A letter from Debbie and Harry Horne in Peru
June 2012
Dear sisters and brothers,
Not long ago I was reading I Timothy and came across some words of Paul to Timothy that seem especially relevant to theological education: the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith (1:5).
My immediate reaction, a kind of prayer, was, “That’s why I want the place where I teach to survive!” I want it to survive precisely because it is a place where agape, God’s divine love, increases and finds ways to express itself in our educational community, in the churches where our students serve, and in the towns and city neighborhoods where they live and work.
Carlos Pineda, one of our faithful students.
Why the question of survival? The question comes up because of changes initiated by the Costa Rican agency that supervises private universities. The university degrees our Peruvian students receive are formally granted by the Costa Rican government at the request of the Latin American Biblical University there in Costa Rica. Most of the courses have been taught in Peru by our professors, and then the students have gone to Costa Rica to finish the last few courses necessary for their degrees and write the necessary theses and monographs. The arrangement has worked well enough that neither the Latin American Biblical University in Costa Rica nor our Recinto (Recinto Universitario Teológico) has pushed for significant changes. In 2009 CONESUP, the Costa Rican supervising agency, decided that the model was not in accord with current Costa Rican law and dictated a change. The UBL, the initials by which the Latin American Biblical University is known here, sued to keep the model but lost in a decision that was handed down in February of this year. We had been assured that the worst that would come of the decision was that it would apply to future students and we would have four years to make any necessary changes while the current students finished their degrees under the old arrangement. Instead, the decision to not accredit courses taught outside Costa Rica was applicable to all courses taught in our Recinto since 2009.
A group of students who met to Skype with UBL administrators over the future of their degree work.
We did not see this coming, but we are in the midst of making the necessary changes. We are initiating the process of becoming recognized by the Peruvian government as a Facultad de Teología. Currently the Peruvian government is quite reluctant to accredit new private universities, but we can seek recognition as an Escuela Superior, not quite to the level of recognition as a university but one that would allow our students to receive university-level credit internationally for courses designed and taught by our professors. Both the course design and teaching will be oriented to the Peruvian context, one of the strengths of our theological education in the past and one we look forward to continuing in the future. That process will take about two years, and we are very fortunate to have students whose loyalty keeps them with us even while the uncertainty about degrees hangs over their heads.
Meanwhile, we are awaiting further news from the UBL about their negotiations with the supervising agency. We are hoping for decisions that will allow our students to go ahead and finish up in Costa Rica and receive their degrees. We are also hoping for decisions that will allow some form of cooperation in future course work.
These are the broad outlines of the crisis. We continue to teach and learn, and we are looking for the resources that will permit our institution to keep doing so. In the providence of God I look forward to this wonderful place to teach and learn coming out of the crisis even stronger.
Shalom,
Debbie and Harry Horne
P.S. If you would like to support scholarships for our students, you can through ECO E052331—use the link for UBL below. You can fund a scholarship for a year with $300, $400, or $500.
You can also support the YAV program by going to the PC(U.S.A.) website, www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/yav—or use the link below.
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 23
Write to Harry Horne
Write to Debbie Horne
Give to Harry and Debbie Horne's sending and support
Donate to Latin American Biblical University in Lima, Peru
Donate to the Young Adult Volunteer program
