Karla Koll on religious change in Guatemala

Our Saturday evening speaker, the Rev. Karla Koll, seminary professor and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-worker, argued that religious change has often involved external factors (such as U.S. mission workers) combined with internal factors, such as the readiness of people in Guatemala for change.

Among the factors in the conservatism of Q’eqchi’ evangelical Presbyterians that Karla cited:

-Central American Mission, a group founded in 1890 by dissident Congregationalist-Presbyterian Cyrus Scofield (creator of the Scofield Reference Bible) whose dispensationalist interpretation of scripture saw the world as currently involved in the sixth of seven dispensations, with the end of the world near. Social reform, in this view, is unwelcome because it postpones the return of Christ. Scofield’s theology influenced all Guatemalan evangelical Protestants, all the more so when Presbyterian mission workers were interested in forming a pan-Protestant denomination. The anti-Roman Catholic, anti-Mayan theology of Guatemalan Protestantism also goes back to CAM and Scofield. (For better or worse, the geographic division of labor between different Protestant groups broke down, as did the vision of a united denomination.)

-Q’eqchi Presbyterianism in the Izabal area began when a landowner invited Presbyterians from the capital city area to start a church for his workers. Koll commented that the landowner apparently believed that Protestants made good workers.

-The 1976 earthquake that devastated Guatemala exposed the government’s lack of capacity to function. Into the void moved a number of aid groups, including one associated with the Christian Reformed Church, a somewhat conservative, Michigan-based, Reformed denomination (sibling denomination of the PC(USA)), which worked with evangelical Protesbyterians (and got involved in social concerns such as literacy training). Also jumping into the fray was the neo-Pentecostalist Gospel Outreach of Eureka, California, which started the Church of the Word megahurch, which attracted to its fold a general and future president, Rios Montt.

-A church reform effort started in 1972 called for various changes, but the biggest change was a church growth strategy: trying to double the number of evangelical Presbyterians, churches, and presbyteries within 10 years (an effort that in fact succeeded – but with a continuing church growth emphasis as a result – and a church that now had a majority of indigenous/Mayan demographic, instead of a majority of Ladinos (people culturally identified as Spanish-speaking and of European ancestry).

-The (1960-96) civil war (which peaked - ironically or not - in 1982, just as the national evangelical Presbyterian efforts reached the doubling church growth milestone) wiped out hundreds of towns with indigenous residents. Guatemalans, indigenous and not, flocked to evangelical Protestantism for several reasons: The Army viewed many Catholics as subversive while the Protestant groups – some of them aligned with the president – were seen as safer. The conservative end-of-the-world Scofield theology also seemed to make sense of the civil war situation, when the world did indeed seem to be ending. (Guatemalans may still associate a social justice emphasis, liberation theology, or ecumenism with the guerillas.)

Towards the end of the talk and in response to questions, Koll explained that the peace accords (of date?) opened up a time when Mayan spirituality is officially tolerated. Today roughly as many Guatemalans identify as Protestant (one-third) as are actively involved in the Roman Catholic Church. (Guatemala is the size of Tennessee and has about 13 mission people. There are 23 Mayan languages, plus Spanish and two other languages.)

Karla Koll might be available to visit with us in July, or perhaps even to accompany us in Coban, Guatemala. Sunday, she also said that the organization she is part of has a ministry focused on theological reflection with indigenous groups (which might be an alternative to the proposed Coban theological training effort).

-Perry

Karla Koll talk pictures

April prayer list

Crescent Hill folks pray this month with our Guatemalan partners:
- On Easter Sunday, April 4, and during the week that follows: Espiritu Santo church (pictured above), Pastor José Domingo, and its members, deacons, and elders.
- On Sunday, April 11, and during the week that follows: Monte Sinai church near Puerto Barrios, Pastor José Sub, and its members, deacons, and elders.
- On Sunday, April 18, and during the week that follows: Livingston church, Pastor Abelino Tec and spouse Serafina, and its members, deacons, and elders.
- On Sunday, April 25, and during the week that follows: Nueva Amanacer church and its worshipers.

Karla's chronology

Karla Koll, this Saturday's suppertime speaker, suggested folks take a look at this chronology of Protestantism in Guatemala (with special emphasis on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s partner church, the IENPG), that she prepared in 2005:

1843 Baptist Frederick Crowe arrives in Guatemala City and founds a school
1846 Crowe deported from Guatemala
1882 John Clark Hill, the first Presbyterian missionary, arrives, holds worship services in English
1884 Colegio Americano, an English-language school, opens in Guatemala City; Spanish-speaking congregation of nine men founded
1885 Hill forced to leave Guatemala
1886 Edward Haymaker arrives to lead the Presbyterian Mission
1890 Cyrus Scofield founds the Central American Mission (CAM)
1895 Presbyterian work begins in Quetzaltenango
1899 Mr. and Mrs. Bishop of CAM arrive to work in Guatemala
1900 The Friends Yearly Meeting of California (Quakers) begin work in Chiquimula;
the Pentecostal Mission (Nazarenes) begin work in the Atlantic region of Guatemala
1902 The evangelical missions working in Guatemala negotiate a comity agreement
1912 The Presbyterian Mission opens the Hospital Americano en Guatemala City
1914 The Primitive Methodists arrive and begin work in Totonicopan and El Quiché
1916 Panama Congress on Christian Work in Latin America
1922 Horace and Dorothy Peck arrive to begin work with the Mam
1923 Occidente Presbytery organized
1925 CAM opens the Central American Bible Institute, today SETECA
1929 Central Presbytery organized
1934 14 congregations join the Church of God (Cleveland, TN)
1935 Missionaries arrive from the Assemblies of God; founding of the Evangelical Presbyterian Seminary
1939 Presbytery of Suchitepéquez organized
1941 Maya-Quiché Bible Institute founded by Presbyterians and Methodists
1944 Revolution of October
1946 Pacifico Presbytery organized
1950 National Synod of the I.E.N.P.G. organized; Presbytery of the North organized
1952 The Sinódica (women’s organization) founded
1959 Maya-Quiché Presbytery organized
1962 Integration of the Presbyterian Mission into the IENPG; sale of the Hospital Americano, Pro-Salud continues preventive healthcare program
1973 Centennial plan approved to double church membership in 10 years
1978 Kekchí Presbytery organized
1980 Mam Presbytery organized
1981 Sur-Occidente Presbytery organized
1982 I.E.N.P.G. leads celebration of 100 years of Protestantism in Guatemala;
DIACONIA founded; synod reorganization includes Christian Service
1992 Schism affects Occidente, Sur-Occidente, Suchitepéquez and Pacífico Presbyteries
1997 Association of Kekchí Presbyteries formed
1998 Ordination of women approved
2000 Dissidentes of Occidente Presbytery return to I.E.N.P.G.
2002 Unión Boca Costa Maya Quiché Presbytery organized

-- Karla Koll

Karla Koll talk

Karla Koll will speak on "Religious Change in Guatemala," at 6 p.m., on Saturday, March 27, in the Fellowship Hall of Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church, at 142 Crescent Avenue, in Louisville.

Dr. Koll, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) international mission co-worker, is a professor of history, mission, and religions at the Latin American Biblical School who teaches at the Evangelical Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America, in Guatemala. Dr. Koll met with Crescent Hill church’s 2009 Guatemala mission team in Guatemala City. The event is free and open to the public. Dinner will be available

Latest trip info

10-12 Crescent Hill church folks and 10-12 Estoreño Presbytery folks will meet in July in Coban, urban-metropolitan capital of Guatemala’s Mayan Q’eqchi’ culture. On the agenda:
- a visit to the La Patria Presbyterian school in Coban and Sunday worship together
- Bible study focused on the partnership
- Wall of Wonder activity about the partnership
- outreach/mission/evangelism: sharing strategies dialogue
- a talk by Nazarene Pastor Delia Leal and walk through Coban
- a Finca Santa Margarita (coffee plantation) tour in Coban
- a visit to the Principe Mayan archeological museum in Coban
- a possible visit to the Semuc Champey waterfall area outside of Coban
- meals, devotions, free time, and closing worship together

Also on the agenda for the trip after the Estoreño and Crescent Hill folks leave Coban;
- a day or two of eating, relaxing, and free time in Antigua, old Spanish colonial city
- a possible afternoon Guatemala City museum visit

Crescent Hill folks on this tour will depart from Louisville on the morning of Saturday, July 10, and return to Louisville on the evening of Saturday, July 17. The trip will include two five- to six-hour van rides and accommodations in a church retreat center in Coban and in hotels in Antigua and Guatemala City.

By making the trip and participating in the rendezvous in Coban, Crescent Hill folks will be sustaining and extending the church’s one-year-old partnership with the Estoreño Presbytery, as folks participating get to know their Estoreño counterparts; engage in sharing, learning, and reflection together; and make plans for the partnership’s future.

Trip participants should include men and women, people with and without Spanish-language skills, Guatemala mission trip veterans and first-timers, and people of various ages, from 11th grade on up. The cost of the trip, before fund-raising, will be $1,200 to $1,500. Additional financial aid for trip participants may be available.

Before the trip, participants are expected to make installment payments, which will include a $250 deposit by Easter Sunday (April 4). (If you are interested in participating but are not sure you will be able to afford the trip or even the deposit, please be in contact with Pastor Jane this week.) Participants are also expected to participate in fund-raising and orientation activities and to make individual preparations (obtaining a current passport if necessary, visiting the International Travel Clinic, completing trip paperwork). After the trip, participants are expected to help educate other Crescent Hill folks about the trip and the partnership, including by helping lead a worship service.

Crescent Hill folks helping organize the trip will table after church on Palm Sunday (March 28) and Easter Sunday (April 4) and will be available to answer questions at that time. Folks who want to go on the trip should turn in a check to these folks or to the church office by Easter Sunday. The check should be made payable for $250 per person to Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church and should include in the memo line: 2010 Guatemala trip. On the memo line should also go the name or names of people going on the trip.

For those who are not able to go on the trip, there will be other ways to be involved this year. Before the trip, trip planning, orientation, and fund-raising are activities that will incorporate many different people. Crescent Hill folks will have opportunities during the trip to connect with individuals from Crescent Hill church going on the trip as prayer partners and with Estoreño folks going as their financial sponsors. Throughout the year, Crescent Hill folks will continue to pray with Estoreño Presbytery-wide groups and congregations and to keep up with the trip and the partnership by viewing this blog. Folks interested in the partnership will meet next at 9:30 a.m. on Easter eve Saturday (April 3) at Heine Brothers on Chenoweth Lane.

March 17 planning group meeting

The Guatemala trip planning group met Wednesday. The group tinkered with the possible trip schedule and planned the Karla Koll talk on Palm Sunday eve and tabling to attract interest in the trip. The group also called the Arca de Noe church's Pastor Gerardo Pop and found him receptive to the trip, with some revisions around the edges to the schedule and some confusion about exactly who we wanted to go.

-- Perry