Faithful Mission Today

A Letter from Karla Koll, serving in Costa Rica

Fall 2023

Subscribe to my co-worker letters

Dear friends,

What are faithful and legitimate ways to engage in mission today? My students and I returned to this question over and over again in the academic term that just came to an end at the Latin American Biblical University (UBL).

In our curriculum, the mission course comes toward the end of the bachelor’s degree in theological sciences. This year, 10 students from six countries (Peru, Bolivia, Panama, Honduras, Germany, and Costa Rica) joined me to explore the theological foundations of mission and the contours of mission practice today in Latin America.

Mission class session online

The language of mission is one way to describe the dynamic relationship between God and God’s creation. The word mission comes from the Latin missio, which derives from the verb meaning “to send.” The missio Dei, the mission of God, begins as the Spirit of God moves over the waters in creation. Therefore, the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation informs us about God’s mission. This came as a surprise to several students who assumed that mission only began with Jesus’ ministry recorded in the Gospels.

To speak of Christian mission in Latin America today requires confronting the genocide perpetrated here in the name of God by the Iberian powers as they invaded and imposed a version of Christianity on the survivors. We approached this history of mission with confession and repentance. Writings by the Cuban philosopher Raul Fornet-Betancourt challenged the class to renounce mission as imposition and to work toward intercultural communities based on respect and dialogue. Charon and Maykol, students from the Miskito communities who are part of the Moravian Church of Honduras, voiced their longing for ways of being Christian that respect their own culture.

If mission has its origin in God, then the church is sent into the world by God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s mission embraces all of creation and every aspect of life. Students whose churches limit mission to evangelism felt challenged by this broader perspective. Carlos, a Pentecostal pastor in Peru, found it intriguing to think that God is not looking for souls to save. Instead, God wants people to give their entire lives and become part of God’s saving work in the world.

In their final papers for this course, each student analyzed the mission discourse and practice of a particular project or institution. The chosen projects reveal a great deal about the contours of mission today in the region. Of the 10 projects, seven were initiated by Latin Americans and not organizations or agencies from outside. Local Christians have organized to respond to the needs of vulnerable populations: young men trapped in drug addiction in Honduras and Peru, people living with HIV and AIDS in Panama, folks experiencing homelessness here in San Jose, elderly people who have been abandoned by their families in eastern Costa Rica, indigenous communities striving to preserve their cultures and languages in Bolivia, and children in northern Honduras.

The other projects were also illustrative of ways groups engage in mission today. A student from Honduras examined the work that World Vision, the largest Christian non-governmental organization in the world, is doing in that country to help communities confront the impacts of climate change. Another student analyzed the Costa Rican operations of a U.S.-based interdenominational faith mission. The last project, a school for children in Cajamarca, Peru, grew out of a collaboration between Lutherans from Germany and local Catholics.

Karla preaching at the monthly worship service on campus.

In the class, we discussed how the structures through which groups carry out mission express a theology of mission. In almost every case study, students identified elements of coloniality, a term we use here in Latin America to describe the inequitable power relationships established during colonization. These power dynamics persist today within and between societies. In most of the institutions, students found that the persons being served had no role in deciding what was done or how resources are used. They are treated as objects and not subjects of mission.

As leaders of faith communities, our students and graduates relate to many projects and organizations that claim to be doing mission. William, a pastor in the Disciples of Christ Church here in Costa Rica, noted how this course will help him and the congregations he pastors develop their own understanding of mission by which they can evaluate mission projects and engage in God’s mission in ways that empower people. We must, he wrote, reject prefabricated solutions coming from outside our communities.

In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), our national leadership is also asking what are faithful and legitimate ways to engage in mission today. We have a stated commitment to do mission in partnership. As mission co-workers, we serve at the invitation of and under the direction of local partner institutions. What more do we need to do to dismantle coloniality and embody justice?

As I read through my students’ final papers, I am so grateful to be able to walk together with women and men who have turned to the UBL to help them deepen their understanding of faith and further develop their skills for ministry. I am humbled and challenged by their commitment to their communities and the needs of vulnerable people. Thank you for the prayers and gifts that make it possible for me to serve as part of the UBL faculty. I invite you to also pray that the PC(USA) will continue to serve in mission with siblings here in Latin America and around the world.

In the hope of God’s coming Reign,

Karla

Please read this important message from Director of World Mission

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Matthew 25: 34-36

Dear friends,

Great things are happening in World Mission! As you know from the letters you’ve been receiving, our mission co-workers are at the forefront of showing us what Matthew 25 looks like in the U.S. and in the wider world. They are addressing issues related to eradicating systemic poverty, building congregational vitality and dismantling structural racism. Together with our partners, mission co-workers are engaged in life-transforming ministries in 80 countries around the world. Here are just a few examples:

As an education consultant in the Democratic Republic of Congo, José Jones assists the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK) education department in the development, implementation and evaluation of strategic plans to strengthen the church’s primary and secondary education programs for more than 350 schools.

Based in Manila, Rev. Cathy Chang works closely with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and other partners in ministry to engage programs and networks across Asia that advocate for people vulnerable to forced migration and human trafficking.

Nadia Ayoub works alongside our Greek partners as they faithfully hold to the biblical call to welcome the stranger. Nadia serves with Perichoresis, a ministry of the Evangelical Church of Greece that provides housing and support to refugees; most of whom have come to Greece from Arabic-speaking countries.

Joseph Russ strengthens and supports a network of partners working in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to address migration issues in the Northern Triangle. Based on the needs people on the ground identify, Joseph empowers U.S. congregations to engage in advocacy related to Central America and immigration reform.

Revs. Drs. Noah Park and Esther Shin serve as professors at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC). ETSC graduates work toward revitalizing congregational ministries in Egypt and work with refugee and peace ministries in various countries in the Middle East.

Please consider giving an extra gift this year to support our mission co-workers as they walk alongside our partners and help shape a more life-giving, equitable and hopeful world!

Prayerfully,

Rev. Mienda Uriarte, Director of World Mission
Presbyterian Mission Agency
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

To give online, visit https://bit.ly/23MC-YE.

Honorary gifts can be made by checking the box and writing the mission co-worker’s name in the comment field online.