Sicuani Seminary: Celebrating in Times of Adaptation and Growth

A Letter from Chenoa Stock, serving in Peru

Fall 2023

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Dear friends,

Seminaries and other places that provide opportunities for growing in one’s faith – Bible institutes, church camps, retreat centers – have had a great impact on me throughout my life. A seminary was a sacred space where my parents met, fell in love, and married, as they prepared to follow God’s call in their lives. I grew up attending Camp Crestfield, outside of Pittsburgh, PA, where acting out musicals about the journey to the Land of Milk and Honey and playing in the clay pits went hand in hand. At university, I was very involved with the campus chapel association and its outreach to the student population through music, worship, and social activities.

Students enjoying the newly updated classrooms at the Sicuani Seminary (Sicuani, Peru)

In my different countries of service with the PC(USA), I have witnessed how communities serve through culturally appropriate faith-based formation spaces that reach out to their members and local communities. I lived on the campus of the Women’s Ministry of the Mar Thoma Church in Kerala, India, which housed a Girl’s Bible School for young ladies. This school provided intentional time to study the Bible and the Mar Thoma traditions through lectures, music, and community outreach and to learn practical life skills. Sri Lanka, a majority-Buddhist nation, offered insight into the daily practices of individual worship through the local temples. On any given day, at any given temple, there were always worshippers – standing, sitting, praying, lighting a candle, cleaning, or just simply being: an open-air refuge to bring your burdens and lift up your joys. In the mountainous plains of Bolivia, where there is an indigenous majority, worship can be seen through religious syncretism: a product of colonialism where Catholic/Christian ideas and indigenous traditions were fused together. Faith communities that worship in church with a cross, might also rise before dawn on the Andean New Year (southern hemisphere’s winter solstice) to receive Tata Inti’s (the sun) first rays of cosmic energy to start the new season well.

With the first-floor classrooms complete, the second-floor boys’ dormitory is under construction. (Sicuani, Peru)

I am fascinated by the way different faith traditions share, live into, and express God’s call on their lives. Though it may look different in each culture, the call to love and walk with neighbor is ever-present. In Peru, I am currently accompanying the Evangelical Church of Peru (IEP). For more than a century, the IEP has placed major emphasis on leadership training rooted in local culture through a network of Bible Institutes. As PERUSA, we accompany the IEP Sicuani Seminary and the Sajiruyoc Bible Institute, both located in the Cuzco region highlands.

The Sicuani Seminary was founded on September 15, 1950. It offers a range of degrees (from theological certificates to licensed pastors), allowing students with varying schedules and interest in theology to attend. Its current director, Pastor Santiago Condori, has been in this position since 2014. We met Pastor Condori on our first visit to the seminary in 2019, after arriving in Peru. We traveled by bus for over an hour, driving away from the bustling Andean city of Cuzco, into the smaller and quieter town of Sicuani. Upon arrival, we walked by the garden on campus and learned that its crops of potatoes, quinoa, and vegetables that fed the campus were planted and harvested by the students themselves.

Sicuani Seminary graduation (Pastor Condori is preparing the honors at the table.) Sicuani, Peru

We went to a small gathering hall and met with the students and the leaders for that academic year. The men and women shared their call to seminary with us. They also told us how much they appreciated Woodlands Community Presbyterian Church (Texas)’s long-term partnership with the seminary, its support of the construction of bathrooms and its gifts of student scholarships.

With Pastor Condori as director, the seminary has been undergoing improvements to its facilities for its students and professors. In 2016, a new kitchen, cafeteria and girls’ dormitory were built. At the time of our visit, the seminary was just breaking ground for the construction of new and updated classrooms. They were also dreaming of plans for a multi-use auditorium for future graduations and other bigger denominational events that the seminary hosts.

Unfortunately, those dreams were put on hold when the pandemic hit. The seminary, being an education establishment, was forced to close its doors for the 2020 academic year, and all construction of new classrooms was halted. Pastor Condori attempted to offer virtual classes, in order to provide revenue for the seminary, but it proved very difficult with their current, outdated technology. Without students’ tuition, professors were not paid, and they feared the seminary would not survive.

Students of the Sicuani Seminary (Sicuani, Peru)

But it would not be a faith-based educational space without faith. Pastor Condori, his staff, and students prayed, shared their struggles, and patiently waited for 2021 when institutions could re-open their doors. With support from various PC(USA) congregations, the seminary received the necessary funds to purchase equipment needed to follow all government-mandated health protocols. They created social “bubbles” for the students and provided a safe place to study God’s Word.

Since 2022, the students have finally been able to learn in new and updated classrooms, which also allowed for virtual classes to be offered for those who were not able to return. Construction is now being carried out on the second floor of the building, which will become the boys’ dormitory.

The seminary has joyfully held graduations again since 2021. Although they still search and pray for funds to build a multi-use auditorium to hold such events and student enrollment has not returned to pre-pandemic numbers, the students and staff are committed to this institution and its vision to “serve the church and support the training of leaders to carry out its mission.”

As students and pastors from the Sicuani Seminary are sent out into the local churches to preach, teach children, and make pastoral visits, they go with the support of a faith-based institution that has grown, struggled, and fought to continue to be a space to teach and spread God’s love. May we all continue to search for these opportunities and spaces of partnership, grounded in the love and justice of God.

Let us celebrate with our partners of the IEP Sicuani Seminary as they celebrate its 73^rd anniversary this month!

Peace,

Chenoa

Please read this important message from Director of World Mission Rev. Mienda Uriarte

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.

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