A letter from César Carhuachín serving in Colombia
September 2014 - Students' Struggles
Hi brothers and sisters in the U.S.:
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus! Barranquilla (and the coastal area) finally received rain! We had not had rain for over eight months and that wasn’t good for the fields and farmer workers. On Sunday, August 24, and Wednesday, August 27, and Thursday, August 28, we had a little rain, and then on Friday the 29th we had a ton of rain—very well received by many people.
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Dr. Albert Lin and Rev. Ching-An Yeh from the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan and leaders of El Camino Presbyterian Church, July 27.
In this situation of lack of rain, our ecumenical partner, the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (PCC) through the Coastal Presbytery, the American School and the Reformed University of Colombia was leading a campaign called “Pasa a la Guajira y ayudanos” (“Come over to Guajira and help us” —cp. Acts 16:9). In this campaign the PCC was collecting gallons of water and non-perishable food to help one of the regions most affected by the lack of rain, the Department of the Guajira. This campaign shows me how our ecumenical partner does God’s mission, showing the Christ’s love to the most vulnerable people in this situation.
I want to share also about the visit of some leaders of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan (PCT) to Barranquilla to meet some leaders here in order to establish a partnership between them. We received Dr. Albert Lin and Rev. Ching-An Yeh. This partnership is in process and it might include a partnership not just between both churches but also between the universities that these two churches sponsor. I thank God for these meetings because a partnership with this Asian church will help the Presbyterian Church of Colombia to grow in intercultural relationships.
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Seminar about “Public Debt, Human Rights and Peace,” August 8-9.
At the Reformed University we have already begun the second semester of the year. The theology program has asked me to teach four courses and to be the adviser for the project grade of two other students. And, as the director of the theological journal “Palabra y Vida” (Word and Life) of the theology program, I am currently writing an article for the November edition called “Pastoral Images in the Bible.” In addition to these regular duties, I have prepared a work titled “Contributions of the Reformation in Bible Interpretation and Theology,” which is going to be published this year with the work of other colleagues of the PCC. I am glad to be a part of the life of the theology program of our ecumenical partner, the Reformed University of Colombia.
An event that the Presbyterian Church of Colombia and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) sponsored this summer was a seminar about “Public Debt, Human Rights and Peace”—Friday and Saturday, August 8 and 9. The guest speakers included Dr. Angel Furlan, Dr. Daniel Libreros and the Rev. Eduardo Martinez. In this seminar we learned about how some public debts were created in Latin American countries in unacceptable ways, which are resulting in structural conditions of poverty. Also, we learned how the Bible and theology are concerned in this situation and what we can do in relationship to that. This seminar was repeated in Bogota and Medellín in order to create awareness about this issue.
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Rev. Bishop Rawls, Mrs. Lynee Foreman and me, after a meeting June 24.
This last month I learned about some struggles of one of my students. This student is receiving pressure and censorship from some leaders of her church (among them is her husband). With eyes with tears she said: “Professor, I have to study at night very late when my husband and children are sleeping in order to avoid problems or discussions with him.” However, she said: “Although he does not approve that I am enrolled to this Presbyterian school of theology, I want to continue my theological training because that is my call from God and my deep desire.” This experience has taught me about how our students are responding faithfully to the call of God to the ministry and how they are facing some situations related to their faithfulness to this call. These experiences are not typically known in the classroom. Please keep in your prayers the women theological students, because some of them are facing particular problems related to their gender.
I thank you for your prayers during my stay in Charlotte, North Carolina, June 20-25. During those days I had the opportunity to meet with some teaching elders and ruling elders from various churches of the region. These meetings had the purpose of increasing the number of church partners and individual donors for God's mission in Colombia. I appreciate your prayers for this challenge in my ministry.
In the past month I have been preaching in a church here in Barranquilla (El Camino Presbyterian Church), and I shared about a conference on the mission of the church called by the Presbytery of the Coast on August 7, which was titled “Church/Kingdom of God: Models and Renovation.” This was received very well and generated dialogue among the people. After the meeting several people thanked me for the presentation and asked me for a copy of the presentation. I thank God for being allowed to work with this consultation.
I want to invite you to check my page at the World Mission website: www.pcusa.org/cesar-carhuachin and also to visit my Facebook page Cesar Carhuachín in Colombia, where I post weekly updates.
If you want to contact me, feel free to use my email cesar.carhuachin@pcusa.org.
Again, I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support of my ministry in Colombia and hope you will continue supporting God’s mission in Colombia through your prayers, correspondence and gifts.
Grace and peace.
CésarCarhuachin
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 54
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