To say that Latin America is a continent in ferment and turmoil is a cliché. Thirty years ago journalists and sociologists were saying that Latin America had to run at top speed just to stay in one place, and this is even more true today. The foregoing analyses of Protestantism in Latin America are replete with encouragements as well as warnings and challenges for the church. What can be said in conclusion?
The Good News
Much is encouraging in two areas:
• The church. The statistics we read are cause for great rejoicing. There is no doubt that a great movement of the Holy Spirit is occurring. And we can rejoice in the increase of biblical and theological concern in the evangelical churches.
The emphasis on lay involvement is another strength of Latin evangelicalism. R. Kenneth Strachan, the late general director of the Latin America Mission, developed this influential principle for Latin churches: “The growth of any movement is in direct proportion to that movement’s success in mobilizing its entire membership in constant propagation of its beliefs.”
We can rejoice that involvement in missions is growing. And, recognizing their common roots with Arabic culture (the Moors occupied Spain for 800 years up to 1492), some Latins are beginning to realize that they have unique opportunities to share their faith with Muslims of other lands.
• The political/social realm. It is encouraging to see evangelicals entering public service and government. The awakening of social concern among evangelicals is eminently appropriate in the midst of the continent’s economic turmoil. While this has been partially a response to liberation theology, it results from a new understanding of the ministry of Christ and of scriptural teaching on loving our neighbors.
Conspicuous by its absence in the foregoing articles was any mention of militarism and military dictatorships. A forum of this type ten years ago would have concentrated heavily on this area. It is a sign of the times that Fidel Castro stands almost alone as a long-term (33 years) military dictator in a region that used to be controlled largely by such dictators.
Areas Of Concern
Not all is bright in Latin America, however.
Predictions that by the year 2000 “Brazil, El Salvador, and Honduras will join Guatemala as predominantly evangelical nations” give me concern. In 1953, my first year as a missionary in Latin America, I repeatedly heard that if the church in Brazil continued to grow at the current rate, Brazil would be an evangelical nation in ten years. That was nearly four decades ago, and Brazil is still far from being evangelical.
The “revolving door” syndrome presents huge problems. While studies on the flow of members into the church are available, adequate studies have yet to be made on the number exiting. What needs to be done to stem this outflow?
Roman Catholic backlash also deserves scrutiny. Protestant-Catholic relations have gone through cycles in past decades. First was the period of Protestant persecution. I saw this firsthand, as I lived in Colombia during the years of “la Violencia,” when evangelicals were persecuted and even killed for their faith.
Despite the gains of both Vatican II (1962–65), when Protestants stopped being seen as “heretics,” and the Catholic charismatic movement, which brought many Catholics and Protestants into true fellowship, we now see growing nervousness within the Catholic hierarchy. There are reports of Catholic persecution of evangelicals in some Latin countries, especially in Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Venezuela.
On the political and social fronts, while it is exciting to see evangelicals moving into government, evangelical politicians need prayer that God will preserve them from the corruption that surrounds them. And because the poverty that liberation theologians highlighted will not disappear, evangelicals must recognize their scriptural responsibility to love their neighbor even more aggressively.
To speak of challenges for the church in Latin America today is somewhat like speaking of the challenge of Mount Everest to the novice mountaineer. Mount Everest has, however, been scaled by many seasoned climbers. And as we look at church history we know that God has always moved his church forward. As the emerging church in Latin America responds to the situations described in the preceding pages, with confidence in the unchanging Word of God, in the available power of the Holy Spirit, and in total commitment to his mission in the world, he will build his church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
David M. Howard is international director of World Evangelical Fellowship.
