Arrangements are nearly complete for what may be the largest-ever single operation by evangelical relief agencies.
Next month crews are expected to begin land-clearing operations on thousands of acres of jungle land in Guyana, on the northern coast of South America. Soon afterward, significant numbers of Southeast Asian refugees—perhaps eventually 100,000 or more—will be transported from refugee camps in Thailand to their new home.
It is entirely possible that Jonestown—scene of the People’s Temple mass suicide-massacre a year-and-a-half earlier—will be used as the processing and orientation center for the incoming refugees before they are permanently resettled elsewhere.
That Guyana should serve as the host country for a large refugee contingent sponsored by Christian agencies is both natural and startling—natural, because Guyana is an underpopulated country that is largely virgin jungle, and startling because Prime Minister Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham’s Cooperative Republic of Guyana is South America’s only socialist regime.
Some of the more immediately apparent questions: Why should Burnham be dealing with Christian agencies? Why are the agencies risking bringing refugees who have been overrun by Southeast Asian Communism to an authoritarian country practicing a homegrown Western brand of socialism?
The emerging answers are beginning to sketch in a narrative that reads like fiction. But the relief agencies are doing their best to bury the drama in bureaucratic understatement, at least for now. By mid-February the only statement they had released read:
“Representatives of World Relief Corporation, Samaritan’s Purse, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and World Medical Missions, Inc., have met with ministers of the government of Guyana concerning the resettlement of refugees in Guyana. Proposals have been discussed and agreed upon in principle. The consortium has received a letter of intent from the government of Guyana and the respective boards of directors are being advised that all preliminary negotiations have been completed and the program may proceed.”
From the relief agencies’ perspective, involvement with Guyana began last April in a car traveling between Khon Kaen, Thailand, and Nong Khai on the border with Laos. The car was driven by Ken Weeks, on the staff of the American embassy in Bangkok—a Christian who was transporting three passengers during his off time. Passenger Reg Reimer, World Relief Corporation’s director for Southeast Asian affairs, was describing to the others the situation of the refugees they were about to visit. He called them the forgotten refugees, pushed out of the headlines by Cambodia and the boat people. Their chance of being resettled, he said, was almost nil.
Listening to him were Andy Bishop, WRC vice-president for disaster relief, and Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and director of World Medical Missions and Samaritan’s Purse (in the process of merging). Graham recalls that as they brooded over the apparently hopeless situation, someone in the car blurted out, “Why couldn’t Jonestown be made into a home for refugees?” That challenging question served as the basis for an impromptu prayer meeting as the journey continued.
Graham began investigating the possibility on his return. He was preparing to approach the Guyanese ambassador in Washington in June when a tip based on a newspaper account carried in the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel Star alerted him to the Lionel Luckhoo conversion story (see facing page). Charles Ward, BGEA crusade associate, got Luckhoo’s address from Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International’s director for Central and South America in Houston, but learned that Luckhoo was out of Guyana, attending the Pan American games in Puerto Rico. After tracking down Luckhoo in his Puerto Rico hotel, he arranged for him to meet with Graham and himself during his July visit to the FGBMFI convention in New Orleans.
Luckhoo did meet with them then and expressed sympathy for the idea of resettling refugees in his country. He said he had been praying for such a development. But winning Burnham’s endorsement would be essential, he said. He inquired whether the U.S. government would be interested in sweetening the proposal by offering monetary aid along with acceptance.
A tentative arrangement for Graham and T. Grady Mangham, a veteran Southeast Asia missionary with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and now WRC director of refugee services, to meet with Burnham in August fell through when elements of the Guyana populace staged a general strike there. Other engagements ruled out September.
But at the beginning of October, right after Graham’s return from an Asian visit, Luckhoo called to say he had an appointment for them with Burnham just three days later on October 6. They went, and at that meeting Burnham agreed to receive a written proposal from them.
Bud Hancock, the WRC and Wycliffe Bible Translators liaison with the government in Washington, D.C., approached the U.S. State Department and obtained its cooperation.
By mid-November Mangham and Graham had a signed proposal to present. Burnham accepted the proposal in principle on December 3. But he said that some of his cabinet had expressed reservations, and requested that a presentation of the proposals be made to a cabinet session. Mangham, Graham, Bishop and a few others did so on December 18.
The full cabinet approval triggered formation of the consortium, which retained an advertising agency, the Walter F. Bennett Company, in an effort to keep the lid on information about the project in its early stages, and to coordinate it among the members thereafter. At this point, also, Luckhoo agreed to serve as the contact person for the project in Guyana.
It was also now time to bring the refugees into the picture. An early idea of resettling Vietnamese refugees was abandoned in favor of resettling the more agrarian Hmong tribal people from the mountains of Laos. (It was also decided to include refugees from the tiny Caribbean island nation of Dominica, devastated last summer by Hurricane David.)
The consortium took special pains to make a low-key approach to the Hmong. After two earlier disappointments, the Hmong have adopted an understandable show-me attitude. A Food for the Hungry plan to resettle 5,000 Hmong in the lowlands of eastern Bolivia got sidetracked by the country’s recurring political convulsions. A People’s Republic of China offer to accept 10,000 Hmong dried up after only 150 had been absorbed.
A trip to Thailand in late January by Graham and WRC president Jerry Ballard established Hmong interest in the project and informal endorsement, pending inspection of the actual sites. At press time, a four-member official Hmong delegation was almost ready to depart for Guyana’s nearly empty Northwest District. Travel documents had been issued to two Hmong representatives in the United States; attempts were being made to expedite their issuance for two efugee representatives in Thailand. By mid-February a verbal agreement had been reached with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Paul Hartling.
As soon as the Hmong have formally approved, an initial contingent of about 20 families, or some 200 refugees, will be ferried to their new homeland. The consortium is hoping this will occur by mid-April.
Sensitivities of the Hmong—largely animistic but with a Christian minority—are behind uncertainties over use of the Jonestown complex. Their belief that the spirits of the dead linger make them skittish about the site of the tragedy—even as a temporary holding area. But using these existing facilities, instead of constructing new ones, would save half a million dollars, according to Ballard. He also acknowledges that their use would carry “high promotional value.” Besides Hmong superstition, however, Guyanese sensitivity over the Jonestown blot on their image must be taken into account.
Almost stronger than the logical pros and cons of utilizing Jonestown is an almost mystical conviction—shared by Graham and Mangham—that God intends to take that scene of twisted religion and tragedy and redeem it for the glory of Christ, and the restored honor of Guyana. “We would like Jonestown to be known not for a chamber of horrors or a museum of death,” says Graham, “but let it be known for a place of the living.”
Arrayed opposite the “visionaries” who see in Burnham a contemporary Saul turned Paul are the “realists” who point out that, religion aside, Burnham’s move is shrewd politics.
The two major political forces in Guyana traditionally have been the urban blacks—Forbes Burnham’s natural constituency—and the rural East Indians—the constituency of Burnham’s long-time rival, Cheddi Jagan, and his successors. The East Indian segment of the population is increasing at a much faster rate than Guyana’s other ethnic groups. A large infusion of Asians grateful to Burnham for a haven could be viewed as a brilliant court-packing move prior to next October’s elections, already twice postponed.
It would also provide a buffer by populating the empty area adjacent to the Venezuelan border. Venezuela has long laid claim to that sector, and a World Court-imposed moratorium on the dispute expires next year. Guyana has witnessed Venezuelan expansion across its ill-defined border with Brazil and fears encroachment into its own territory.
Burnham has been in power for 15 years—longer than any other South American leader except for strongman Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay, with 25 years. But observers see indications that his power base is eroding. Diverse opposition elements, including the Guyana Council of Churches, accuse him of corruption, mismanagement, and dictator-like behavior, and are calling for his removal.
The consortium members, however, are impressed by what they see as genuine magnanimity in Burnham’s offer. They say they feel strongly that his basic motivation is a humanitarian impulse of compassion.
At any rate, in their determined search for a refuge for Southeast Asia’s refugees, the evangelical agencies find their success tied up with that of an enigmatic socialist who has more than once mixed religion with his politics in unorthodox ways.
Evangelistic Thrust Sets the Stage for Diplomacy Gains
Improbably, the biggest breakthrough to date in the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees may have begun with an evangelistic excursion by a couple of leaders in the Full Gospel Business Men’s movement.
Newman Peyton, Houston-based international director for Central and South America of Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, and Glen Norwood, builder from Sugarland, Texas, flew to Guyana on November 4, 1978. Three days later they had assembled 61 Georgetown business and professional men to give the gospel a hearing. That evening Peyton led to a decision Sir Lionel A. Luckhoo, 65, a highly successful criminal lawyer reputed never to have lost a defense of a client accused of murder (229 cases by December). Luckhoo’s clients in civil cases at the time included Jim Jones, whom he represented in a case brought by Tim and Grace Stoen, defectors from People’s Temple, in an effort to obtain custody of their six-year-old son, who later died in the massacre.
Norwood returned to Texas the next day, but Peyton stayed on for a week, helping ground Luckhoo in his new faith, and grooming him to lead a Full Gospel Business Men’s chapter in Georgetown.
He checked out of the Pegasus Hotel at about the same time the entourage of ill-fated California Congressman Dan Ryan checked in. Peyton flew to an FGBMFI convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where, on November 17, before 400 convention participants, he signed a letter to Burnham, asking him to endorse and attend a FGBMFI dinner for Guyanese government and diplomatic officials. The Jonestown suicide-massacre occurred the next day.
Luckhoo, a personal friend of the prime minister, asked Burnham not to give a negative reply without first checking with him. Thus, in January, when Burnham made an appointment to meet with him, Luckhoo got his young FGBMF chapter—heavy with lawyers—together to pray. Luckhoo knew that Burnham was critical of churches in general, and was engaged in a running feud with one denomination (whom sources declined to identify). The Jonestown uproar didn’t help matters. Luckhoo expected to have to marshall his celebrated persuasive powers.
But when Luckhoo entered Burnham’s office, Burnham simply told him to get out his calendar and pick a date. They settled on March 1, and Burnham’s only condition was that he not be expected to speak at the banquet.
The presidential state dinner at Queen’s College in Georgetown followed a format FGBMFI has used elsewhere. Six Christian businessmen from North America each gave a five-minute testimony. Then FGBMFI president Demos Shakarian concluded with his own, and appealed for decisions from the 500 or so in attendance. Burnham was the first to raise his hand, and he was followed by scores of others. Burnham made an extemporaneous speech, extending for some 20 minutes, that stressed the need for love and reconciliation.
FGBMFI spokesmen are convinced Burnham underwent a conversion experience that night. Local believers included in the dinner audience have expressed doubts.
For one thing, it was hardly Burnham’s first exposure to the Christian message. The eloquent orator had been schooled in the Bible in his early education: he was a Methodist lay preacher before his law school days, and has continued to refer frequently to the Scriptures in his speeches. For another, there is scanty evidence of a change in his regime’s rough-and-ready tactics. One of his adversaries was shot down by the police a couple of months ago in a gun battle. They claimed the man was smuggling guns, and that he shot first when they attempted to apprehend him. But a source surmised that “that’s just a way Forbes Burnham has of getting rid of people he doesn’t like.”
Critics do acknowledge that Burnham showed emotion during the testimonies, that he said he was thinking seriously about what it meant for him, and that his rambling remarks were favorable to Christians.
No one doubts, though, that Luckhoo’s own conversion was genuine. As a cabinet member, personal lawyer, and adviser to Burnham, he has certainly exerted influence. At any rate, these observers say, a renewed spiritual openness among elements of the Guyanese leadership has become apparent.
The altered climate in Georgetown, of course, does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship with the developments now being divulged. But several observers believe the timing is more than coincidental.
The People’s Republic
Religious Thaw in China Produces Wang’s Release
Wang Ming-tao, a Chinese Christian leader well known for his courageous testimony in the early 1950s, has been released from a People’s Republic of China prison. He was reunited with his wife and reached his home in Shanghai on January 10. (Earlier reports that Wang had been released, circulating in late 1978 and early 1979, were incorrect.)
A CHRISTIANITY TODAY correspondent confirmed Wang’s release after meeting a Chinese visitor to the United States who has seen Wang personally. A friend, who has spent many hours with Wang, also has written the correspondent that Wang wants to thank all who have prayed for him. During his 22 years in prison, Wang said, he had sometimes been like Peter, but never like Judas. He explained that while at times he weakened under pressure, since 1974 he had been greatly strengthened, just as he was 30 years ago.
His hearing and eyesight are failing. But Wang, 80, with strong glasses still is able to read and write, and his mind is alert, the friend reports. He has inquired about the spiritual status of many who were his colleagues and acquaintances before his long confinement.
World Scene
Protestant churches in Ireland have expressed disappointment following their talks with the Roman Catholic Church on mixed marriages. In at least one part of Ireland the Protestant partner must promise in writing that children will be raised in the Catholic faith. The Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist issuers of a statement were also distressed by the suggestion of a second wedding ceremony in a Catholic church for those married in a Protestant service. The Irish Catholic church, for its part, planned to issue a pastoral directory on mixed marriages in order to achieve more uniformity of practices in its dioceses.
Christian organizations with American origins have been taking their lumps in Europe recently. The deputies for evangelization of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands have criticized the Dutch branch of Campus Crusade for Christ for failing to “build a personal relationship” with its converts. Campus Crusade’s success with youth in the Netherlands may have instigated the charge, since Campus Crusade does not have discipleship and lay training programs for converts.
In a joint statement by official German Protestant and Roman Catholic mission bodies, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, sponsored by Wycliffe Bible Translators, was obliquely criticized for sometimes bypassing self-determination for Indian groups. The statement urged that translations no longer be made at the request of governments, but only in consultation with national churches. The statement was issued after study of a report by the Society for Threatened Peoples, whose work, the statement acknowledged, was “not always objective and precise.”
The National Youth Festival of the German Democratic Republic’s Communist Youth Organization had an unofficial adjunct activity when it met recently in East Berlin. Each evening, during the three-day event, the centrally-located Marienkirche hosted organ concerts and evening prayers attended by from 600 to 1,000 young people. Young Christians were present to answer questions. There were also displays depicting church life, and a bookstall. The most briskly selling item: the German version of Good News for Modern Man.
Polish authorities have backed down in a face-off with the Roman Catholic Church. At issue was the plan for a new highway which would have cut through the pilgrim approach to the famed “Black Madonna” icon in Czestochowa. A proposed pedestrian tunnel apparently had been designed to restrict the flow of visitors from the city. Now, instead, the highway will go underground, and adequate access will be retained.
Reports of a revival movement in Soviet Central Asia are reaching the West by way of ethnic Germans who have emigrated from Russia to West Germany. Personal letters indicated that 600 persons were converted within a two-week period in Alma Ata, Frunse, and other Central Asian cities. During evangelistic meetings with two Ukrainian preachers, the churches and tents put up for the meetings were filled to overflowing.
South African government funds were used to subsidize the Christian League of Southern Africa. The World Council of Churches, a target of league attacks, had charged for some time that the league was being so subsidized. But in late November, Foreign Minister Roel of Botha confirmed that funds were channeled to the league through the now defunct Department of Information. The department’s former secretary, Eschel Rhoodie, alleged that the league received more than $250,000 prior to mid-1970.
Mozambique’s Marxist government has confiscated all property belonging to churches, according to a report in Tempo, the official paper published in the capital city, Maputo. In a broadcast address from Lichinga, president Samora Machel attacked not only the majority Roman Catholic Church and established Protestant churches, but also indigenous churches and religious communities for “splitting the people apart.”
Kenya President Daniel Arap Moi publicly acknowledged that government hospitals do not match mission hospitals either for cleanliness or efficiency, and he ordered increased government grants to private hospitals. Officiating at the late January dedication of the new extension of Kijabe Medical Center, attached to the Africa Inland Church, Moi assured sponsors of mission hospitals that his government has no intention of taking them over.
President Godfrey Binaisa of Uganda has decreed that all missionaries who were expelled by Idi Amin may now return, according to an All Africa Press Service report. Binaisa said, “Missionaries not only spread the word of God, but also have contributed tremendously to the development of Uganda.”
The Gideon Adwoc Theological College in the southern Sudan has graduated its first class of pastor-evangelists: 21 men. Recently relocated to Melut from Omdurman in northern Sudan, the Sudan Interior Mission-sponsored school is named after a Sudan Interior Church pastor who was killed during Sudan’s 17-year civil war.
A literature center in Khartoum, Sudan, has been closed for having distributed “anti-Islamic” literature. The German news service IDEA reports that 20,000 copies of Christian publications were confiscated, that the manager of the center, a Swiss doctor, has been expelled from the country, and that Sudanese members of the staff were being held for questioning.
A rash of vandalism against churches and Christian institutions has erupted in Jerusalem over the past three months. City officials say more than $30,000 in damage has resulted from vandalism inflicted on Baptists, Roman Catholics, Russian Orthodox, and others. The (Southern) Baptist Bookshop in the New City, for instance, had its glass doors smashed four times in three weeks. Anti-Christian slogans have been painted on walls and tombstones with crosses smashed, and clergymen harassed in the streets by young men believed to belong to the Jewish Defense league, led by fiery U.S.-born Rabbi Meir Kahane. The city is granting compensation for all physical damage.
House churches in China have become more public and more numerous under the new climate of religious tolerance, according to William Kerr, director of the Christian and Missionary Alliance China Office in Hong Kong. Attendance at some is approaching 400. The Three-self Churches, which enjoy government approval, are seeking to require the house churches to close and join them, he says. Some, he adds, fear a fragmentation.
Brazil
Stotts First Visit Helps Bridge Student-Church Gap
Frank Sinatra’s packed-out concert in Rio filled the front pages of Brazilian dailies in January, but for 400 students, the headliner was John Stott. Speaking in Recife, the English expositor urged his youthful audience to submit to the discipline of biblical authority. “Don’t abandon the local church,” he added. “If you leave, it may get worse. Stay and you will have a chance to influence it from within.”
Stott was in Recife as the featured speaker at the national congress of ABU, the Alliance Biblica Universitaria, Brazil’s counterpart of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Earlier, jointly sponsored by ABU and OC Ministries (formerly Overseas Crusades), he gave a series of expository messages to pastors and seminarians in São Paulo. The following week, in Belo Horizonte, he had his most varied ministry. There he addressed church leaders, graduate students, and believers from a variety of denominations in a closing mass meeting.
In his first visit to Brazil, Stott’s ministry transcended his ministry to students, according to ABU leader Valdir Steuernagel. “His expository style is a much-needed model for the Brazilian church,” Steuernagel commented. “His ministry also served to link the ministry of ABU and the students it serves to the local church.”
JIM MCNUTT
