Since we are in Peru to train the trainers of the NEWMA mission, it makes sense that I should introduce you to the place where we do that. Where do you teach missionaries? Specifically, where do you train Peruvian missionaries who are training others as well? Of course the traditional answer is, “we teach in classrooms.” And to a point, the Creating Understanding seminar does use classrooms. But as a friend once said, teaching missions in a classroom makes as much sense as teaching skydiving or scuba diving in a classroom. A little bit of information is needed, but a LOT of hands on experience. And so, welcome to the four classrooms where our students are learning about mission:
-The Upper Class church in Mira Flores. Four of the students are involved with Sunday activities, mid-week activities, and weekend special ministry in a major denomination’s upper class outreach in the upscale community of Mira Flores. The church has 3000 members, and a pastoral staff of 11. Members come from all over Lima (they have their own cars), though most are from the Mira Flores district. The church is known for its unique leadership structure – a pastoral team rather than the usual strong senior pastor role.
-The neighborhood of Tahuantinsuyo. The name of this barrio was used for the Inca capital area where four regions all merged (the word means, “four regions”). This neighborhood carries a proud name, even though the Incan central was located in Cuzco, very far from Lima. The reality of the neighborhood is rough and tumble. Gangs, drugs, street fights. . . the barrio is a mixture of recent immigrants from the Peruvian countryside, and a second generation of street smart inhabitants. The gospel is growing solidly (city statistics say that 28% of the residents call themselves evangelical), and yet the violence and poverty remain as major realities.
-The “stop suffering” churches. This fast growing group is touching a nerve in Peruvian hearts, as they present a form of prosperity gospel that developed in Brazil. The preachers are Peruvian, but speak as if they have Portuguese accents. . . . a fascinating but sad study. This group is touching core issues in Peruvian hearts, but they are changing the gospel to do so. Our students are grappling with understanding why this group is growing as it is.
-Finally, Lima is home to Latin America’s largest China Town. Four of the students attend services in a Chinese church that offers preaching in Spanish with translation one week into Cantonese, and the next into Mandarin. The church is seeking a trilingual full time pastor to attend to both of the Chinese language groups and to the youth who prefer to worship and study in Spanish. The Seminar overlapped with the Chinese New Years celebration, and our students were there to watch the processions and activities.
What do our students do in these classrooms? We start by developing skills for learning what is happening in an unfamiliar culture – observation, research on the internet, interviewing, and visiting the places where activities are underway. That set of notes (multiple dozens of pages, by the end of the 2 months) becomes the “raw material” for analyzing the culture through the lens we call the “Cultural Onion” and then for developing ministry that will fit the heart of the people.
All of the observation and wise questions in the world won’t help if the Lord isn’t giving insight, understanding, and discernment. Would you please join in prayer that the Lord would give two kinds of fruit from this classroom? The first fruit we ask for is solid skill in the process we are teaching, so that the students in the Seminar can duplicate this in other ministry areas. The second fruit is for the opportunity to minister while they are in these neighborhoods and churches. The technical word for what we are doing is “participant observation” and we take that seriously. We want to observe, but we also ask God to allow us to participate, to touch the lives of the people we rub shoulders with in all of these different “classrooms.”
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