Peace With Justice

A letter from César Carhuachín serving in Colombia

April 2015

Dear sisters and brothers, supporters of God’s mission in Colombia:

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. I hope the God of life is blessing your lives and ministries. You all are making the difference in the ministry of the Reformed University of Colombia through your prayers and financial support of God’s mission in Colombia over the past months. For your faithful commitment I give thanks to God.

This year our church partner, the Presbyterian Church of Colombia, is facing a big challenge: to continue sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in a context of violence. At this particular time the conversations for peace between government and FARC (Forces Allied Revolutionaries of Colombia) are being deepened and are more hopeful because a Peace Agreement might be achieved this year. Our church partner, along with other churches and organizations, is praying and supporting these peace conversations, but supporting peace with justice, which in this context means peace with land restitution. This is a big challenge because the violence generated by guerrillas, paramilitary forces, drug dealers and big international companies has produced close to 6 million displaced families. Of course many people who have taken over individuals’ land don’t want land restitution because they were and they are enriched using those lands.

With ruling elder German Zarate, National Director of Diakonia of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia

In this historical context some leaders of the Coastal Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia have been threatened, due to their involvement in claiming the restitution of land as part of its understanding of peace with justice. A list of names of individuals was made public. The names of three church leaders were on the list: teaching elders Jairo Barriga and Milton Mejia and ruling elder German Zarate. For them, and for the Church in Colombia and its faithful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a context of violence, I request your prayers. (In the photo German Zarate is talking about this challenge for him and the Presbyterian Church of Colombia.)

The new semester at the Reformed University of Colombia Department of Theology has begun for me as usual. I am teaching three courses:  Old Testament 1, Old Testament 2 and Old Testament Elective Exegesis of Selected Texts from the Deuteronomistic History. Also I am accompanying three students in their graduate work and writing an article for publication about “Zwingli’s Theological Hermeneutics.” These three students are members of two presbyteries in Colombia: Coastal and Central. As I see these three students so far, they will be great pastors and today they are supporting three different congregations.

One wonderful congregation where I preached two Sundays (January 11 and March 22) is the Presbyterian Church of Cartagena, where a colleague, the Rev. Angelica Munera, is ministering. She is a bi-vocational pastor, serving at that church as well as teaching here in the Department of Theology of the Reformed University and in the American School of Barranquilla. Cartagena is a beautiful, historical and old city, where the Holy Inquisition had one of its branches in the time of the Spanish colony. This congregation is the only Presbyterian ministry in Cartagena and the surrounding area and it is sharing the gospel through a creative way: teaching music on weekends. This is helping them to build a music team and reach out to new youth and children in the neighborhood. Please pray for pastor Angelica and the ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Cartagena. Besides these sermons I have been preaching at three other congregations: Comunidad El Camino Presbyterian Church, Seventh Presbyterian Church, and Fourth Presbyterian Church. I give thanks to God for the opportunity to support these congregations when their pastors are serving in other duties to the greater church.

Rev. Angelica Munera (right), pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Cartagena and professor in the Department of Theology of the Reformed University and at the American School

Our ecumenical partner, the Reformed University, has other partnerships with local educational institutions. Under those partnerships the Reformed University receives some students for an internship for six months. Jessica is a student doing an internship. She is working at the library each day while her parents take care of her baby. Juan is a student who is working at the library as well. Both are helping professors and students in the library. Both had a birthday in March and we had the opportunity to celebrate with them and other co-workers.

I would like to share with you a personal prayer request: On the first weekend of this month my backpack with my computer and other paperwork was stolen from my house. Now I have a new laptop and I am in the process of installing Microsoft Office to access Word, Power Point and Excel documents. I do not want this theft to affect my ministry in Colombia, so please pray for this time when I am working to put everything in order.

If you would like to have weekly updates on my ministry in Colombia, please visit my Facebook page: Cesar Carhuachín in Colombia and feel free to “Like” it. Also, you are invited to check out my page at the World Mission site: www.pcusa.org/cesar-carhuachin. My work email address is cesar.carhuachin@pcusa.org. I am open to receiving and replying to your correspondence.

Thank you for your support through these months. I invite your continued partnership through prayer, correspondence and financial gifts, which make this ministry in Colombia possible.

Grace and peace.
César Carhuachín

The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 57

Facebook page Cesar Carhuachín in Colombia