Background Briefing Paper

Number 3
Latin America Mission
5465 N.W. 36 Street (33166)
P.O. Box 52-7900
Miami, FL 33152-7900
(305)884-8400
March 15, 197 9
This paper is not an official document of the Latin America
Mission-USA, in the sense that it has not been approved
by any legislative body of LAM-USA. It has been prepared
by the Administration primarily for internal use. It may not
be quoted or reproduced without permission. It is dated,
and subject to revision at any time.
PROTESTANT RENEWAL IN LATIN AMERICA
There is some question as to the validity of the term "Protestant renewal" in
Latin America. To have renewal (or revival or renovation), there must first be
stoppage, stagnancy, reversal or withdrawal. And the Protestant church in Latin
America is a minority movement--still young, still vital, still growing.
Much of what has sometimes been called "renewal," therefore, is really church
growth: the rapid expansion of the Pentecostal churches, the mushrooming of the
autochthonous denominations (mostly charismatic also), etc. Nevertheless, we shall
include these later in this summary and take the liberty of modifying the title
slightly to mean "Manifestations of Vitality in the Latin American Protestant
Church--Growth and Renewal.
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l. Juan Carlos Ortiz and the
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Renovacion." Beginning in the decade of the 1960's,
a revival movement started in Argentina under the leadership of an Assemblies
of God pastor, Juan Carlos Ortiz, and missionaries Keith Benson and Orville
Swindall and others. The movement was influenced in its beginnings by an
inspiring visit from LAM General Director R. Kenneth Strachan, and by the
literature produced by Watchman Nee, of the ''Little Flock" in China. The
movement was charismatic in emphasis and incorporated the chauvinistic concept
of ttacoyuntamiento" (being
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yoked together" in a structured pyrar;;i.d of author-
. ity). For a time it published a magazine, of which All2.erto Hottesi was editor.
Begun in Buenos Aires, the "renovacion" movement's impact soon sprea,-1 to other
parts of Argentina, and to Chile and Brazil, with spotty influence elsewhere
as well. Ortiz was expelled from his deLjmination, however, and other leaders
moved to new ministries in other countries, with the result th2t the movement's
impact in recent years has greatly diminished.
2. "Vino Nuevo." Similar in outlook and orientation to the Juan Carlos Ortiz
renewal, but owing its impetus to the group by the same 2ame in the United
States, rather than to Argentina, is the "New Wine" movement. It pubL .. shes
its own magazine and is a bit less radical than Ortiz in matters of church
structure and discipline, but follows tf:e same authoritative, charismatic,
chauvinistic line. Although the Vino Nuevo groups are neither numerous nor
large, the magazine--which is largely a translation from the English "New
Wine
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--has some impact on Christians in more traditional groups.
-2- Protestant Renewal in Latin America
3. Autochthonous churches. The most exciting area of Protestant growth in Latin
America is the fantastic expansion of new or autochthonous denominations.
These are especially numerous in Chile, Mexico, and Brazil. They are generally
Pentecostal or charismatic, and come to exist around a leader of charisma, thus
illustrating the strong Latin tendency towards "caudillismo," rallying around
a person rather than a cause. These indigenous churches are not linked to any
foreign mission or denomination, with a few exceptions such as the Asociacion
de Iglesias del Caribe, founded by and still indirectly related to
the Latin America Mission in Colombia. Others, like the Methodist Pentecostal
Church, broke away from a parent mission many years ago. These two examples
could legitimately be called renewal movements.
Many autochthonous churches, however--and it would take pages to list them
all--are simple manifestations of the vigorous church growth in Latin America.
Some typical examples would be the Igles ia Apostolica (Rev. Manuel Gaxiola,
Mexico) and Brasil pare Cristo (Rev. Manuel de Mello, Sao Paulo, Brazil).
This latter denomination claims to built the largest Protestant church
in the world, with capacity to seat 26,000.
4. PTL and 700 Clubs. Of very recent, and hence unmeasured, impact are the PTL
and 700 Club programs on television." PTL is an original Spanish-language
weekly program, but taped in the United States and with heavy "show-biz"
overtones. The 700 Club is dubbed from English to Spanish and Portuguese
and telecast five days a week. Both are charismatic, of Pentecostal origin,
but strongly evangelistic in their emphasis. Their impact on nominally Roman
Catholic audiences has been phenomenal. They have been criticized, however,
for communicating a very bourgeois image of Christianity and for excessive
simplification and personalization of the Gospel, without dimensions of social
concern. Still, they constitute one of today
1
s most effective instruments of
evangelism and renewal.
5. Penetration of charismatic style. Even the casual visitor to Latin America
these days is-impressed by the participatory style of worship in traditional,
as well as Pentecostal, churches. Tamb.:urines, guitars, clapping of hands,
lifting the arms, "amens" and "hallelujahs"--these spontaneous gestures and
the use of contemporary and Bible choruses are as common today in many
Presbyterian, and even Roman churches as they were yesterday in
Pentecostal congregations. .Since three out of every four evangelicals are
charismatic, it is not surprising that these patterns of life-style and wor-
ship have thoroughly penetrated the entire Protestant community, bringing
with them a noticeable degree of spiritual renewal.
According to one Brazilian leader, Latin America's charismatic awakening is
"the great miracle of this century." When linked with what is happening today
in the Roman Catholic Church, it constitutes, as he has said, ''a new chapter
in our history. "':
W. Dayton Roberts
Vice ?resident
': Senhor Ivan Espindola de Avila, a lay preacher of the Congregational Church,
the executive secretary of the Bible Societies of Brazil and a congressman in
the Legislative Assembly of the State of Sao Paulo.