“Everyone in Latin America sighs for `the revolution’ as if they were sighing for the Messiah,” says Orlando Sandoval, director of the University Student Center in Chile. In his country “the revolution” came quietly when Salvador Allende, a Marxist, was elected president in 1970.
Allen Thompson didn’t receive my sheet of paper with resolutions on it at the close of GL ’71. Nor did I send it to him. But I did take his exhortation seriously when he warned against putting off what you intend to do as a result of what you have learned at GL ’71. These reflections express the burden of what grabbed me.
When I visited East Berlin I had to go through a four-way examination at “Checkpoint Charlie.” Going East I was first examined by the Americans and then by the East Germans. Upon my return I was re-examined by both sides. Like playing a serious game of chess, there was check and doublecheck.
I. ARRIVAL 1. Clear baggage/freight from customs and unpack. 2. Register with embassy, local police, department of immigration, or other local government departments as required. 3. Acquire necessary furnishings for home; care for renovations, repairs, painting, etc. 4. Get settled in home/apartment/rooms.
“The Church of Jesus Christ is entering upon the greatest time of world evangelization,” Dr. George Peters said to approximately 400 leaders gathered at Green Lake Wis., September 27 to October 1.
The over 1200 delegates and observers from 35 countries who gathered together at the International Congress Center in Amsterdam, Holland, for the European Congress on Evangelism August 28-September 4 very likely did not return home disappointed. There were, without a doubt, those who would have had strong recommendations and concrete advice regarding improvement of the Congress program and its presentation to the delegates.
The worst insult one can give any institution is to call it irrelevant. I have been asked by educational experts, “What are you doing to keep Sunday school from being irrelevant?”
As the Latin American Church emerges toward full maturity, it is experiencing some severe growing pains. Two of these, theological articulation and ministerial training, affect the foundation of the church and the edification of the church. The third, evangelistic impact, influences the extremely important matter of the extension of the church.
At various times we have been asked if we are prepared to receive missionaries who wish to “do their thing.” The answer would be an unequivocal yes, if we could assume that one’s “own thing” was the exercise of his spiritual gifts and was consistent with the program of God, i.e., the building of his church.
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