For Hermenegildo Torres, education seemed a remote possibility – something for other people but not him. Yet now he is learning with confidence and helping to build bridges for his community.

Hermenegildo is a young man from the Angaite indigenous community in the Paraguayan Chaco, a region that is home to many indigenous communities. The region suffers from geographical isolation, lack of infrastructure and extreme weather.

Many parents in these communities long for their children to have an education, but getting to schools teaching at secondary level is very difficult. Like many young people from remote indigenous communities, pastor’s son Hermenegildo struggled to complete his schooling.

Insurmountable barriers?

Travel around the Chaco is not easy. The Chaco is a vast area. Routes are made impassable by heavy rains at certain times of year, and these long journeys are expensive. Yet connecting for education remotely is also difficult, as many in the Chaco simply don’t have access to online materials. This means that just a tiny handful of indigenous students from the Chaco tend to make it to university, and young people have fewer options for future employment.

Hermenegildo faced another barrier to learning – the educational and Christian resources were in Spanish, his second language. (Hermenegildo’s mother tongue is Guarani, the national language of Paraguay.) All of this meant that even when he could get hold of resources, Hermenegildo didn’t always feel able to contact teachers when he needed help or clarification.

After hearing concerns from parents and church communities, a CMS-facilitated indigenous mission team, Misión Indígena, has made education one of its key focus areas. This is important both for equipping young people and for ensuring that the next generation of church leaders do not face obstacles to theological training because of a lack of study earlier in their lives. Increasing access to education will also enable church members make use of Christian resources to help them grow spiritually.

Scholarship and spiritual growth

Through Misión Indígena, Hermenegildo received a scholarship to continue his secondary school studies. The grant covered the cost of study, materials and the availability of a phone to access online resources. This made it easier for Hermenegildo to learn Spanish, and he was motived by the reassurance that he had all he needed to complete this stage of his education.

Alongside learning academically, Hermenegildo has grown in his faith. Now that he can access Christian literature in Spanish, he has come to know the gospel more deeply. He is moving into a leadership position, and is now a member of Misión Indígena, bringing the voice of young people to conversations about mission in indigenous communities.

Opening doors and sharing faith

Hermenegildo now has much better employment opportunities – his ability to speak three languages means that he can work as a translator. Hermenegildo can help others in his community get the information they need. This also means that Hermenegildo can share his faith with more people.

Hermenegildo’s comment on this transformation of his opportunities is to point to Jesus: “I have no words to express my gratitude; I thank God.”

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Jorge hadn’t studied for 25 years. Luis only completed the first year of secondary school. Both needed training to confidently serve as deacons of indigenous congregations in the Diocese of Northern Argentina.

Thanks to your support, a new centre in Ingeniero Juárez is equipping them. The diocese is vast, containing 187 churches among five people groups. Since missionaries first shared the gospel with the Wichí people in 1911, many people have become Christians.

But in the last four years, 80 older pastors have died, so training younger, indigenous leaders has been identified as a priority by a CMSsupported Indigenous Mission Congress that brought people groups together to plan a way forward. Vicar General Daniel Lescano says: “Training is needed for good biblical teaching… biblical knowledge and understanding is necessary. Furthermore, widespread drug use and alcoholism are demanding relevant pastoral responses.”

The new Centro de Formación Anglicano (CEFA) offers training designed for students like Jorge and Luis. Trainers like CMS local partner Marcos Humacata understand the leaders have limited formal education, are studying in their second language, Spanish, and come from oral storytelling cultures.

The leaders in training travel great distances to study at the centre (co-ordinated by CMS local partner Mirna Paulo), staying for two weeks, followed by a week at home – so families needn’t be uprooted.

The 10 students at the centre focus on cultivating character and growing in knowledge and abilities. Coming from different cultures means students learn to resolve conflicts and collaborate.

Confidence is building among the newly trained leaders – Luis comments: “When I first got here, I was fearful… now I trust the other students and I enjoy all that we are learning.”

Jorge adds, “Through this training we realise that we have strong foundations, our faith has a firm base and a structure….”

Pray together

Please pray for students to be strengthened and equipped as they take learnings back to their communities.

Pray for safe travels for students between home and the training centre, and pray for their families while the students are away.

Pray for good relationships between students, and that this will help them to build bridges in their ministry.

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As we continue to seek the best ways to join in God’s mission, we welcomed two advocates of indigenous Christians to the CMS offices. They asked lots of thought provoking questions…

“I shall come as a stranger with everything to learn again.”

John V Taylor, former general secretary of CMS

For more than 150 years CMS and SAMS people in mission have walked alongside indigenous people groups in Latin America. As we continue to do so, we are getting valuable guidance from Jocabed Solano and Drew Jennings-Grisham of Memoria Indígena (Indigenous Memory).

During a recent session with them at CMS in Oxford, we were reminded how much we have to learn – and unlearn – when it comes to mission within indigenous communities.

Missing stories

Jocabed is from the Guna people in what is now Panama and is the director of Memoria Indígena. She also coordinates the Latin American Theological Fraternity’s “Identity, Indigeneity, Interculturality” group.

She is a second generation Christian and as a child she remembers hearing about missionaries: “During Sunday school, the teacher asked ‘Who wants to be a missionary?’ and all the children put their hands up.”

Yet as she got older she wondered, why is there no history recorded about indigenous missionaries? Or women? Why are the stories of indigenous Christianity missing?

She is now committed to creating space where these stories can be found and told – to “fertilise” the theology of the global church with indigenous insights.

“We want to create a space where indigenous people can say, yes my history is important. And encourage the writing and recording of the indigenous experience, not just writing but preserving our orality.

“Churches should be listening more to what God is doing in different contexts. It’s impossible to talk about mission and justice without hearing indigenous views.”

Expanding our vocabulary

Epistemicide is defined as the killing, silencing, annihilation, or devaluing of particular ways of knowing.

Indigenous peoples in Latin America are contending with epistemicide as western industries and influences erode their way of life.

Jocabed says, “The local education today is very much western, there is a loss of language, culture, identity, knowledge about plants and the land…. All of this comes from epistemicide.”

This is a double tragedy: not only for the indigenous people seeing so much knowledge and tradition disappear, but also because this knowledge could be vital and valuable for the rest of the world, particularly regarding issues such as climate change.

“We have 72 words for earth,” Jocabed points out, and yet few people in power turn to indigenous peoples for climate change remedies.

Indigenous communities can also offer a valid critique of capitalist systems and show another way.

“We are working to preserve indigenous identity. When you look at Revelation 7:9, which speaks of a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne…. You have to ask what does this mean when indigenous communities disappear?”

Listening hard

According to Jocabed and her colleague Drew, among indigenous peoples, “There is much respect for British missionary allies who have done incredible work over the years. But there is still more work to be done in decolonising these relationships.” However much westerners want to empower local leaders, they are still usually the ones with the financial power.

A good place to start is listening to stories, asking tough questions and listening to the responses together.

Drew shared one story of visiting a community in northern Bolivia in the Amazon, travelling several days up river in a canoe. There he met an indigenous pastor in his 70s, who had been one of the original members of a church founded by North American missionaries.

“I asked him to describe his church, and he started drawing in the dirt, a picture of a big canoe with a bunch of people in it and at the back, there was a man standing and steering with a motor. He said, ‘This canoe represents our church and our work is to navigate upstream against current of the world, and invite more people into the canoe.’ He then said, ‘The man in the back is the missionary.’

“He then drew another canoe, with a man in the back, paddling without a motor. He said, ‘When the missionary was here we were flying upstream and then one day the missionary left and took the motor with him. The motor is economic power, connections, education, resources…. When he left everyone had grown used to the motor and nobody knew how to paddle. Everyone sits in the boat and I am the man in the back and everyone expects me to paddle.’”

How does the church at large begin healing and reconciliation in the light of this story? How do we walk in a good and healthy way with indigenous communities?

Drew told another story from an indigenous group in Colombia. “One elder told my friend: ‘The missionaries came and said that God was everywhere, all powerful, all knowing… If this is true, God was already here before they got here and we already had a relationship with the Creator…. People came to our home and we offered them hospitality, as we are open to learning new ideas. But after all we listened to, they never showed any interest in what we had to say.’”

More tough questions

So the question, Drew said, is how can we make space for dialogue and the Holy Spirit to work?

How can we come alongside our indigenous friends with posture of humility?

How can we see the indigenous face of God? Not just to glean tidbits of culture to fit our Western models but to understand that God wants to show us more of Jesus through indigenous people?

Drew said, “Lots of mission organisations talk about partnership and interculturality and working side by side. We have change our discourse but we still need to do work in decolonising the logic in our theology and mission practices.”

Jocabed added: “I’m sure in your library we’ll see histories of CMS. What would it be like to rewrite those books from the perspective of communities who were objects of mission?”

That was just one of many deep questions that need to be asked as we journey together, such as:

• How free to indigenous communities feel to critique mission organisations?
• Are we really willing and able to listen to critique?
• Are we willing to let indigenous people set the parameters for our relationship?

Ultimately, are we really ready, in those famous words of John V Taylor, to be strangers, with everything to learn again?

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Jay Mātenga shares his personal backstory as well as the richness that comes from Indigenous perspectives on faith.

Jay is the guest editor of the latest issue of Anvil journal of theology and mission: ‘The emancipation of Indigenous theologies in light of the rise of World Christianity’.

In this interview, Jay highlights some of the themes of the issue.

You can also listen to a longer, audio interview below, as Dr Cathy Ross, leader of CMS Pioneer Mission Training Oxford, asks Jay about some transforming moments in his life and his take on Indigenous thought and the study of World Christianity.

Jay Mātenga is the director of World Evangelical Alliance’s Global Witness department and executive director of the WEA’s Mission Commission, which sits within the Global Witness department. He also leads Missions Interlink in Aotearoa New Zealand, a missions association, equivalent to the UK’s Global Connections. Jay is a graduate of All Nations Christian College’s MA programme and has a doctorate of Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. You can read more from Jay at his website: jaymatenga.com

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Story of the First Nations Version project

by Terry Wildman

In August 2021 InterVarsity Press published the First Nations Version (FNV) of the New Testament. It is said to be the first English translation of the New Testament “done by Natives for Natives”, offering a remarkable gift not only to the First Nations peoples but to the wider body of Christ. In this short article Terry Wildman, a First Nations American, tells some of his own story of what inspired him to produce this translation and how he, working with a translation council of 12 Native Americans, brought this very distinctive version of the New Testament into being.

Boozhoo Niijii bimadazig, Terry Wildman nindishnakaz.

Hello my friends who share this life together with me. My name is Terry Wildman. I was born and raised in Michigan. My ancestry includes Ojibwe from Ontario, Canada, Yaqui from Sonora, Mexico, as well as English, German and Spanish. As a US Veteran, I completed two years of honourable service in the US Army at the end of the Vietnam era. I am married to Darlene Wildman and have five children, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. My wife and I currently live in Maricopa, Arizona, on the traditional lands of the Tohono O’odham and Pima.

Christian ministry has been my life for over 40 years, with over 20 years’ pastoral service, five years’ missionary work among the Hopi, 10 years travelling in cross-cultural evangelism with Native Americans, and over five years in Bible translation in partnership with OneBook of Canada. My education has been eclectic and informal, combined with some formal college classes. I have been serving with Native InterVarsity as the director of spiritual growth and leadership development since June 2020.

The seeds for the First Nations Version were planted in me nearly 20 years ago while living on the Hopi Indian Reservation and serving as a pastor with the American Baptist Sunlight Mission on Second Mesa. I found a Hopi New Testament translation in storage at the church building but soon learned that almost no one could read it. A little later I discovered this was true across North America for all the tribes. While the missionaries were translating the Bible into Native languages, the government, with the help of church organisations, was stripping our Native peoples of their languages through the boarding schools. Adults were not taught to read in their language, and in the boarding schools, children were forbidden to even speak their languages.

After much research on the internet and with different mission organisations, I soon discovered that there was no English translation specifically for Native people. I began to experiment with rewording portions of Scripture and using them in small groups and in jail ministry with Hopis and Navajos. The response was surprising and encouraging. The men and women began to interact more with Scripture, asking meaningful questions and relating more to what they were reading.

Since my wife and I were recording artists, with two music CDs at that time, I decided to record a spoken-word CD retelling the Biblical story in a Native way, as a condensed story from Creation to Christ. We called it The Great Story From the Sacred Book. We submitted it to the Native American Music Awards in 2008 and won the award for Best Spoken Word.

After that, my wife and I began travelling. We shared reworded portions of Scripture at Tribal centres, Native churches, powwows and more. The response was overwhelmingly positive. The CD became one of our best online sellers. As we shared these reworded Scripture portions, we kept getting requests for more. One Native elder told us, “You say it in English the way we think it in our language.” Many kept wanting to know which Bible we were reading from.

Finally, in November 2012 my wife and I attended a meeting on the Torres–Martinez Reservation, in Southern California, to explore reconciliation. Several organisations were involved. I was asked to share some of my Scripture rewordings. I also asked for prayer regarding the need for this kind of translation. After prayer and much encouragement from others, I finally became convinced that I was the one called to do this translation. I put out a request to our supporters and soon a significant sum came in that would cover me working on it for six months.

Beginning with the Christmas story, we soon published a hardcover children’s book, Birth of the Chosen One, to raise awareness of the project. Then, in 2014, we published When the Great Spirit Walked Among Us, a harmony of the Gospels told in the style of the FNV. Finally, in January 2015, I began the verse-by-verse translation of the New Testament. Early in my efforts, on 1 April 2015, we received an email from Wayne Johnson, then CEO of OneBook Canada, a Bible translation organisation. He had discovered our FNV project website from a Google search. In June 2015, after several phone conversations and a meeting together, Rain Ministries, our non-profit, entered into a partnership with OneBook to produce the First Nations Version of the New Testament.

I was encouraged to form a translation council to help guide the process. We formed a council of 12 from different tribal heritages and geographic regions, both elders and young people, men and women. In September and October of that year leaders from OneBook and Wycliffe Associates gathered our council together for a week in Orlando, Florida, and then three weeks in Calgary, Canada. These gatherings helped us determine the method of translation and establish over 180 key terms used in the New Testament.

It was decided that since I had been developing the translation style for several years, I would do all the initial translation, and then other First Nations volunteers would review and make suggestions. More detailed information can be found on our website: FirstNationsVersion.com

In the first two years of this project, Rain Ministries produced two paperback books, Gospel of Luke and Ephesians and Walking the Good Road: The Gospels, Acts, and Ephesians. Several ministries have adopted and adapted the use of these for their Native departments, including Foursquare Native Ministries, Lutheran Indian Ministries, Montana Indian Ministries, Native InterVarsity and Cru Nations. The response has been greater than we expected. The FNV New Testament has been published by InterVarsity Press and was released on 31 August 2021.

On 1 July 2022, InterVarsity Press agreed to publish the First Nations Version of Psalms and Proverbs. We anticipate a two-year time frame and have formed a new translation council to launch the project.

More information about the Psalms and Proverbs project can be found here: https://firstnationsversion.com/about/fnv-psalms-proverbs/

As far as we know, this is the first English translation done by Natives for Natives. Our prayer is that it will open Native hearts to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and that it will be a gift from our Native people to the dominant culture in the US and to the body of Christ in English-speaking nations worldwide.

Miigwech Bizendowiyeg (thank you for listening)

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Reflections from three indigenous leaders in Latin America  

compiled by Sarah Cawdell, CMS mission partner

In January 2023 Paul Tester, CMS manager in Latin America, interviewed three Christian leaders from among the indigenous people groups of the region with a view to drawing out something of the unique voice of each group in Christian theology. The following is an attempt at a collation of those voices with a view to developing an awareness of the way in which the gospel is both universal in its appeal to all people and all times and places, and at the same time is uniquely experienced in particular places, and within the voice and culture of each people group. I hope that it will allow us to examine again the voice of the gospel within, and challenging, our own cultures and people groups.

Each of these individuals is a second- or third-generation Christian in the Anglican Communion, still uniquely placed within their own culture and people group, with responsibility for serving the church in that place. They are:

• Elvio Cabañas, an Énxet Christian living in Paraguay
• Mirna Paulo, a Wichí Christian living in northern Argentina
• Joel Millanguir, a Mapuche Christian living in Chile

Most of the populations of the South American nations have a dual, or more, heritage. They may trace their heritage from the Spanish or Portuguese colonial past (including West Africa from the transatlantic slave trade) and indigenous people. There are however some particular people groups that, for reasons of history and geography, are still recognisable and function as distinct groups with distinct languages, dress and cultural practices.

Each of these individuals interviewed by Paul Tester has come to faith through the witness of their families and the work of the Anglican Church in their country. Each of them speaks with warmth and appreciation of the fellowship of the missionaries who drew alongside their parents and grandparents, sharing the gospel and living in company with those among whom they ministered.

Paul asked each one in turn about their journey to faith and in faith, and in particular how the Christian faith challenged their own indigenous culture, and where the culture was affirmed and maintained by those who are disciples of Christ.

Mirna Paulo, a Wichí Christian living in northern Argentina  

Mirna, who is from the Wichí people, in the north of Argentina, appreciates her faith learned from the example and teaching of her parents and grandparents. She particularly draws strength from the ever-present Jesus, who is not confined to place, as “idols” might be, in whatever moment and whatever place she can pray to him. She says, “I needed to choose to always walk alongside Jesus and invite him to change me.” She describes how the presence of Jesus comes against the fear that inhibits others in her community, and protects her and all Christians. She speaks of those who know Jesus as being able to maintain strong community relationships, which builds up the community and brings hope to the people. “If someone doesn’t have Jesus Christ in their lives there’s no way forward for the indigenous people, the world is a disaster, there is no way of thinking about looking to the future.”

Mirna goes on to describe how this Christian hope has enabled her people, and other indigenous people groups in the area, to work together for the rights to their land and their cultural heritage, saying, “I couldn’t walk away from the joyful, eternal life.” Recognising that missionaries were not always viewed as safe people or welcome in her culture, she also recognises the benefits of health and education that the missionaries brought along with the gospel. For example, learning from the value that the nation of Israel had for land enabled the Wichí people to value the places they inhabit in the face of government and multinationals’ attempts to purchase the land, and thereby disinherit indigenous people. Mirna says, “Many times hope is what is missing, or it’s very weak. Being with Jesus gives a lot of encouragement and my communities value whatever is happening in the churches.” (It is helpful to know that for these Christians much of life centres around church activities, so that the Christians are always living and working together, encouraging one another in faith.)

A valuable lesson the Wichí offer to the Christian faith is a true appreciation of stewardship of the land: not taking too much of a supply, even when there appears to be plenty, but only taking what is needed, and respecting the times when certain meats or fruits are not readily available. Mirna observes, “Just take what you need. Because there are those who also need to take what is needed. And nature itself requires it. So for the men who hunt animals, there are certain times when you should hunt those animals. And there are certain times when that’s not the case. They’re not at the times when they have young… And so that’s when you shouldn’t touch them, shouldn’t go near them. But there are times when yes, you can, when it’s allowed, that you can go and hunt, and catch the fish in the rivers as well. You’ve got to respect the times and everything that has to do with the care for nature.” Similarly, when something is taken as a food stuff, for example fish, it is important to use every part of it, even the skin and the bones, and not to waste or dishonour any part of it. Again, she says, “In the search for honey, you mustn’t exaggerate what you take, however easy it might be to find, and however plentiful it might be.”

Elvio Cabañas, an Énxet Christian living in Paraguay  

Elvio Cabañas is a pastor in the Chaco region of Paraguay, where a number indigenous groups live. He lived on a cattle ranch that had been bought by the Anglican Church as a place for the Énxet people to live safely. He grew up in the church there and learned enough languages to be able to work in the church as a Bible translator. He speaks particularly of the value of music in transcending literacy as a way of discipleship and development. He says, “For people who didn’t know how to read, at least they could hear and learn to play music, and we still continue to do that sort of thing.” Elvio learned leadership and pastoral skills from his youth, working within the church and with his father. He went away for further studies when he was already trained as a minister of the gospel and had done some valuable translation work on the New Testament.

Reflecting on the Énxet culture, Elvio recognises the valuable place of local plants in healing and medicine. He describes how his grandfather was a herbalist within the Énxet community and how his practices changed when he became a Christian, a time he describes as when “the moment of God had arrived among the indigenous peoples”. While rejecting a practice of “fermenting the plants to see which spirit it’s for, whether it’s to heal people or to damage or hurt people”, Elvio speaks of the ongoing value of this botanical knowledge to treat various sicknesses. This was particularly true during the recent pandemic but was practiced in ways that are different to those of his forebears. He says, “We just squash the plants, we don’t fast and we don’t ferment them now. We are guided by the elder as to how much of it to use… Not working like a shaman but sharing knowledge.”

Elvio speaks warmly of the extraordinary unity the love of Jesus gives across cultural boundaries, so that “through the gospel we all integrate, we become one person if you like” and that the “unity through the gospel that unites us should strengthen us as well, to respond to challenges”. Speaking of the work of the missionaries, Elvio values their accompaniment: “That they came and lived with us, and weren’t afraid of the cultures. That’s why we identify the gospel with relationship, the accompaniment and the work that the missionaries did.” He goes on to speak of the next generation becoming missionaries, reaching out to others in the Chaco and accompanying them as they were accompanied.

Elvio speaks of the value of cultural understandings, a good diet and right care in pregnancy, and stresses the importance of learning from the culture, including for those in the medical profession. He says, “The doctors need to know and to consult what is the indigenous way of treating people: the indigenous norms and rules.”

Joel Millanguir, a Mapuche Christian living in Chile

Joel Millanguir, a Mapuche Christian living in Chile, again began by first honouring his parents and family for their part in his own coming to faith and growth in discipleship. He describes how coming to faith can bring opposition from within his community. He notes, “When a Mapuche accepts Jesus as Lord and Saviour, they [some other Mapuche] consider him a traitor. They say they have their own culture and we have our own religion, why do we have to accept religion that has come from outside?” At the present time in this particular context there is a move to a radical, and sometimes violent, expression of Mapuche culture in order to reclaim the particular language, dress, music and other cultural traditions of this people group and the land. While many Mapuche are content to live peaceably in some Mapuche regions, there are those who advocate violence against the colonial past to such an extent that recently both Catholic and Protestant churches have been burned down. Speaking as a Mapuche Christian in this context, Joel recognises the need for courage and faith among his fellow believers. He says, “A few years ago we brought out a book called Mapuche and Anglicans, which talks about how the Mapuche took on the Christian faith.” Reflecting on the book, Joel speaks of the challenge of determining where the gospel might lead him to affirm or to challenge and reject aspects of his culture. He describes how Christians can maintain Mapuche language, dress, foods, musical instruments, art and working together as a community. Joel remembers a great tradition: “When someone had a job to do and when it needed a lot of work doing, the whole community would join together and help that individual, that family in the work… That desire to help those who are in need, that’s good.” But a point of conflict with the Mapuche religion and culture is in the Mapuche understanding of God. “There’s a male god and a female god and different spirits that they invoke at different moments.”

Joel speaks of the value of Christians among the Mapuche people continuing to work missionally, preach the gospel and speak out in advocacy for peace and unity, believing that “the Lord can change lives, families and communities. We had the highest rate of alcoholism in the country. The church used strategies to help people come out of alcoholism, which was consuming a lot of communities and leading families into poverty. The gospel wasn’t just about talking. It was something that was practical.” He goes on to say that “where the church has continued to grow and to be faithful,” the pastors have spoken out in advocacy for “peace and unity”. He also speaks of the church as a non-violent mediator between government, multinationals and the Mapuche people in the acquisition of land and the methods of reforestation.

Joel describes the reconciling work of the gospel, evidenced in the missionaries not coming with a Bible and a sword, but with concern and love for those who are most marginalised: installing hospitals and schools, bringing people out of extreme poverty. He notes that “when the Anglican Church arrived at another community, that becomes a community of peace, as Paul says, not with the sword and the shield but with the Word of God”.

In summary, these three each expressed the particular blessings that the coming of Christianity has brought in in their own place and among their people, feeling that the gospel gives dignity, hope and unity within and across their cultures; by giving cross-cultural experience, it has enabled the potentially disenfranchised to find their voice in the wider community.

In writing this piece I have been helped most considerably by Cristóbal Cerón, presbyter of the Anglican Church in Chile, and temporary resident at the CMS community house in Oxford.

To hear more indigenous voices from Latin America, you can find a selection of videos from a landmark Indigenous Peoples Mission Congress held in Salta, Argentina in October 2022 here: https://churchmissionsociety.org/blog/experience/indigenous-mission-congress-day-by-day/

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In October 2022, a landmark mission event took place in Salta, Argentina: one that could help safeguard the futures of indigenous peoples across Latin America – or Abya Yala,¹ as it should perhaps be known.

What happens when 80 followers of Jesus from multiple indigenous people groups gather together for five days of fellowship, food and dreaming and planning for a shared future?

According to Paul Tester, CMS regional manager in Latin America, who helped organise the Indigenous Peoples Mission Congress last year, it was “a little glimpse of heaven”.

Standing at crossroads

Daily life for women and men from the Aymara, Chorote, Énxet, Mapuche, Quechua, Toba and Wichí people groups is far from idyllic. These indigenous communities, who first encountered the gospel via Western missionaries a little over a century ago, now stand at a crossroads in terms of leadership, culture, relationships to wider society and the land they live on. This was not the first time representatives from these groups have gathered together, yet it was the first occasion where mission was the key focus.

Jeremiah 6:16 provided inspiration: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

The congress began with a simple service of Holy Communion, combining elements from each culture represented.

Five days, five issues

Leading up to the event, participants identified five big issues to discuss: forming indigenous leadership, gospel and culture, creation care, the relationship between indigenous peoples and the government, and unity.

The group first looked at the role of education and theological training in raising up indigenous leaders. Against a backdrop of increasing interaction with Latino and Western cultures, the next generation is facing a fresh set of challenges, and the group discussed preparing young people for what lies ahead. There is an urgent need to find and train indigenous Christian leaders for the present and future. Bishop Mateo Alto, a CMS local partner, said, “We need training, to do our own theology, and to administer resources we have.”

Next, the group had lively conversations about the intersection between their cultures and the gospel. They were invited to ask questions such as, “Do we allow the gospel to challenge our culture?” And “Where does the gospel affirm our culture?”

On the theme of creation care, the men and women gathered discussed the huge challenges faced by indigenous groups all across Latin America – or Abya Yala, the preferred name for the region for many indigenous people. What can be done about the huge loss of biodiversity as well as contamination and climate change?

The indigenous cultures represented share deeply rooted values about caring for nature. Local partner Mirna Paulo, a member of the Wichí group and a CMS local partner, spoke about the traditional Wichí idea of “leaving something for nature” – not taking more from nature than you need. But as Western consumerism encroaches on these communities, traditional indigenous principles like this risk being eroded. The group meditated on their place in creation, made for and by Christ.

Many also found it helpful to examine the power and responsibility of governments. The theme of indigenous peoples and the government also invited discussion around education, including how Western-style education has changed the way people live, and in some cases, threatened indigenous cultures, and the question of whether children are taught in their own language.

CMS local partner Agustín Maidana issued a call to unity: for leaders to promote events and activities that foster unity, for followers of Jesus to unite across the Church and for the Church to work in unity with other community leaders. There was a strong desire to see more unity between the different indigenous peoples: to learn from one another and to stand together for the sake of their children’s and grandchildren’s future.

Sunday, the penultimate day of the congress, was a day of rest and rejoicing. Local churches joined for worship, food and celebration. The air rang with praise in different tongues and dialects.

Declaring unity

On the final day of the congress, working groups drafted a declaration laying out the good way that they want to walk in (Jeremiah 6:16).

The declaration urges a comprehensive process for training leaders for work in the local church, the promotion and use of indigenous languages to maintain cultural identity, and the creation of biblical formation centres for the next generation of indigenous church leadership.

The declaration also acknowledges the role of indigenous peoples as stewards of creation, and calls for improved links between local communities and regional authorities to ensure that the rights of indigenous peoples are protected.

“It’s been great to be here and to take back to my community our conclusions… [to] enrich our understanding and commitment to the Word of God,” said Alejandro Díaz, a Chorote leader from northern Argentina. He added: “I would like to thank all those who put together this congress for our people.”

¹ The preferred name for the region for many indigenous people, meaning “land in its full maturity”.

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From its beginning, South American Mission Society (later merged with CMS) has been committed to standing in solidarity with indigenous peoples of Latin America/Abya Yala. If you would like to join in this vital advocacy work, consider serving with CMS:

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A declaration issued by leaders on behalf of indigenous people in Latin America “shows clear intent” and charts a path forward for the indigenous peoples to work together with a new generation of leaders, says Paul Tester, Church Mission Society’s manager in Latin America.

The Declaration emanated from the ‘Indigenous Mission Congress’, the first such conference for 20 years. The Congress took place between 6 and 10 October in La Caldera near the city of Salta in northern Argentina and was structured around five key themes: Academic Education, Biblical Formation and Indigenous Leadership; Gospel and Indigenous Culture; a Theology of Creation; the Relationship between Governments and Indigenous Peoples; and Unity.

The Declaration made a number of key recommendations including putting in place a systematic and comprehensive process for training to prepare leaders for work in the local church, the promotion and use of indigenous languages to maintain cultural identity, and the creation of Biblical formation centres oriented to the next generation of leadership for the indigenous church.

The Declaration also acknowledged the role and responsibility of indigenous peoples as stewards of creation, and called for improved links between local communities and regional authorities to ensure that the rights of indigenous peoples are protected.

Timed to coincide with the ‘Day of the Meeting of Two Worlds’, a day which is celebrated in Spanish speaking countries on 12 October, the Indigenous Mission Congress was attended by over 80 delegates. The summit included representatives from the Aymara, Chorote, Enxet, Mapuche, Quechua, Toba and Wichí peoples, as well as leaders in mission from CMS and the Anglican Church in Latin America, and other observers. Organisers hoped the Congress will be important in shaping mission work in Latin America as leaders try to navigate between their own traditional indigenous cultures and the dominating wider influences of contemporary culture.

CMS’s work in the region dates back to the 19th century, when mission leaders such as Barbrooke Grubb and pioneers from the South American Mission Society [SAMS], transformed both Christian mission and wider society through the introduction of new methods in mission, Bible translation, education and healthcare.

Ahead of the Congress Paul Tester said mission had arrived at a ‘crossroads’ moment. “We have been inspired by a verse from Jeremiah [6:16] which says: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”’ As we come to our current crossroads we are charged with discerning a good way to walk in, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and by the ancient paths and those who walked in them.”

Paul continued, “The relationship between indigenous peoples and the invading cultures remains one that both we, and the indigenous peoples need to learn to navigate well. We hope to discern how to join in with what God is doing today and believe that the key to that is walking alongside the new generation of indigenous mission leaders that God is raising up.”

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Why is this gathering special? Bishop Nick Drayson shares a daily snapshot of what this congress means for those attending and those they represent.

Day 5 (10 Oct)

We regrouped for the final day, and already some delegates were having to travel home. Friendships had already been formed, and fellowship will be missed. Unity was both discussed and lived.

Work had begun on a declaration, and this was continued in separate working groups – indigenous and non-indigenous, with very different emphases. The image of weaving came to the fore, as different contributions emerged in the life of the communities.

A circle was formed, allowing for shared offerings – a poem, a pot, a plant (see below).

And finally the declaration, which will appear later in translation: a recognition of needs and challenges, commitments and resolution between the different indigenous peoples present, as well as those committed to support.

In a final communion service, gifts were given, and the image of the road again beckoned… “as the tribes of the Lord go up.” 

Coloured weaving, united in Jesus

A poem offered on the final day of the congress by Jocabed Solano

---

You come out to meet the indigenous peoples
In the beautiful lands of Abya Yala*
You weave us into this coloured weaving with the good news.
You walk with the Tobas, you drink mate with the Wichí;
You offer a shout of hope with the Mapuches
You play with the Enxet children; you weave with the Chorote children.
We, women of these beautiful lands, were tender with the cry and the prayer.
Together with the Guaranís we pray for a land free of evil.
Woven in Abya Yala, together with the Gunadale people,^†
With grandmother sea (Muu Billi), we hear songs and sounds
But you are speaking of your love for all the peoples.
You blow in the wind, we hear you dance in the earth,
And round the fire the Spirit moves.
The Spirit dances with us, and shows us: a new song,
A new story, a new dawn,
So that, in these beautiful lands of Abya Yala, the crops produce fruit,
Rain falls and rivers flow.
So that on every table of my sisters and brothers
There is always something to eat.
May the blessed fruits feed the new generations
And the seeds sprout with their hope
In this land dreamt by the Guaraní:
A land with no evil.
We look to the Gunadales for a Baluwala^‡ for everything and for all
A new song, a new story, a new dawn
We become part of the weaving of the good news
We weave with the good story, into this new weaving
Designed for all the indigenous peoples.
The weaving of his love.

---

* The term indigenous peoples use for the American continent
† The author is from this people group
‡ Good life

Day 4 (9 Oct)

Day 4 was Sunday, so it was a day of resting and worshipping together.

Nick did record a few thoughts from CVS local partner and fellow bishop in northern Argentina, Mateo Alto.

Day 3 (8 Oct)

Two major themes occupied our thoughts and words today: the environment and the government. By which we don’t just mean “out there” but also in our lives and communities.

A sixties quote for each:

“I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans…”

Bob Dylan, ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’

The indigenous people face a huge challenge as the environment is degraded, and their wisdom is disregarded, even by their own communities, in the face of loss of biodiversity, contamination and climate change. We meditated on our place in Creation, made for and by Christ. We lamented the rubbish and the extractive industries. What can be done?

“I’m on the pavement thinking about the government…”

Bob Dylan, ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’

As we looked at the power and responsibility of governments, we remembered how many states have been created by settlers taking land from indigenous peoples in order to settle their own conflicts.

Many of these issues about church and politics are not often discussed in our churches, so it was helpful and challenging to listen and share these important themes.

And to finish off the day a talent show!

Day 2 (7 Oct)

The evening meal got cold as the session extended but hearts were warmed by the lengthy time given to the presentation of each region and its participants. Each person, whether indigenous or observer, had the time to tell their story, or that of their community. This often led spontaneously to singing or praying together, in several languages! 

A few last stragglers arrived and we are ready to dive into the main themes of the congress: this morning the whole question of education, and the reality faced by indigenous communities, taught in their own language or not, and the challenges faced by children and parents. One participant states: “I want my children to have a better life than me”, and this will depend a lot on whether the education received prepares them for a world largely hostile to non Spanish speakers.

Other themes relate to Gospel and Culture. Do we allow the Gospel to challenge our culture? Indigenous culture? Does it affirm it? After a thoughtful anthropological study, groups are ready to discuss and stimulate discussion referencing their own culture as it meets the Gospel.

Day 1 (6 Oct)

“For the past few days indigenous delegates have been arriving in La Caldera, by all sorts of public and private transport, and into the early hours of this morning. Around 80 men and women from different people groups across South America now under one roof, thinking about the challenge from Jeremiah (6.16) to consider which road to take for the future.

Mapuches from Chile, Enxet from Paraguay, Wichi, Toba and Chorote from Argentina – very different cultures, but very aware of a shared identity. Greetings were expressed in these languages, as well as Guarani, Quechua and Aymara. We were reminded that the gospel was brought by ordinary men and women who shared the lives and language of these groups, and looking round the room some of them are here today.

Presentations have still to be made, but the tone was set by a simple service of Holy Communion, combining elements from each culture, with heartfelt prayer and worship, broken bread and poured wine.

We learnt that this is the 5th Indigenous Congress, the first also being held in La Caldera in 1990, the others in Chile and Paraguay. The difference this time? It is an indigenous “mission” congress – the baton has been grasped by a new generation.”

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Mission partner Catherine Le Tissier shares exciting news from AMARE, an Anglican women’s network in Latin America (affiliated with Mothers’ Union) gathering women and helping them experience and understand God’s love for them so that they can love and serve others. The network has now moved to have fully local leadership for the first time since it was founded in 2016.

On 11 June, AMARE held their third General Assembly, at which I handed over to a capable team from the dioceses of Argentina, Northern Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay. It’s an ongoing process but nevertheless an exciting and positive step towards self-governance – and it will be exciting to see how they help develop AMARE.

The assembly was held on Zoom, and attended by over 200 members and non-members crowding around their laptops, in craft workshops, our home and churches. Some places projected the assembly while others taking part used their mobile phones, and reports were shared through pre-prepared videos.

It didn’t have the atmosphere of other years but it was effective, so encouraging and we could all attend!

Please pray for this time of change and transition and that AMARE will continue to thrive and grow, encouraging women to share God’s love in practical ways, knowing that they are loved unconditionally by their Heavenly Father. (Find out more about AMARE.)

Love in action

AMARE’s main aim is that women should know just how loved they are, that they are precious in God’s sight and of much worth in a society that does not always value them or their children. As they know more of God’s love so they can and do reach out to others.

As I reflect over some very busy weeks, the most exciting thing for me has been seeing local AMARE Wichí friends take little (but very big) steps to love others by taking initiatives to raise money to enable children’s ministry, hiring a vehicle to visit and to listen to and encourage the women and families in far flung communities.

As we evaluated the visit to one church (which had been particularly heavy going), one of the women surprised me by saying “we must repeat Lectio Divina – it is the first time that I really felt God speaking to me so clearly.” I am sure that God will continue to speak to her – she is listening!

The local Toba AMARE group has also been busy and were invited by school teachers to visit, to listen and to teach, alongside visiting psychologists, as they cope with increasing violence in the local school.

Amanda Garcia, who visits the school, shared how it was a privilege to be able to visit the school but heartrending as so many children are suffering from some sort of domestic abuse – physical, psychological, and emotional – as parents who have inadequate tools, it seems, struggle to bring up their children in an increasingly fragmented society.

Pray for the Toba group as they reach out both to teachers and children, but also for Amanda and her husband, that they will know how to use their skills as parents and as parenting facilitators to encourage others.

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The post Momentous move for AMARE appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

We have had a Wichí family staying with us in one of the houses at the mission. It has been lovely to have them as part of our small community. 

by Catherine Le Tissier

I was telling Enzo, the father, how we had recently met one of our local thieves (yes we have had a few in our time!), who is a drug addict but longs to be released. We have become friends after he helped us to retrieve the stolen goods. 

Enzo and other Wichí friends have helped us understand the pressure that the Wichí young people are put under. It’s all too easy to blame the parents for their poor parenting, when they have not had a positive upbringing either. Enzo said that some parents teach them to steal from an early age, from individuals and institutions, and it’s not unusual to see young children glue and petrol sniffing, wrecking their young bodies and minds even before they are in their teens. 

Enzo explained what happened to him:

He was in Barrio Obrero with a group of friends, when a Paraguayan arrrived on his motorbike. He offered the group a life with money, motorbike, house etc. Easy money – taking and selling drugs.

Enzo said he was tempted by his offer, but sensed it was a trap, so he ran home and told his father who called the police  and moved this particular man on, but there are many others.

I was shocked as he also told me of how many of his friends have disappeared. Some comitted suicide, others just disappear. Tragically, often nobody is aware, as the parents often don’t report the disappearance as they have already given up on them. They are dead to them. It’s tragic.

So I asked Enzo how he managed to stay “clean”. He has a wife and child and is studying to become a nursery teacher.

He told me that his grandmother had a great effect on him. She died a few years ago, but she brought him up in the Christian faith, taught him how to live and guided him. She warned him to steer away from drugs, drink etc. He loved her very much, so took her advice and said “I just have to do as she says” – it was as simple as that.

In the Wichí culture there is a huge respect for the older generation, and they can truly help their children and grandchildren. They can influence for good. This reminds us that one of our roles here is to continue to encourage parents and grandparents to take seriously their responsibility and to realise just how significant their guidance, words and prayers are!

Enzo and his family have left now to return to studies and life in Sausalito.

I will rather miss Leo, who being an only child has gravitated to our home.

He seemed a very intelligent child, had a great sense of humour, and played for hours quite happily on his own or at times accompanied. I would marvel at his creativity with clothes pegs. They became many things but he loved to imagine Star Wars planes, ready for battle and saving the world.

Who will keep these dear children and young people safe, who will save their world?

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Anita Maryam Mansingh, Exploring Indigenous Spirituality: The Kutchi Kohli Christians of Pakistan, (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2021).

by Tom Wilson, St Philip’s Centre, Leicester

This is a fascinating first foray into a largely undocumented world. Anita Maryam Mansingh, herself a Kutchi Kohli Christian, introduces the faith of these people, their challenges and joys in following Jesus for themselves. The first centre for Kutchi Kohli Christians opened in Pakistan in 1986, so this is a very young spiritual community, and it is probably the first time their Christian faith has been explored in print in English.

Exploring Indigenous Spirituality reads as if it is the author’s master’s dissertation (at less than a hundred pages it is too short for a PhD). This means it has commendable academic rigour, with a clear explanation of the method of research, the mode of analysis and the main argument that is advanced. Academic writing can at times be dry, but Mansingh largely avoids this, especially when sharing the fruit of her in-depth interviews with her fellow followers of Christ. This is her main aim in writing – to ensure that otherwise unheard voices are recorded and available.

The book contains just four chapters: an introduction to Kutchi Kohli Christianity, an explanation of her methodological and spiritual framework, analysis of her research and recommendations for the future. Chapter one, as well as orientating the reader to the Muslim context of Pakistan and the largely Hindu context of the Kutchi Kohli people, introduces the three tools Mansingh uses in her analysis: interspirituality, multiple or double religious belonging and hybridisation. By interspirituality she means the possibilities for spiritual growth that come through studying, encountering and living with the religious traditions of another. Perhaps this is Krister Stendahl’s “holy envy” writ large and lived out in a family that has both Hindus and Christians under one roof? This is why multiple belonging is so important, as all the Kutchi Kohli Christians featured in Exploring Indigenous Spirituality have Hindu relatives; some are the only Christian in their extended family. This in turn results in hybridisation, which focuses on the dynamic interaction between different cultures and religions.

Chapter two, on methodology, is thorough and detailed, and like any methodology chapter is of interest to a specialist but perhaps less attractive to a generalist who wants to get to the meat of the analysis. This is provided in rich detail in chapter three, which is well worth reading carefully. This is the most thought-provoking chapter. Mansingh explores questions of identity and self-perception, of double cultural and religious belonging, of ritual and sacramental practices, of personal relationship with God and prayer, of community and family relations, and finally challenges and obstacles to spiritual growth. One particularly striking example is Joti Parab, a festival of light celebrated by Kutchi Kohli Christians at the same time as their Hindu compatriots celebrate Diwali. It made me think about how Christmas is, and is not, a Christian festival, not to mention the proliferation of “Light parties” as an alternative to Halloween.

Chapter four lists Mansingh’s findings and conclusions, both those that surprised her as well as those which she expected. It is notable that the Islamic context of Pakistan was far less of an obstacle for Kutchi Kohli believers than the Hindu faith of their own families. If everyone around you goes to Bhopas, Hindu healers, when they are ill, can you ignore their belief that all illness has a spiritual element and just go to a (Western) doctor for medicine? Mansingh also calls for the empowerment of women and the need for the development of a “Kutchikohlinized Christianity” which clearly reflects the culture and practices of her people.

Although this specific world, of a particular sub-group of a particular Pakistani tribe, is likely to be of direct relevance to only a few, the general questions it raises are far more widely applicable. Here the brevity of the book is a real advantage. It would be an excellent resource to help someone think through questions of contextualisation, the difference between faith and culture, and what it means to follow Jesus in a setting where he is largely unknown. As such, this book deserves to be widely read by those who want to consider questions of faith and culture.

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