A letter from Harry Horne in Peru
September 2010
Dear sisters and brothers,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we do many years, we spent last Christmas with our families in Florida. While there I attended two churches in the Arlington area of Jacksonville. Three decades ago I pastored churches in Jacksonville, and at that time Arlington was a suburb at the height of its development. Churches were flourishing, and they built large and beautiful sanctuaries. This year there were many empty spaces in the pews of those sanctuaries, and I went away a bit sad. I want to share a bit of the reflection I have done since then.
Preaching in the closing service.
I think it never was about the sanctuaries. Not really. As beautiful as they are, it really was always about the people. It was about the people who came there and sat in those pews and worshiped the Lord. t was about the way that experience, and other experiences like Sunday School and youth group, shaped the lives of those people. It is about the way they have lived their lives for the past three decades. Yes, there was a large financial investment in those buildings, but there was an even greater investment of time and energy in the lives of the people who sat in those pews and walked those halls.
Thinking about that helps me think about our own ministry here in the Recinto Universitario Teologico in Lima, Peru. Our students are our ministry. We invest our time and energy in them. We hope for visible results, even while we know that the results of education grow quietly and mostly invisibly. Recognizing this, we take special joy in the results we can see. One thing I take particular joy in is seeing former students become professors themselves.
To put this in context, a little bit of background on theological education in Peru might be helpful. Peru has a lot of seminaries and Bible institutes. Almost every denomination has Bible institutes, and some have seminaries. You find them not only in Lima, the capital, but even in remote areas referred to as “selva” (jungle, though not exactly what Tarzan swung through trees in). I am hearing about Bible institutes in places that I never knew existed. The need for theological education is felt almost across the board. The question is, what type of theological education will respond to the felt need? At the Recinto we believe we offer a theological education that is faithful to the Word of God and responds to the realities in which the Peruvian churches carry out their mission.
Someone once described campus ministry as ministry on an escalator. Now that our first generation of students is graduated and teaching and involved in other ministries, and another generation of students is entering the process of theological education, I’m beginning to identify with that observation. At the same time, it is a real satisfaction to see students begin to exercise their own ministries. As a professor of Bible, it is particularly pleasing to see our students take their places as professors in other institutions. I’d like to give you an update on some of the students I have written about in the past who are now teaching others in denominational theological education programs.
The Getsemani building.
The Iglesia Evangélica Peruana, the newest partner of the PC(USA) in Peru, has asked graduates Marisol Ale [missionary correspondence letter of December 2006] and Hernando Gutierrez [December 2004 letter] to teach courses at the Instituto Biblico de Lima, one of their denominational theological education programs. Both also teach courses at the Seminario Evangelico Peruano, an interdenominational program that enjoys the backing of Korean Presbyterians. dditionally, a group of presbyteries has decided to open up a local Bible institute and have entrusted Marisol with coordinating the development of that program.
Samuel Asenjo [November 2008 letter] has been entrusted with directing his Pentecostal denomination’s theological education program. The denomination has recognized that while many have entered their front door, many have also gone out the back, and they have decided to respond to this by deepening their members’ understanding of the Bible.
Teaching in Getsemani Biblical Institute.
Ignacio Miranda [December 2004 letter] makes periodic trips to teach short-term courses at the Instituto Bíblico Getsemaní, a Bible institute of the Iglesia Pentecostal de Jesucristo, which is directed by Eduardo Bravo. Both Eduardo and Ignacio are current students who are in the process of completing their studies with us. Far from Lima, the journey to the institute requires spending more hours on a bus than I care to think about. Pentecostal pastors in this remote area often have very little formal education, and they have a real thirst for the kind of teaching that Ignacio and Eduardo can offer them. Both Ignacio and Eduardo are eager to share what they have learned with pastors who recognize that the call they have received can be better fulfilled if they continue to study the Word of God.
Getsemani students.
I hope this is a good time to express our appreciation for your support in making all this possible. You are very much a part of the harvest that is springing up from seeds of learning here, and we are confident that you all will continue to sow the seeds of the Word in preaching and teaching where you are.
Shalom,
Debbie and Harry Horne
P.S. If you would like to support scholarships for our students, you can through ECO # 052331. You can fund a scholarship for a year with $300, $400, or $500. Just indicate clearly that the money is being sent for scholarships for the Recinto Universitario Teologico in Lima, Peru. [You can always give online with the link under "Give" in the left column —Ed.]
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 294
