A letter from Katie Griffin in Argentina
June 2010
Dear colleagues in Christ’s service,
I had the honor and the joy last week of participating in a retreat for Presbyterian World Mission co-workers serving in South America and the Caribbean. Over the course of the week we had opportunities to share pictures that demonstrate why we love the countries where we are serving, and also to explain our various ways of serving in these countries.
Pix Mahler, the regional liaison for Haiti, touched me deeply in her presentations. Pix obviously has a deep love and respect for Haiti and for Haitians. She showed us pictures of people of all ages expressing joy and a love for life. Among the words that she shared, those that touched me deeply were, "DO NO HARM." How often, in our desire to help, do we try to work without knowing the depth of the problems of the situations in which peoples and societies live? Is it possible that by wanting to help in our own way, we could be doing harm?
My young children (ages 3 and 6) often want to help at home. But since they still do not know how to manage some situations, and in their rush to be the first to help, they have a tendency to break plates, bruise their bodies, and send dirt flying instead of sweeping it up. How can we know the best ways of helping others without causing harm? Through education, awareness, thinking critically about the other and the situation at hand more than our own pity or competence or desire to help.
As pastor of a small church with a big heart for children living in situations of risk, my husband observes that at times church members help and cooperate according to their own desire or interest, and not necessarily according to the real needs of the children. Some church members show an interest in learning about the real needs of the children, but there is a resistance to learning among other members who prefer to do things their own way.
The theological education that the University Institute ISEDET, where I am serving as professor of Church History, offers is a critical and analytical education in the Bible, theology and concrete Christian action in time and space. It is an education that seeks to help churches to build tools in order better to discern how to address in a Christian way the deep needs of the Latin American peoples. We try to help our students to develop tools for serving and helping without doing harm.
There is scarce possibility for pursuing a theological education that seeks opportunities for the gospel, the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be truly understood amidst the complexities of Latin American societies. In fact, ISEDET is the only Spanish language institute of Protestant theology in all of Latin America that offers a doctoral degree in theology. ISEDET offers tools that are in high demand, but there are few Christians in South America who can relocate themselves to Buenos Aires in order to take advantage of what ISEDET has to offer.
In the meantime, the offerings for easy lay Christian education abound. By turning on cable television or the radio, Christians of any church can learn about an escapist theology of health and wealth. It is easy to learn to use the Bible for reaching personal gain, without commitment to the community and without seeking the deep transformation for which Jesus died on the cross. This is a teaching that is easily accessible and is doing harm to Latin American societies.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can help the few institutes like ISEDET in Argentina to reach out better to a needy student body that is scattered throughout the vast Latin American territories. In order to support my work at ISEDET, your prayers are always welcome. Your local church can also commit to contributing funds through the PC(USA) to the DMS account: D506384. The funds that are deposited into this account are destined only to support my work. I receive regular reports about the contributions that have been made, and I am available to address any doubt or question that you might have concerning it.
Not only am I grateful for your prayers and financial support of my ministry at ISEDET, but there is also a growing number of sisters and brothers in Christ who are better able to orient churches in service to the God of Life in the midst of societies of violence and corruption. I thank you in their names.
I have been in contact with various churches in the Carolinas about my next interpretation trip among churches of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). I am thankful to the Lord that I have been able to contact
individuals who have an interest in the churches in Argentina and Uruguay, and I believe that there is a specific purpose for these contacts that will unfold during this time.
The chronology of my next stay in the United States looks more or less like this:
Between September 22 and 25, I arrive in Venice, Florida, and will be at my parents’ home.
October 1: travel to Charleston, South Carolina, and from there I will visit the presbyteries of Charleston-Atlantic, Salem, Western North Carolina and New Harmony.
November 1: return to Venice, Florida.
I will be available for sharing with various churches in Florida from November 2 until mid-January. If you would like to invite me to visit your church in order to talk about the ministries of ISEDET or the work of Christians in Argentina, please communicate with me by e-mail. At this point, I do not have a vehicle available for travelling and visiting churches in Florida. Please keep this need in your prayers in the next months.
I greet you in the peace of our Lord,
Katie
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 297
