Reunification and Mission

Today we focused on the Lutheran church of Chile's past, present and future. 

We started our day with an overview of the history of the Lutheran church in Chile to help us appreciate it's start in the early 1800's by German immigrants and it's challenges and hopes for the future. 

The Germans we're invited to Chile to help populate the southern part of the country. Due to language and religious barriers the Germans were isolated from other Chileans so in 1863 they called the first Lutheran pastors from Germany to establish churches and schools for the growing German communities. Since that time there has been a close relationship between the Lutheran church in Chile and Germany. 

The military coup in 1973 was a divisive issue for the Lutheran church and one that ended up divided it in 1975. One of the Lutheran pastors, Helment Frenz, was openly critical of the Pinochet government the their human rights violations. This political unrest not only divided the country but it also divided the Lutheran church. Unfortunately, differences in congregational representation issues, controversy over Frenz's actions and differing opinions on the church's involvement in politicics the Lutheran church divided into two denominations, ILCH and IELCH.

Now in 2014 the two denominations are re-unifying. They recognize that now there are more common interests and reconciliation is needed to unify their overall mission and resources. Today, the challenge of many of the Lutheran congregations is that they can no longer rely on membership from German descendants. Due to many Chilean/German marriages (which are largely Catholic) and a cultural apathy for religion, congregational attendance is declining. The recognize that they need to reach out to more Chileans in order to grow. 

We had the opportunity to meet with the church's General Secretary who shared with us the advantages and challenges for the reunification of these two denominations. One of the biggest advantages for the reunification is to be a witness of unity in a country that desperately needs unity. 

In the afternoon we visited two daycare/preschools that are part of the EILCH denomination. These centers are one of their main mission commitments. The centers stive to serve many children and families who are very poor. We all fell in love with these beautiful children!  At one of the centers they offer training for women to help equip them for a future job in order to better provide for their family. We had the opportunity to see some women learning to sew. 

The Lutheran church is in action today and it was exciting to see it making a difference in the people's lives in Chile. We pray that God will continue to open our eyes.... We want to see Jesus! Amen.