groups themselves,

the

1930s,

overseas

intact,

but rather

in

taking

relatively small,

isolated and the North American Pentecostals in

work

with

strong

financial

and

personnel

working-class

when the movement was established in Latin

America,

were hardly

able to

promote

resources. The

pioneer

Assemblies of God

missionary

in El Salvador was forced to withdraw

intermittently during

his initial efforts

antropológica

America?,” Metamorphosis Perspective,”

‘ Including

David Martin,

Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America

(Cambridge,

MA: Basil Blackwell, 1990); Barbara

Andre

Droogers

and Frans

Boudewinjse,

Kamsteeg, eds., Algo

mas

que opio:

Una lectura

del pentecostalismo latinoamericano

y

caribeno

(San Josd, Costa Rica: Editorial DEI, 199 1); David Stoll, “Is There a Protestant Reformation in Latin

Christian

Century,

17 January

1990, 44-48; Jean-Pierre Bastian, “The

of Latin American Protestant

Groups:

A Sociohistorical

Latin American Research Review 28/2

and deliberate

( 1993): 33-61.

5 The conscious efforts of North American missionaries to utilize

is modeled clearly in the life and work of Williams as described in this article.

Ralph

indigenous

church

methodology

2

25

at the

height

of the

Depression,

while two of his

missionary colleagues in

Nicaragua

died

during

their first term of

service,

one in the 1920s and the other in the 1930s.6 Prior to World War

II,

there were never more than two North American Assemblies of God

missionary families, most of whom had a short tenure in

any

Central American

country

at any given

time. The Assemblies of God, the

region’s largest

Pentecostal affiliation with

nearly 4,000 self-supporting congregations

and a combined

membership

of as

many

as one million adults in

1992,

even now

supports only

ten North American

missionary

families in the seven republics

of the Isthmus

(including

Belize and

Panama)-an average

of fewer than two

per republic-who

are not considered

specialized, administrative or

support personnel, language

school

students, probationers serving

their first

term,

or

superannuated

missionaries.’

7

A further circumstantial indication of

sparse

influence of the North American mission over these national churches is raised

by David Stoll, who determined that with a combined adult

membership

of about 10 million

(roughly

1:40 of the entire

regional population)

and a total annual

expenditure

of $20 million for all of Latin America

(the

vast majority

of it for

missionary salaries-many

of them

paid

for staff work in the United States-and

capital projects

like

schools),

the Assemblies of God was

hardly

able to account for its growth with an investment of $2.00

per year per

member. “A mere $20 million a year cannot

explain these kinds of results. If

evangelical [Pentecostal]

churches were

really built on

handouts, they

would be

spiritless patronage structures,

not vital, expanding grassroots institutions,”

Stoll observes.’

Despite

this lack of

foreign involvement, by

1992 the national churches had annual national

budgets exceeding

in several cases $100,000

and combined assets of at least $150 million in real estate and improvements.’

The national conferences had a well

organized, entirely

6Bartolome Matamoros Ruiz, Historia de las Asambleas de Dios en

Editorial

Nicaragua (Managua, Nicaragua: Vida, 1984).

“Ministers and Missionaries of the General Council of the Assemblies of God,” rev. to September 25, 1992 (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House). In 1992 there were 38

appointed

Assemblies of God

missionary couples

in the seven countries of the

Isthmus, including

Belize and Panama. Of these, 12 were specialized

administrative- or

or

support personnel,

12 were

in their initial term of service, and

language

school students

relatively inexperienced persons

4 were superannuated

or were serving what was expected to be their final term of service, leaving only

10 families for the work of the seven countries.

8David Stoll, “Is There a Protestant Reformation general in Latin America?,” 46. In 1992 the Assemblies of God estimated the adult membership in Latin America to be over 22 million. Information was obtained from a compilation of various reports issued by

the national Assemblies of God Conferences.

9Information was obtained from the archives of the national Assemblies of God Conferences in Central America.

My estimate is 4,000

churches and estimated

properties

conservatively to have a value of $100 million. Additionally institutional properties

such as Bible institute facilities and colegios (over 200) are estimated at another $50 million.

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26

self-supporting of

legally recognized

and

nationally

directed administrative

constitutions,

youth, women’s,

children’s,

congregational delegates.

many churches,

plus

more

system consisting elected executive

officers,

salaried

of

specialized

programs.

A

had the

authority

to make

staff members to oversee

expansion

and the

operation

missions and educational

network of elective

regional representatives

policy

decisions between annual

plenary meetings

of the

pastors

and

The number of credentialed national

pastors had

grown

to more than

4,500

in the seven countries to serve almost as

than

eight

thousand

preaching points

or satellite churches. These national

organizations

were themselves

dozens of overseas

personnel

in a

variety

of

missionary

both within and

beyond

Latin America.’°

Clearly,

these

groups

a life of their own that had

developed

and needs of the constituent members.

out of the

in Latin America

supporting

projects

had

acquired

experience

Protestant

Protestantism, derives

expression

denominations.

first

by migration denominational

overseas. Anglicans

Uruguay, Plymouth interest in proselytism,

Expressions

of Christianity

the broadest term

generally applied

to

Pentecostals, from its

sixteenth-century

Reformation

origins

and finds its

in the mainline or historic

European

and North American

These

groups

established themselves in Latin America

in the nineteenth

century

and

only

later

by

and “faith missions” intended to establish their

Many

of the first

type,

Lutherans and

in

Paraguay

and

had little

churches,”

evangelicalism

in

Brazil, Argentina

and

Chile,

Mennonites

Brethren in

Argentina,

for

example,

and rather focused on the

religious

maintenance of their own

communities,

sometimes referred to as

“transplanted

which were the institutions reconstituted at the core of foreign

communities with educational and social welfare as well as

spiritual

functions.”

Other Protestant

programs.

part

to

extending

its

needs of

aboriginal

Committee on

Cooperation legitimization

of such

missions,

groups,

also

promoted by

means of

immigration, more

generally

established their influence

by

means of

foreign

missions

In this

way missionary

Protestantism was directed at least in

influence

among

Roman

Catholics, although

even these

groups

tended to justify their intrusion on the basis of the

alleged

or

neglected groups.

in Latin America in 1916

represented

group identifying

The formation of the

the which

by

the 1920s were well

Immigraci6n

Country reports of the Consejo ejecutivo latino americano de las Asambleas de Dios

(CELAD), (Panama City,

Panama: November 25-29,

1992).

CELAD is a

that convenes every three years for the purpose of coordinating efforts and

achievements and concerns. This consists of the elected leaders of each of fourteen autonomous Assemblies

body

organizations.

CELAD has no authority over ”

any of its member national churches.

Waldo Luis

Villapando, ed.,

Las

Iglesia

del

Transplante:

Protestantismo de

en la Argentina

(Buenos Aires: Centro de Estudios Cristianos, 1970) offers a complete bibliography for that country.

4

27

established in most of the

republics.

In Central America the Protestant presence

was

begun

in Belize at least

by 1835,

when British

Baptists constructed a

place

of

worship

and in

Nicaragua

in

1849,

when Moravian missionaries arrived on the Miskito Coast.12

By

1884 there was a Methodist

missionary

in Panama, and a Baptist church in Puerto Limon,

Costa Rica

by

1894. Methodists and

Anglicans

also

organized churches in Costa Rica

by

1894 and

1896, respectively.

Wilton Nelson does not find the arrival of Protestant missionaries intent on proselytism until 1882 in Guatemala and in 1891 in Costa

Rica, determining

that previous activity

should be considered

“foreign protestantism.” 13

When most writers refer to Protestantism

they

are

generally referring to a brand of Protestantism that entered the Latin American context within the framework of neocolonialism

during

the

period

of “modernization” that occurred after the mid-nineteenth

century

and continued in some

republics

until at least World War 1.14 Protestant missionaries

during

this era

basically targeted immigrants

and

peasants who had been

uprooted

from their rural

regions

and thrust into the urban cities.

Thus,

the

emerging

Christian communities were neither among

the

poor

of the traditional

society

nor from the elites of

higher society. According

to Jose

Miguez Bonino,

“The new Protestant communities had no sense of belonging, – -, – no strong ties with traditional

12 Wilton N. Nelson, Protestantism in Central America (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984), 19.

“Nelson,

Protestantism in Central .4merica, 21. Several of the earlier books on Protestantism reflected a subjective and sectarian bias. See, for example, Josd Maria Ganunza, Los sectas nos invaden (Caracas: Ediciones Paulinas, 1978); or Mildred Spain,

And in Samaria: A Story of Fifty Years of Missionary Witness in Central America, 1890-1940 (Dallas, TX: Central American Mission, 1940). Two classic works from the 1960s are Christian Lalive

d’Epinay,

El

refugio

de las masas: estudio sociológico del protestantismo chileno

(Santiago:

Editorial del

Pacifico, 1968), and later published in English

as Haven

of the Masses: A Study of the Pentecostal Movement in Chile

(London: Lutterworth, 1969) and Emilio Willems, Followers of the New Faith: Culture Change and the Rise of Protestantism in Brazil and Chile

(Nashville,

TN: Vanderbilt

Press, 1967). Both books concentrate on the Pentecostals from a sociological perspective. An older standard

University

review of Protestant missions in Latin America is William R

Read, Victor M. Monterroso,

and Harmon A.

Johnson,

Latin American Church Growth

MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans

(Grand Rapids,

“Much of

Publishing Company, 1969).

contemporary scholarship on Protestantism is committed to the that premise

missionary endeavor was directly tied to the cultural, historical,

of

political and the Western

theological positions European nations in general and to the United States in

particular for the simple reason that most of the missionaries that worked in

Latin America came from these countries. See Ganuza, Los sectas nos invaden; Antonio

Quartanciono,

Sectas en America Latina

(Guatemala City: Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano, 1981); and Spain, And in Samaria.

that

Though candidly admitting early Protestant missionaries were closely aligned to the neoliberal governments

in Central

America,

Wilton

Nelson,

a

missionary

in Costa

Rica, contends that Protestant expansion was not an expression of “cultural

but rather a sincere desire on the

imperialism”

part of the missionary to proselytize. See Nelson’s Protestantism in

Central America.

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28

Latin American societies

[and]

not

infrequently

the

country

of the missionary

was idealized as sort of an

earthly paradise:

the land of Protestantism, honesty, freedom,

and

progress.”” Further,

states Miguez Bonino,

the

religious ideologies proclaimed by these Protestant missionaries were “conscious or unconscious

expressions

and

agents

of a world view in which the Protestant faith was

integrated

with a political philosophy (democracy

in its American

version),

an economic system (free enterprise capitalism),

a geopoliticavhistorical project

(the United States as

champion

and center of a ‘new world’ of

progress

and freedom),

and an ideology (the liberal creed of

progress, education,

and science).”

As a result, contends

Miguez Bonino,

both from the perspective of the general historico-political framework in Latin America and in the world, on the basis of the ethos of the American

and in terms of the ideals,

which

mentality, and interests of the new Protestant communities

missionary enterprise

were created, Latin American Protestantism grew up in intimate relation to the interests and influence of the United States in Latin America.’6

Even when the Latin churches endeavored to

emerge

from this context and commenced some form of

indigenization they

were thwarted,

claims

Miguez Bonino,

because

they

had to confront the “power

structure” in which the missionaries controlled

plans

for

growth and

directly

or

indirectly governed

institutions. Such

structures,

he argues, prevent any meaningful relationship

between the church and its people.”

Therefore,

the Protestant Church in Latin America that

emerged

was dependent

both

economically

and

theologically upon

the

sending church in the United States. This

allegiance

became so

deeply entrenched that Latin American Protestants could not

distinguish between their conservative

theology

and

political ideology. Miguez Bonino further

argues

that such

dependence upon

the United States and the North Atlantic countries

paved

the

way

for the

apparent political passivity and,

at

times, allegiance by

Protestants to

regressive governments.

Such

dependency, according

to the

Argentine theologian, was characteristic of Latin American Protestantism.”

Similarly Juan-Pierre

Bastian,

an ecumenical Protestant

theologian, agrees

that

IS José Miguez Bonino, “How Does United States Presence

Help,

Hinder or Compromise

Christian Mission in Latin

America,”

Review and

Expositor

74

1977):

174-177. For an discussion of Protestantism in Latin America see Miguez

(Spring

Bonino’s classic work, Doing Theology in a Revolutionary

insightful

Situation (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1975).

‘6Miguez Bonino,

“How Does United States Presence,” 176.

“Jose

Miguez Bonino, “Confrontation as a Means of Communication in Theology, Church and Society,” in The Right to Dissent, eds. H. Küng and J. Moltmann (New York,

NY: Seabury Press, 1982), 86.

18 José Miguez Bonino, Carmelo Alvarez, and Roberto

Craig, Protestanismo y liberalismo en Am4rica Latina (San Josd, Costa Rica: Departamento Ecumdnico de Investigaciones, 1985), 91.

6

29

there is a tie that

inextricably

binds Latin American Protestantism to the United States. Bastian, however, contends that Latin Americans, especially

in rural

areas, appropriate

certain

aspects

of North American Protestantism and contextualize them to their own

indigenous

models and thus

produce

a

homegrown

9

version that is somewhat

compatible with their own culture.’

It has been difficult for these Protestant

groups

to avoid a

foreign appearance,

not because

they

have utilized

foreign personnel

or failed to make

necessary

accommodations to national

cultures,

but because their

governance,

their

polities,

their

funding

and their

styles

have relied unduly

on the

sending agencies.

The

payment

of the

pastors

with foreign dollars, training

of

many personnel

in the United

States, concern with

retaining

the

theological dogmas

and

prescriptions

of the overseas denomination, and

styles

and values of North American culture all tend to

separate

these

groups

from the

popular

masses of Latin America. Above them

always

has been the shadow of

foreign faith.

R4iguez

Bonino

distinguishes

between this brand of Protestantism and Latin American Pentecostalism.

Contrary

to his thesis that traditional Latin American Protestantism is a direct

legacy

of its North American

counterpart, Miguez

Bonino identifies Latin American Pentecostalism as an authentic

expression

of the

very

ethos of the Latin American culture and context.”

According

to

Miguez Bonino,

the allure of Pentecostalism for modem Latin Americans can no

longer

be satisfactorily explained

within the older traditional theories that espoused

that Pentecostalism was

“foreign”

or “a

penetration

of something

that came from outside.”” The

growth

of Pentecostal churches,

notes

R4iguez Bonino,

has resulted in an authentic

religious expression

of the Latin American

peoples

from within their own cultural

context,

not as a result of an association with the denominational

sending body

of the missionaries. 22 Pentecostalism can be

interpreted,

he

states,

as a movement that

gives expression

to a “Christian and human

protest against

the condition of life in the world…. The ethos of that

process

has not

only theological

and spiritual elements,

but a social

dynamic

which

you

find also in the movements which underlie liberation

theology.”‘ Miguez

Bonino’s

19 Juan-Pierre Bastian, Protestantismo y Sociedad en México (Mexico City: Casa de Publicaciones Unidas, 1983), 91.

20 José Miguez Bonino, interview

by author, tape recording,

Buenos

Aires, Argentina,

17 January 1993.

21 Miguez Bonino,

interview. It is

Miguez

Bonino’s that serious scholarship

no longer emphasizes the impact of

opinion

assistance or the penetration of foreign invasion in reference to Latin American foreign Pentecostalism. Such evaluations are

generally

found in

“journalistic approaches”

or in Catholic as evidenced in the document prepared for the CELAM conference in Santo Domingo.

apologetics 22 Míguez Bonino, interview.

23 José Miguez

Bonino,

“The Pentecostal

Movement,” International Review of

7

30

position correctly

asserts that

Pentecostalism, though having early foreign influences, quickly

became

indigenous

and

emerges

as an authentic

religious

and social

expression

within the Latin American context.

Consequently,

Pentecostalism cannot be

adequately understood within the rubric of the historical

projects

of the traditional Latin American Protestant movement. Neither can Pentecostalism be understood

strictly

within the framework of Evangelicalism. 24

Evangelical Christianity

in Latin America

If Protestantism in Central America should be viewed

primarily

in terms of the

religious

institutions of the

immigrant

communities or of missions that

grew essentially by

the

incorporation

of

detached, deculturated

individuals,

the

missionary

investment in Central America since World War I

represents

a different current of

Evangelical Protestantism that envisioned the

transplanting

of North American churches and institutions overseas. These churches more

generally targeted

the lower middle class and were

generally

urban. The Evangelicals

established churches on the basis of their

theology.

Even more

important

were the resources that

they

had at their

disposal. Following

the decline of

missionary

interest in the mainline denominations

during

the

years

of the Fundamentalist-Modernist conflict,

Protestant missions were

promoted primarily by groups

of Fundamentalists

within, primarily,

the

Baptist

and Holiness branches of the Protestant

denominations,

as well as the faith missions (nondenominational groups

that often directed their efforts at the specific

area or

population

or identified its

goal

in its

organizational name).’

Fired with a desire to

evangelize,

these

groups paid

little

Mission 66 (January 1977): 77-78.

24 The Spanish word “evangdlico,” a literal translation of “Evangelical,” is used often

interchangeably

with the term “Protestant”

(as

well as

“Pentecostal”). However, church life and

are distinctive in each of the traditions. “Protestant” would

theology quite

be the term most appropriately used when treating the older mainline churches related to the conciliar ecumenical movement.

refers to that grouping of those Protestants who hold a

“Evangelico”

emphasize

a commitment to

high view of Scripture and who

personal faith,

conversion and

Though

the term

“evangglico”

is shared

by

most Pentecostal

evangelism.

communities, this article distinguishes between Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism.

“The term “Fundamentalist” is used in a way to

identify the North American “Evangelical”

Christian movement that from

Modernist struggle of the

emerged

the Fundamentalist-

early part of the twentieth century and which subsequently broadened its agenda to include the engagement of Christian faith with American politics Fundamentalism

and social life. For a watershed work which facilitated this movement from

to Evangelicalism, see Carl F. H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of

Modern Fundamentalism (Grand MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Company, 1947).

For an

Rapids, Publishing

analysis of the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy and the subsequent development of out of the Fundamentalist of the debate, see C.

Evangelicalism wing

George Bedell, Leo Sandon, Jr., and Charles T. Wellborn, eds., Religion

in America (New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1975); and, Augustus Cerillo, Jr.,

and

Murray

W.

Dempster,

Salt and

Light: Evangelical

8

attention to

forming

national establish their

influence,

to the

receiving heavily

Although

character.

Quite

31

overseas

in their efforts to

“nationalized,”

churches

often in forms that were not

particularly appropriate

countries. These

groups

also invested

in

support

and

auxiliary programs

that often left few traces of their efforts.

churches were in most cases

eventually

their

foreign origins,

doctrines and

practices gave

them a distinctive

often

they planted

churches that were considered to be part

of the North American denomination. Pastors

regularly

received subsidies and in a real sense a

dependent

structure of church

was established. Emilio A. Nffiez and William D.

Taylor

the

resulting problems

in the attempt

at the

process

of

“indigenization”

churches.

government articulately

demonstrate

that

emerged within these

Evangelical

Some missions terminated the salary subsidy rather abruptly as a result of the Great Depression, others tapered it off gradually, and yet others still

today

pay part or all of their national pastors’ salaries.

,

The indigenization issue…

basically revolved around the questions: Who controlled the churches? Who controlled the

foreign

missions and the missionaries? Who controlled the

purse strings?

Who controlled the institutions? Who controlled the agenda, discussion, and decisions ?26

churches in Latin America as

When,

in the 1970s and

1980s,

conservative elements in the United States seemed to

promote Evangelical

American

influence,

the assumed

foreign

character of

pronounced.

As a

result,

liberationists and North American

Evangelical

centers of North these

groups

became Marxists

influence

criteria.”

loudly protested against

in Latin

America, labeling

all

Evangelicals by

the same

But

they

do

respectfully request

permission

to make decisions as clearly

commitment

Protestants their

missiological

Excessive

foreign

control in Latin America’s

Evangelical

churches is implicit

when Ntinez and

Taylor

call for Latin American involvement in “the forms and structures of

evangelical

churches and institutions which have come from abroad. Latins do not want to toss the institutional baby

out with the bath water.

Latin

evangelicals. ,,28

Such statements

indicate that even

though

there

may

be a different

theological

between non-Pentecostal

Evangelicals

and traditional

strategy

was

surprisingly

similar. Both

Evangelical Perspective (Chicago,

Political

Thought in Modern America (Grand Rapids,

MI: Baker Book House,

1989).

16 Emilio A. Ndfiez C. and William D.

Taylor,

Crisis in Latin America: An

27

IL: Moody Press, 1989), 156.

“The Salvation Brokers: Conservative in Central America,” NACLA .

18

Evangelicals

(January/February 1984): 3. This entire issue is dedicated to reporting the

of

impact

the fierce attack by conservative Evangelical groups upon the people and culture

of Central 28 America.

Niulez and Taylor, Crisis in Latin America, 175.

9

32

Although

Pentecostals

unreliable, theologically suspect groupings

that

ultimately

decisions

approaches

tend to

assume, paternalistically,

will be made

by foreigners.

are

certainly Evangelical

in

belief, they

have been

traditionally marginalized by

other

Evangelical groups

as

being

and

unsophisticated.

The

Evangelical

often viewed their Pentecostal “cousins” with

disdain,

often because of the latter’s lack of educational

support,

excessive

emotionalism,

of

speaking

in

tongues

and

prophecy.

The Pentecostal movement is still evaluated and

within this narrower

“Evangelical

context”

by

both critics and

Pentecostalism, however,

needs to be understood on its

personal experience healing

analyzed

sympathizers. own terms.

Pentecostalism

in Latin America

different, especially origins

Protestant

groups,

Latin without

foreign

assistance. few overseas

missionaries, resources,

strategy

movement,

training

and financial and undue

emphasis

on the ecstatic

and

receiving gifts

of

to

Evangelicals

and as

long

as one looks

only

at Yet,

the identification of the

obscures certain

of Latin

While Latin American Pentecostalism in

many ways corresponds these Protestant and

Evangelical groupings,

it is in other

respects quite

in beliefs and

practices

as well as in their social

and cultural

appropriateness

to the

popular groups.

Unlike other

American Pentecostals have

emerged

almost

Initially, personnel

consisted of

relatively

whose work was undertaken with few

little

preparation

for the

enterprise

and without a coherent

to

develop

a church. The

extraordinary growth

of the

without

adequate

institutional

explanation,

can be found in the

experience

of the Latin Americans themselves.

Clearly

the differences between

Protestants,

Pentecostals are not

easily distinguished

the fact that all are forms of Protestantism.

Pentecostal

groups

with other forms

of Evangelicalism

it was natural that

interpreters

assume that a direct correlation would

growth

and

foreign investment,

that these

groups

functioned in

quite

different

ways.

At its

Pentecostalism

may

be viewed as a creation of Latin American popular culture,

an authentic

expression

of its ethos. As has

already

to

Miguez Bonino,

theories

applicable

to

not

adequately explain

Pentecostalism. 29

important

differences. While American Pentecostalism would exist between

recognize

extreme,

been

pointed

out

according missionary

Protestantism do Despite having early foreign

observers failed to

influences,

Pentecostalism became

represent

75

indigenous

and

emerged

as an authentic

religious

and social

expression within the Latin American context.

source estimates that Pentecostals

aggregate

in Latin America.3° C. Peter Wagner

determines that one member of this

group,

the Assemblies of

One authoritative

percent

of the total Protestant

29 Míguez Bonino, “The Pentecostal Movement,” 78. 30NÚI1ez and Taylor, Crisis in Latin America, 159.

10

33

God,

has become the

largest

or second

largest

in denominational membership

in Argentina,

Bolivia, Brazil,

Costa

Rica, Cuba,

Dominican Republic,

Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru,

Puerto Rico, Uruguay,

Venezuela or 13

(excluding

Puerto Rico and Portuguese-speaking Brazil)

of the 18

Spanish-speaking republics

of Latin America. 31

For the Assemblies of

God,

the number of foreign personnel, as well as the ratios between national members and

missionaries, put

the issue of

dependence

into clear

perspective (Table 1).

In 1951 the five republics

of Central America

registered

17 missionaries” and

7,284 members and adherents.33 In 1992 the

proportions

were 29 missionaries and

729,620

members and adherents

(Table 2)

for a ratio of 1 missionary per 25,159

members and adherents

(Table 3).34

A comparison

between the ratio of Assemblies of God missionaries to communicant

membership

and

Evangelical

missionaries to communicant

membership

further underscores the differences. While the Assemblies of God in 1988 had

only

1 missionary for

every 18,586 members,

the

Evangelical

churches had 1

missionary

for

every 1,108 members

(Table Further,

in 1951 the number of

fully

credentialed national

pastors

was

148,

while the number had

grown

in 1992 to 4230,

with an additional 8853 obreros

(the

term used for

apprentice pastors), giving

an

aggregate

total of

13,083 (Table 2).

Thus in 1992 the ratio of missionaries to credentialed ministers was 1 :451 (Table 4).36 Moreover,

these fields had

already gained

a

reputation

for

developing without external

assistance,

as was illustrated with the

publication

in 1953 of Melvin

Hodges’

The

Indigenous Church,

an

analysis

of the indigenous methodology (decidedly

sensitive to the initiative of the

“C. Peter

Wagner,

“Church

Growth,”

in

eds. M.

Dictionary of

Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements,

Stanley Burgess and Gary B. McGee (Grand Rapids,

MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1988), 185.

missionaries

members and adherents are taken from the

couples or singles are both referred to as “one unit.”

Data on archives of the national Assemblies of God in the five Central American

Republics

of

Guatemala,

El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Note that the figures for members and adherents do not include estimates of the Assemblies of God “community” as is often done in computing the size of religious communities. Because the Assemblies of God is the largest classical Pentecostal movement in Latin America it provides a suitable prototype for the analysis and evaluation of its cultural influence. “The statistics for the number of members and adherents do not include children of the adherents nor do they include an estimate of the size of the “Pentecostal community.”

See Appendix I.

” tie contrasts in ratios are even more

apparent

when it is noted that the Evangelical

ratios include Pentecostals.

data are not available to do a comparison between the ratio of missionaries to national workers between Pentecostals 36 Unfortunately, adequate and non-Pentecostal Evangelical groups

in Central America.

However, from the evidence that is available,

it is likely that the same dramatic difference in ratios would be evident.

.

11

34

national

church), employed by

Pentecostals in El

Salvador,

Honduras

and Guatemala. 37

presence

or

gain

the

advantage Evangelical

Church Growth

study

By 1990,

sending agencies-further

Wagner,

Look Out! such

autonomy

of operation.38

it was clear

churches,

and

The

reports

of the

growth

of a church with

hardly

a

missionary

resulted in various non-Pentecostal

groups seeking

to emulate

of such methods. Publications like The

Alliance Mission

report

of

1970;

the 1969 Latin America

and C. Peter The Pentecostals Are

Coming

all emphasized

when David Martin

published Tongues of Fire,

that whatever the

origins

of the Latin American Pentecostal

their

rapid growth-exceeding any

correlation to the resources of the

indicated that these

groups

were

essentially national. National

leaders,

whatever their

relationship doctrinally denominationally

with

foreign churches,

are

clearly

the

only

ones who could take initiative in the

development

of the Pentecostal movements.

view

every

Pentecostal movement as intrinsically

Latin American. The

taxonomy

of the

Iglesia Apostolica

de la Fe en Cristo

Jesus, recognizes

Not all

observers, however,

of Manuel Gaxiola-

the autochthonous

Pentecostals,

and

special

kinds of

churches

Gaxiola,

several

groupings, including denominations founded churches that resemble of Africa.39 The

first,

or no

foreign influence,

whose traditions of the

people among

by foreign churches,

the

messianic-prophetic independent

in his taxonomy, are movements formed with little

practices

whom

they

have

grown.’

country,

emerging constituency

theology Indigenous

derive

directly

from the

The second

“The Division of Foreign Missions of the Assemblies of God in the United States subscribed to the missiological doctrines of the “indigenous church” as

Roland

presented by

Allen’s, Missionary Methods: St. Paul or Ours? (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans

from Publishing Company,

1962). The work

in each Central American

its initial

stages of formation, was completely autonomous from its United States

with a fraternal between them. The Division of counterpart,

only relationship existing

Foreign Missions was careful to adhere to the philosophy that the Assemblies of God church

in a

country

must have a

and an authentic contextual structure in order to have

grassroots

any

for the work to

grow. For a

of Assemblies of God

hopes

thorough study foreign missions

and strategy,

see Melvin A.

Hodges’ widely

heralded

work,

The

Church

(Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, A

the Church 1953),

as well as his two

subsequent missiological releases, Theology of

and Its Mission

(Springfield,

MO:

Gospel Publishing House, 1977), and

The Church and the

Indigenous

Missionary (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1978). 38 Norman Chugg and Kenneth Larson,

“Chugg-Larson Report to TEAM’s 1970 Conference on Their Church Planting Study Trip to Central America,”

Alliance

Evangelical

Mission, Wheaton, IL;

William. R.

Read,

Victor M. Monterroso and Harmon A. Johnson, Latin American Church Growth (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans

Publishing Company, 1969);

C. Peter

Wagner,

Look Out! The Pentecostals are Coming (Carol Stream, IL: Creation House, 1973).

“Manuel J. Gaxiola-Gaxiola, “Latin American Pentecostalism: A Mosaic within a

PNEUMA: The Journal

of the Society for

Pentecostal Studies 13 (Fall

Mosaic,” 1991): 107.

°° Gaxiola-Gaxiola, “Latin American Pentecostalism,” 115-118. Gaxiola-Gaxiola

12

35

are, generally highly “indigenized,”

but retain

relationships

that compromise

the churches’

autonomy

and the third are

groups

like the Luz del Mundo movement based in Guadalajara, Mexico.4′

Other

writers, including

Carmelo E.

Alvarez,

a non-Pentecostal ecumenist, agrees

that these denominations founded

by foreign churches are not to be included

among

the

spontaneous

Pentecostal movements of the first

category, identifying

them with the “electronic church” and

foreign evangelists

like

Jimmy Swaggart, by

whose overpowering

wealth and

popular

influence

strongly,

if often

indirectly, impose

North American values on their Latin American

organizations.42 Alvarez is far more strident than Gaxiola-Gaxiola in his

critique

of these churches when he states

that,

They commissioned missionaries to plant churches, to produce materials (mostly translations),

to organize evangelistic campaigns and to establish biblical institutes. To this day, these churches conduct their strategy from the USA with an important emphasis on the so-called “electronic church.” Jimmy Swaggert (sic)

is part of that strategy.”

the Assemblies of God of Brazil in this category but indicates that after their establishment designates

(three years prior to the founding of the Assemblies of God in the United States) they “later joined or signed with a foreign church” (116). It should be noted that no formal working agreements

agreements of any kind have ever been established between the Assemblies of God in the United States with

any national Assemblies of God fellowship. The relationship has always been strictly fraternal. °`

Gaxiola-Gaxiola, “Latin American Pentecostalism,” 115-118.

42 Carmelo E. Alvarez, “Latin American Pentecostals: Ecumenical and Evangelicals,”

Catholic Ecumenical Review 23 (October

1986):

93. Alvarez includes the Assemblies of God and the Church of God

The

(Cleveland,. Tennessee) in this

“missionary

church”

category.

German

theologian,

Heindrich

Schafer, Protestantismo y Crisis Social en Amgrica Central (San Josd, Costa Rica; Editorial DEI, 1992),

190 divides the Pentecostals in Central America into two main categories.

In the first group are the traditional Pentecostals comprised of the large denominations, with international connections such as the Assemblies of God, the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) and the Church of the

well as numerous small churches of the same make

Foursquare 50 Gospel, as

type up over percent of all Protestants. These

Pentecostals, according to Schafer, are found almost in Central America’s poorest barrios. In a second category, or in the

exclusively

group Schafer calls neo-Pentecostals, he places the churches of both international or local such as Guatemala’s El

origins

Verbo, Elim, Shekinah, El Shaddai, Fratemidad Cristiana, etc. This group, more commonly known as the Charismatic Protestants, comprised only

I – 2

percent of the aggregate Protestant believers and are generally located in the

middle-upper

and upper classes. It is not clear where Schafer, includes the “indigenous-autochthonous”

churches to which Gaxiola-Gaxiola and Alvarez refer. “Alvarez, Latin American Pentecostals, 93. Hugo Assman, La Iglesia Electr6nica y

su Impacto en Am6rica Latina

(San Josd, Costa Rica: Editorial DEI, 17-24. a Brazilian Protestant

1987),

Assman,

liberation writes a attack

against

the

importation

of a North American brand

theologian, scathing

of Protestantism particularly

as it relates to the

impact

of televangelists. In his

polemical work, Assman

argues

that the television from the

of

programming

United States is an

religious imperialism.

Such programming serves to legitimate the socioeconomic and political system of North American capitalism. A characteristic expression

13

36

Generally,

Gaxiola-Gaxiola

argues,

there are certain characteristic patterns

that surfaced in these

indigenous

Pentecostal churches. In many cases,

missionaries retain some

degree

of control as heads of the Pentecostal unit in the

country,

even

though they may

have turned over the

pastorship

of the local

congregation they

have founded to a national pastor. Though

the local church claims to be

autonomous,

the national pastor

is hesitant to assert himself for fear of

missionary reprisal. Gaxiola-Gaxiola makes a drastic statement when he writes that “there are now in Latin America thousands of churches that

belong

to American denominations

Missionaries,

he

contends, may

still maintain a kind of

ideological

control

through

the

preparation

of literature and

hymnbooks by

the

sponsoring

mission. He does admit that the financial

support

for these churches and

pastors

are sustained

resources.”

‘

by national

of “Fundamentalism” in the United States, argues Assman, is that it serves to provide

a theological underpinning for the status quo with its ideological mindset of capitalism.

Assman contends that the

message promulgated by these television in

attention from the

preachers

Latin America serves to deaden the conscience and distract

struggle

that

only

the Church should have on behalf of the

poor.

undoubtedly is correct in his assessment of most televangelists, it must be noted that Pentecostalism

Although,

Assman

had a

the

huge following years

before the emergence

of

televangelists such as Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker. There are millions of rural Pentecostals who have never seen or heard of any

televangelist, and Pentecostalism has continued its unprecedented growth after the

disappearance of the most famous of these preachers. Assman is right, however, when he contends that the television evangelists emulate the cultural, and theological norms of those North Americans drawn toward this of political

American Pentecostalism,”

type religious expression. 44 Gaxiola-Gaxiola, “Latin

118. Gaxiola-Gaxiola does not 45 identify these American Pentecostal denominations.

Gaxiola-Gaxiola,

“Latin American Pentecostalism,” 118-119. Likely 75 of all Pentecostals in Latin America fall into this

percent Gaxiola-Gaxiola does not

grouping. Though

specifically list groups like the Assemblies of God and the Church of God

(Cleveland, Tennessee)

in this

Schafer, is in

category,

such a is implicit. explicit

his declaration

designation

that

ideological

and hierarchical control from the United States is intentional. According to Schafer,, the Assemblies of God, for example, exercises manipulation through its Sunday School literature. He contends that because the literature is written in the United States and later

distributed in Latin America a “magnificent possibility” is available for the “Central office” to influence

directly

national churches with

that

“political/religious manipulation” presents

a

“procapitalist” position

that

and at the to

supports “right

same time, is

wing

opposed popular

movements in Central America. See Schafer, Protestantismo y crisis social,

Reaganism”

221. Schafer’s accusation of North American control over Latin America Pentecostal churches in the area of

church literature simply because he sees “a magnificent possibility” for the “Central office” to do so must be questioned. The author has read carefully Schafer’s and cannot find

study

any evidence that he uses to support his assertion. It should be noted that although the Sunday School literature is printed in the United States it is written by Latin Americans and distributed only in Latin America. Though Chilean ecumenical Pentecostals, Marta Palma and Juan Sepulveda. are more measured in their evaluations of classical Pentecostals in Latin America, they both adhere to the position

that the such Pentecostals are inextricably linked to their North American

14

37

While elements of these

arguments

are

incontrovertible, they widely miss the mark

by

their

assumptions

about the exercise of

control,

the source of funding, the inherent attractiveness of Pentecostal beliefs and practices

for Latin Americans and the

energies placed

in

proselytism, especially among

converts’ families and friends. For

example, Gaxiola-Gaxiola assumes too much about the influence of

hymnbooks which few Pentecostals seem to use.

Of even

greater importance,

the extent to which Latin American Pentecostals of various

“indigenized”

movements realize their aspiration

to take

advantage

of

opportunity may

not be underestimated in

light

of their

rapid growth

and institutional

autonomy.

Rather than viewing

denominational labels as marks of

submission, many Pentecostal denominational leaders

apparently

view the internal discipline,

the

respectability

and the access to wider networks that result from affiliation as desirable.

They

are

thereby raised,

in

effect, above the

parochial

restrictions of

self-appointed

leaders who apparently

are more concerned with

maintaining

their

positions

within their closed circles than to embrace a wider view of the church. Ultimately, however,

the character of the Latin American Pentecostal churches is itself the best

way

to determine whether

they represent,

as asserted

by Miguez Bonino,

authentic

impulses

of Latin American culture.

The Establishment of Pentecostalism in Central America

In

analyzing

the characteristics of

indigenous

churches in Latin America, Eugene

Nida notes

that,

in most

cases,

even a

“fully indigenous

church” which

grew exclusively

with Latin

leadership,

has had at

least,

an indirect tie to some

type

of

missionary

endeavors In some cases the national

indigenous

church

may

have resulted from an early split

from

missionary involvement,

as is the case with the Chilean Pentecostal Methodist churches. These churches were started in 1909 by W. C. Hoover,

an American Methodist

missionary,

who had left the Methodist Church and initiated the Pentecostal work in that

country.47 In other

cases,

the

indigenous

churches

may

be one

“spiritual

counterpart. Palma notes that “toward the middle of this century more and more Pentecostal denominations from North America … linked conversion with the

very closely

adoption of the

‘American

way of life’.” [“A Pentecostal Church in the Ecumenical Movement,” The Ecumenical Review 37 (April 1985): 225.]

Similarly, entered Latin

Sepulveda

echoes the same sentiments when he refers to the Pentecostalism that

America as a result of

missionary activity as a movement that “manifests a greater financial, cultural and theological dependence on its churches of origin, and therefore, a much weaker rootedness in the autochthonous culture.” [See

his “Reflections on the Pentecostal Contribution to the Mission of the Church in Latin America,” Journal

ofPentecostal

1 (October 1992): 27.] ] 16 Eugene Nida,

“The

Indigenous

Churches Theology in Latin

America,”

Practical Anthropology

8 (May-June 1961): 97.

47 The standard account of Hoover’s work is found in Willis C. Hoover, Historia del Avivamiento Pentecostal En Chile (Valparaiso, 1948).

15

38

generation”

removed from

missionary

influence or the doctrines and practices

themselves

may

ensure a church’s

autonomy

and

integrity The evaluation of these Central American Assemblies of God

groups presented

later in this article demonstrate this

process.

Pentecostalism was introduced into El Salvador

early

in the

century by

Frederick

Mebius,

a Canadian whose own

religious experience, healing

from tuberculosis while confined to a

sanitarium, inspired

an evangelistic

mission to Latin America.49 His association with Herbert Bender,

the

respected

leader of the Central American Mission

(CAM), as well as an adventuresome Bible distribution

expedition

to

Bolivia, preceded

his

taking up permanent

residence in El Salvador.

There, apparently during

Bender’s absence about

1914,

Mebius

gathered

a small

group

of believers who had

previously

identified with CAM and certain

Baptist groups

to form a congregation in the remote

community of Las Lomas de San

Marcelino,

a

community

of coffee workers located

among the frrrcas (farms)

on the

slopes

of the Volcano of Santa Ana.

Mebius is

portrayed

as a kindly but

impetuous personality

of limited leadership ability

who nevertheless exerted a

mesmerizing

influence over his followers.

By 1927,

when some members of the

community contested his

spiritual

and administrative

leadership,

a cluster of two dozen

congregations

with a combined

membership

of several hundred adults had come into existence. Isabel Navas de Paredes has

girlhood recollections of

groups

of

people gathering

for

prolonged, noisy meetings,

sometimes

lasting

for several

days,

as the

expressive

features of Pentecostalism established the

identity

and reason for

being

of the group that, despite

their

fanatically religious orientation,

had much in common with other

self-help

associations familiar to Salvadorans. 50

From these

origins,

at the initiative of Central

Americans, emerged the two

leading

Pentecostal denominations in the

republic,

Las Asambleas de Dios de El Salvador and La

Iglesia

de

Dios,

associated with the Church of God

(Cleveland, Tennessee),

as well as several remaining

Pentecostal

groups

that owed their denominational existence to internal schisms rather than to outside influence. In the case of the Assemblies of

God,

the

group’s origins

resulted from the

urging

of some members

who, having

lost confidence in the founder’s

leadership, organized

a mission to the United States to

acquire

the assistance of a foreign missionary.

After two

attempts

in the late 1920s

proved fruitless,

the

group’s emissary,

Francisco

Arbizu,

succeeded in

48 Nida, Indigenous Churches, 97-98.

49 Roberto Dominguez, Pioneros de Pentecostes

(2 vols.; San Salvador: Literatura Evangelica, 1975), 2:221. so Isabel de

Paredes, “Origin y

desarrollo de Las Asambleas de Dios en las republicas

de El Salvador y Guatemala” (unpublished manuscript, Guatemala City, 1980), 4.

16

Ralph Darby Williams, Mexico,

The role

became decisive

town, experienced

changes.”

39

a

missionary

whom he met in

development.52 Arbizu, taller

(workshop)

in a small

Arbizu traveled at his own

to

persuading

to take

up

residence in El Salvador.”

of Arbizu and

Williams,

for the next decade or

more,

in the

group’s subsequent

though

the

proprietor

of a

shoemaking

the same

aspirations

and

disadvantages experienced by

other

persons

then

living through

the

country’s disruptive

economic

Commissioned

by the congregation

to find someone to assist the

group

in its further

development,

on a second

voyage

with

help

from other

Pentecostals,

Texas.

There, according

to literature that had fallen into

Ball had established a Pentecostal

training

school for

leaders whose work was

flourishing

United States. Arbizu

proved

to be a practical, dedicated leader who

gave

the movement

credibility and,

who with other members of the

group,

directed it toward more

specific objectives.

in

many respects quite

different from his Salvadoran

Williams demonstrated

expense and, San

Antonio, his

hands, Henry Hispanic Southwestern

Though counterpart, Ralph

respect

for his Central precise

having only

in Mexico and the

by

his comments and

conduct over several

years

of collaboration that he had affection and

American

colleague. 54

Williams was

patient,

and tenacious. At the time he was

carrying

a British

passport,

in 1924

gone

to the United States from his native Wales with his older brother Richard. The brothers had been mentored

by Alice

Luce,

a former

Anglican missionary,

who had become Pentecostal as a result of her

experience

with the Mukti revival in India in 1905.

had with his brother Richard

helped

establish churches

among the

Spanish-speaking community

in Southern California.

Richard,

who had

aspired

to

extending

the Pentecostal work to

Peru,

died of fever

in El Salvador.

Williams

shortly

after

Ralph’s

arrival The Latinization

Pentecostalism

Pentecostalism. America is

easily

of Central American

Prima

facie

evidence of the

process

of the

early

“Latinization” of

particularly

within the Assemblies of God in Central

adduced.” The role the

pioneer missionary

such as

Gospel Publishing

Ralph

For a denominational history of the Assemblies of God missionary movement in Central America, see Louise Jeter Walker, Siembra y Cosecha

(Springfield, MO: 52

House, 1992).

A firsthand account of the early formation of the Assemblies of God is extant in

Williams’

unpublished memoirs in the possession of his widow and cited in Everett

A. Wilson,

“Identity, Community,

and

Status,”

in Earthen Vessels: American

and

Evangelicals and Foreign Missions, 1880 – 1980, eds. Joel A.

Wilbert R. Shenk

Carpenter

(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 135-136.

Pioneros de Pentecostes, 225-230.

and Status,” 143-146.

55 in each of the Central American

of all

republics the Assemblies of God comprises the largest aggregate

Pentecostals (Table I). Franz Damen, a Belgian Catholic missionary in Bolivia, makes the observation that Evangelical Pentecostal groups

“Dominguez,

” Wilson, “Identity, Community,

17

40

Ralph

Williams fulfilled was

primarily

and

essentially

motivational. Everett A. Wilson

correctly

notes that missionaries succeeded in establishing

an efficient

prototype

of a church that extended

beyond their own

personal energies, abilities,

and resources.

They immediately shared the

responsibilities

of church life with the

fledging

national leaders,

thus

guaranteeing

that the work would be extended into the future

indefinitely.

Even the Pentecostal churches that

originated

as denominational missions resulted less from missionaries

having reproduced

their churches overseas than from their

having

incited Latin Americans to find their own

compelling

faith.”

Ralph

Williams-who was well

acquainted

with the

missiological principles promulgated by Roland

Allen,

the

Anglican

author of

Missionary

Methods: Saint Paul’s or

Ours?-recognized

the situation in El Salvador as an opportunity

to

implement

Allen’s

indigenous

missions theories in assisting

an

already existing

church. Within a few months he had accompanied

Arbizu in a

survey

of the

existing

churches and had with him drafted a set of

principles

which came to be known as the “Reglamento

local.” The

Reglamento,

while

recapitulating

the

major doctrines of the

church,

also

prescribed

the conduct and

responsibilities of the

membership

and the

congregational leadership. 57

I

Within a few months Arbizu and Williams convened a meeting in the western town of

Ahuachapán

for the

purpose

of

addressing

the issues that the men felt to be unbiblical and the

adoption

of a statement of faith and conduct. The

process

of

adopting

a

mutually acceptable constitution for the movement is recorded in Williams’

unpublished memoirs,

as well as in

surviving

comments of the two men recorded in the late 1970s.

Having

been an

acknowledged

leader of the movement before Williams’

arrival,

and

having spent

several months under the influence of Henry

Ball,

the still young Arbizu was more than

simply

an assistant to his

colleague.

He

actively participated

in

gaining support for the

program

and continued for one-half

century

to hold the

respect of the Pentecostal

community. Moreover, given

the recentness of Williams’

arrival,

his limited

experience

with the

people among

whom he

worked,

and the demands that the

ensuing

constitution and the Reglamento

made on the Pentecostal

community,

he

obviously

relied on Arbizu to

gain acceptance

for his

proposals, depending ultimately

on a consensus of

support among

the rank and file members to make the virtually spontaneous

movement “biblical” in its

operation.

“that grow faster are either indigenous to the continent, or, if they had an in North America, they have become ‘Latin-Americanized’

origin

quickly

in both leadership and financing,” Christianity Today, 6 April 1992, 30-31.

56 Wilson, “Identity,

that the document Community,

and Status,” 135-136.

“The influence

“Reglamento local ” had upon the Pentecostal

burgeoning

movement, especially upon the Assemblies of God, in Latin America is treated in Everett A.

Wilson, “Sanguine

Saints: Pentecostalism in El

Salvador,” Church History 52 (June 1983): 186-198.

18

Williams’

statement is

revealing Pentecostalism

‘many questions understand,

but

to

most lacked views were

judged

41

nature of Central

of doctrine and church order

the loudest

description

of the

meeting

that

adopted

the constitution

of the

proprietary

American

from the outset. “The kind of decisions we entered upon

were new to most of our

people,”

he

reported. “By

means of

and

arguments’

the

representatives

‘tried to

did not

always

find

agreement’.”

Williams and Arbizu urged

them to come to “an

understanding

which all could

agree.”

But the

questions persisted:

“‘What if the Holy Spirit

shows us

something

different?’ and ‘Who is to

say

who is right?’

‘What if I want to

preach,

who is to

stop

me?’.” Williams recalled “some less

spiritual

moments” when outbursts

erupted

because

the

patience

to hear out the

opinions

of others.

“Opposing

carnal or of the devil.

Frequently

speaker thought

that his

greater

volume was

proof

that he was

right.

I heard someone

shout,

‘That man is

only

a

campesino;

in

charge’.” But,

concluded

Williams, they finally

which

provided

for amendments as the

The document was not a “‘hand-me-down,’ for these brethren had had a major

part

in its

making,

so

they

understood it and

nothing.

I’m the one completed

a “constitution… work

developed.”

defended it.”5$

The estimated one-half

age seventy God

organization

resembled

entirety

of

he knows

community

that had to themselves thereafter

of

groups

that came into existence

of the Pentecostal

boycotted

the

organizational meeting

referred

as “ftee brethren”

(hermanos libres)

and remained under the nominal leadership

of Frederick Mebius for several

years.

In 1940

Mebius,

then

and in declining

health, accepted

the offer of the Church of

in Guatemala to assume

oversight

of his churches.59 This

grouping

has

grown

to the

present

to include about

one-quarter all the Pentecostal churches and

congregants

in the

country.

For the most

part,

the other Pentecostal

the two

largest groups

in their manner of

operation

and in appealing

to the humble classes. All of these

groups

mobilized the

the

membership

and

developed

the

leadership potential

of the members

by placing promising

in

charge

of local

referred to as

“campos

blancos”

The

development

of a

rudimentary training program

the

rapid

extension of the movement with the opening

of the new

campos blancos,

and the mobilization and

training

with the

adoption

the

“Reglamento

local”

the

group’s

continued

growth.”

meetings harvest”). prospective

pastors,

of the

membership

provided

an effective formula for

lay persons

(“whitened fields-ready

for for

of

58 Selections from the unpublished memoirs of Ralph Darby Williams are quoted in Wilson, “Identity, Community, and Status,” 133-151.

‘9 Charles W. Conn, Where the Saints Have Trod: A

Missions TN: 143. History of the

Church of God

(Cleveland, Pathway Press, 1959),

” Everett A.

Wilson,

“The Central American

Evangelicals;

From Protest to

International Review of Mission 77 (January 1988): 98.

Pragmatism,”

19

42

When Williams left El Salvador in June of 1934 because of his wife’s s ill

health, twenty-six organized congregations

adhered to the regulations

that he and Arbizu had

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The Formation Of Popular, National, Autonomous Pentecostal Churches In Central America

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