A letter from Katie Griffin serving in Argentina
Advent 2014 - Theological Education Transforms
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” Luke 2:14
Dear Friends,
Only one desk—in a room full of desks, equipped with computers, pens, paper, chairs, and people to work at them—only one desk, and an empty one at that, is designated for one of the professors. Who is the fortunate professor to have a designated desk in this workroom?
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César Carhuachín, on the left, with my husband, Daniel Fratea, at the recent mission co-worker gathering in El Salvador
Regarding Presbyterian World Mission (PWM) theological educators, PWM agrees to provide adequately trained theological educators to Protestant institutes of theological education. The institutes must agree to provide a work space on site for us. From a U.S. perspective, this seems fair enough. Nevertheless, the diverse challenges that face institutes of theological education around the world often mean that this requirement creates privilege.
In the workroom described above, the privileged mission co-worker is César Carhuachín, who teaches biblical studies and theology at the Colombia Reformed University (CUR, for its abbreviation in Spanish) in Barranquilla.
At our recent mission co-worker gathering in El Salvador, César commented to me that these are exciting and difficult times at the Reformed University. They are creating new programs of study that the government accreditation agency is approving. What started as a grade school (K-12) with an added university degree in theology now has 12 university-level departments, with programs in business administration, psychology, political science, education, and more. However, the building space has not increased in order to accommodate the academic expansion. The desks in the workroom belong to the various program directors. The professors all have to find their own work space in their homes. Elementary schoolteachers share their classroom space with a variety of university-level classes.
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Mission co-worker Karla Koll with her husband, Javier Torres Bermudez, with my husband and me at the mission co-worker gathering in El Salvador
In El Salvador I also had the joy of seeing one of my longtime friends from my days as a student at Princeton Theological Seminary. Presbyterian mission co-worker Karla Koll is teaching at the Latin American Biblical University (UBL is the abbreviation in Spanish) in San José, Costa Rica. The UBL has provided theological education for students throughout Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of South America as well for several decades. The Costa Rican government, however, has determined that in order for its university-level programs to be accredited, students must be residents in Costa Rica, and not at extension sites in other countries. It is extremely difficult, financially and ecclesiastically, for students to move from one country to another in order to receive their pastoral training. So Karla and her colleagues, especially another PC(USA) mission co-worker Elisabeth Cook, who is currently the academic dean at the UBL, are working together to redesign the university’s programs in order to maintain their accreditation.
As a theological educator in mission, I often wonder why people hesitate to get excited about how theological education fits into God’s mission. Many Presbyterians are getting really excited about the three mission emphases of our church. Global partners, mission personnel, and Presbyterians across the United States have asked World Mission to address three critical global issues: the root causes of poverty, especially as it impacts women and children; working to share the good news of Jesus Christ; and working for reconciliation among cultures of violence, including our own. Theological education in Latin America helps Christian leaders organize, create and administer ministries in all of these areas. There couldn’t be a part of Presbyterian World Mission that is MORE exciting!
The Christmas herald, whom I cited from Luke’s Gospel above at the opening of my letter, has called us to live into peace amongst those whom God favors. Latin American theology teaches that God has favored the humble, the poor, and the defenseless, those for whom the world’s powers have worked relentlessly to exclude from social, political and economic possibilities.
Presbyterian World Mission cannot change the violent realities that have beset much of recent history in Latin America. We have no influence on the governments, the public school systems, the macro-economies. However, God’s mission is one of transformation. God has called us to be transformed by the Cross and the Resurrection and to participate in the transforming work of the Cross and the Resurrection. Jesus’ mission to the world was to challenge individuals to become better people, and to challenge empires to become more humane by remembering to take care of the least of God’s children.
The graduates of the theological institutions with which the PC(USA) works in partnership are doing just this. We have graduates who are teaching theological education with marginalized original people groups, granting them skills to make their voices heard by provincial and national governments. Our students can do this better than we can, because they share citizenship and can have a more direct influence on the power structures in their own countries. We have students who are ministering to women and children who have suffered from domestic violence, or who are pastoring the elderly and their families in contexts where nursing care for the elderly is nonexistent or hugely inadequate, and thus helping to create respectful environments in which people can live their last years with dignity. We have students who are providing pastoral care to families living with HIV or AIDS. Our students are doing so much more to transform the lives of individuals and societies in Latin America than any group of Presbyterians from the U.S. can do.
I invite you to learn more by reading the newsletters, past and present, of mission co-workers who are involved in theological education:
www.pcusa.org/cesar-carhuachin
www.pcusa.org/karla-ann-koll
www.pcusa.org/elisabeth-cook
www.pcusa.org/farris-and-thelma-goodrum
www.pcusa.org/kathleen-griffin
Get involved! Get excited! Support our work with your prayers and your ongoing financial contributions! Be a part of transforming Latin America with the peace that the Christ-event heralds!
In God’s infinite grace,
Katie
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 63
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 46
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