Excerpt from the essay Los
Evangelicos y la Transformación Integral
By Dr. Israel Ortiz
According to recent statistics, the number of
evangelical Christians are steadily increasing in Central America and Mexico. The
EFE news agency has reported that Guatemala is no longer a Catholic country but
has seen a rise in the ranks of evangelical churches, tipping the scale in the favor
of protestant evangelicals (8-14-2009).
Because of this, some boast that the rapid increase of evangelicals is a
sign of God’s power. Others even dare to say that Guatemala is the new
Jerusalem of America. But the reality is that this increasing presence has not
impacted the social, economic, cultural, and political structures of society.
Its influence has not been felt as it should. We must ask ourselves: why
haven’t we affected the social structures of our communities, despite such
rapid growth?
The challenge from Jesus to be salt – to prevent
moral corruption in society – implies proclaiming the gospel and Christian
values, which include all spheres of human life on earth. Unfortunately, there
are some ways you could say that we have a negative balance when it comes to
being salt and light to the nations.
A good example of comes from the arena of politics. In the past, when evangelical
politicians gained enough popularity to ascend from the political margins to
mainstream politics, they no longer attempted an evangelical influence over
society. Conversely, the majority of evangelical politicians have gone unnoticed
by state institutions. We are still waiting for a political evangelical
presence that meets the standards of the gospel and has a true vision for the
nation.
In Antioch the name “Christian”
was given to the disciples for the first time. They were a multiracial,
multicultural group and were diverse socially, culturally, economically, and in
their giftedness. This young church demonstrated the plentiful life of Jesus:
It had an evangelizing spirit, a thirst for the Word, and a concern for social
justice. It overflowed in worship, saw the value of living in community,
engaged in teamwork, was full of the gifts of the Spirit, and had a missional
vision for the world.
Today we must ask ourselves: Do our churches reflect the principles of
the NT? What kind of church are we? Are our neighborhoods being impacted by our
church? Is there outreach from the church into the community?
The church in the NT is a theological community as much as a social
community. It has its origin in God but is also embodied in historical reality.
These people of God came from Jerusalem or Thesalonica. Thus, we must consider
ourselves citizens of Heaven and
earth. We cannot be absent from the social reality in which we live.
It is imperative that as evangelical Christians we assume the role of
catalysts – to contribute to the spiritual and social transformation of our
countries. This involves analyzing our presence and position as Christians in
our countries, rethinking our mission theology, and raising up new generations in
the abundance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are called to be a generation that
not only protests sin, but attempts to bring about the ethics and values of the
Kingdom of God in our own societies.
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