| CLADE IV Declaration |
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PROTESTANT WITNESS TOWARD THE THIRD MILLENIUM
WORD, SPIRIT, AND MISSION “After they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything that they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them.” Acts 4:31-34 (NIV)
A thousand three hundred strong, we met in the city of Quito, Ecuador, from September 2 to 9, 2000. Together we experienced a wonderful time of fellowship and praise rooted in the Word of God, led by the Holy Spirit, and expressed in our rich cultural diversity. We agreed on the following statement: At the beginning of the new millennium, Latin America faces a critical situation marked by the implementation of brutalizing economic systems with their correlative policies of open markets and indiscriminate privatizing, the increment of an abusive external debt, high rates of underemployment and unemployment, environmental deterioration, generalized corruption (especially in political circles and in the administration of justice), restricted access to education and health care, and the increasing poverty of the largest sectors of society. Besides all this, some of our countries face the threat of foreign military intervention. The Latin American religious picture has had substantial changes in the last decade. Nowadays religious objectives are multiple and diverse, and everything indicates that we are moving toward a religious pluralism. Within this context many evangelical churches are experiencing a rapid numerical growth which is not always accompanied by an awakening of a social conscience. However, there are communal experiences in integrated ministries which seek to transform the living conditions of the poorest of the poor. There is spiritual renewal and a greater presence of believers and Protestant churches in different organizations of civil society and also in the political field. Even so, there is still a certain lack of theological reflection, which is apparent in the frequent tendency to adopt uncritically “theological” proposals outside of a Biblical framework, as in the case of the so-called “health and wealth gospel,” the presentation of the Gospel as one more article for religious consumption, and ecclesiastical structures marked by ambition for power. On their part, these churches are lacking in spirituality and are threatened by activism, mysticism, and dogmatism. In the face of all of this: WE EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE TO: Our triune God for this historic opportunity and for having been assembled in the South American Ministerial Seminary (SEMISUD) for a period of study and reflection on the Word, illumined by the Holy Spirit, with respect to the advancement of the Kingdom of God and our missionary vocation in our beloved and blood-stained Latin America. WE CONFESS THAT: Too often we have been negligent in our prophetic task as well as in beginning new Kingdom communities and in seeking alternative, just social structures. By our silence we have been accomplices to corrupt governments which have condemned millions of human beings to poverty and absolute misery, violating their human dignity. We have often acceded to the temptation to give other sources of authority the place of the Holy Scriptures. Too often we have restricted the Bible to the “spiritual and ecclesial realm diminishing in this way its message, integrity, power, and liberating effectiveness. We have permitted an intellectual/emotional dualism instead of seeking minds and hearts illumined and renewed by the Holy Spirit. Often we have adopted a form of pastoral leadership which is inspired by the business management model of a materialistic society, forgetting the example of our Lord who came, not to be served, but to serve. In our excessive activism we have neglected prayer as an inseparable part of Bible study and the genuine source of Christian spirituality. On repeated occasions we have countenanced division and intolerance rather than unity and mutual respect. Women, indigenous peoples, Afro-Americans, children, young people, the elderly, the handicapped, immigrants and other groups in the life of the church have been discriminated against and marginalized. We have denied that they are the image and likeness of God, and we have not recognized their enormous human and missionary potential. We RECOGNIZE THAT: The Bible is divine revelation entrusted to human writings. Its value is unique and irreplaceable for reflection on the purposes of God for Latin America. Its divine character makes it the supreme tribunal for doctrine and conduct. Its human character demands of us the constant re-reading and contextualization necessary for the diverse generations of disciples. An integrated mission is achieved only when a church receives with discernment the testimony of the Scriptures, when it obeys them and is willing to pay the cost of faithfulness to God. The integrated mission is born from each sacred page, is made concrete in our historical contexts and aims at placing all things under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit opens our understanding and supports us with signs which announce the liberating presence of the Kingdom of God. Our worship service should be joyful, spontaneous, and contextualized so that we may adore our Lord in a climate of liberty, sustained by the Word and under the impulse of the Spirit. We need a more spiritual theology and a more theological spirituality. We need a Trinitarian community-oriented spirituality, centered in the Word of God, reconciliatory and missionary. The reality of religious pluralism should not weaken the call of God and the evangelizing action of the church. WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO: - Pray in all seasons and study the Bible diligently, making great efforts to obey the whole counsel of God within our specific historical reality. - Promote opportunities for integral formation and support programs of Bible teaching in the congregations, along with the production and distribution of materials which give a serious, accessible consideration to the Scriptures, by means of institutions of theological education, publishing companies, etc. - Be a community incarnate in our society, and from there live faithfully the demands of the Gospel. - Be churches of adoration, service, faith, hope, justice and love which become alternative communities for our society. - Include and recognize the value of all excluded social and cultural groups (children, young people, women, Afro-Americans, indigenous groups, the handicapped, immigrants, etc. as persons to whom the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is also directed. - Seek leadership which sees in Jesus-Servant its model for inspiration and action. - Participate in the mission of God, giving an integral witness to the Gospel, living an inclusive Christian spirituality and carrying out a stewardship of creation which would put material reality at the service of the spiritual and power for the well-being of others and for the glory of God, promoting reconciliation between races, social classes, sexes, generations, and the environment. - Live the eschatological hope of the Kingdom of God in the suffering Latin America of today, actively participating in the civil processes which promote and defend life and human dignity. - Seek intensively the leading and action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, without forgetting a commitment to transcultural evangelization from the perspective of an integral mission. We conclude this declaration with the affirmation that the Word of God calls us to be prophetic communities, identifying with the pain and suffering which degrades the life and dignity of our nations, for we understand that the essence of our mission is to achieve justice for all in the power of the Holy Spirit. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
I Thessalonians 5:23, 24 (NIV)
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