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FTL History, a Bird’s-Eye View
Sydney Rooy

Uncertain times to the south of the Rio Grande spawned the call for responsible discipleship to a diverse group of Christian leaders.  Many of their countries had fallen to military dictatorships fearful of losing elite hegemony over a restless and still largely voiceless multitude.  Under the guise of rooting out the Red tide, social workers, union organizers, protesting students, and poor men’s clergy, were mercilessly pursued, tortured, and sometimes made to “disappear”.

Meanwhile, the Protestant movement was rapidly growing.  The masses, disenchanted with the official Roman Catholic acquiescence in this purge of the poor man’s defenders, were seeking other options for life’s ultimate answers to their immediate needs.  Some spiritual leaders, also among the Protestants, pointed to final spiritual rewards, with suffering as the gateway to eternal bliss.  They did not protest to temporal leaders or publicly struggle against the economic and military stranglehold on the poor.  To do so invited blacklisting and uncertain retribution.

In this context, a mass Protestant conference of Latin American leaders was held in October of 1969 in Bogotá.  One of the 25 speeches, given by Samuel Escobar, was on the “Social Responsibility of the Christian”. He touched a responsive chord among many of those present, bringing to the surface the underlying existent tensions between those who called for soul salvation as the primary task of the church and those who sought a more integral kingdom-oriented vision of evangelism.  In spontaneous conversations a group decided to call for a meeting the following year in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to discuss the authority of the Scriptures and their interpretation in the evangelistic calling of the church. There the Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana (FTL) was born, and a broad representation of Latin American leaders were invited to participate.

From this humble beginning under the leadership of Samuel Escobar, René Padilla, Peter Savage, Pedro Arana, Emilio Antonio Nuñez, Orlando Costas, Rolando Gutierrez, and others, the FTL defined its calling to integrate the gospel message into the culture and reality of the Latin American context.  Rather than accepting the imposition of foreign criteria, grass-roots reflection, vigorous dialogue, and local publications stimulated a mediating theology in the then polarized ecclesiastical context.   Situated between the more ecumenically oriented CLAI (Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias) and the personal and mass evangelism oriented CONELA (Confraternidad Evangélica Latinoamericana), the FTL counted not only participants from both, but as much or more from those who identified with neither.

From 1972 the FTL edited its quarterly Boletín Teológico, in which many members wrestled with contemporary contextual issues from an integral mission vision.  To deepen the cross cultural and pan-American dialogue, numerous regional and continental conferences contributed to broaden horizons.  Chiefly the continuing CLADE (Conferencia Latinoamericana De Evangelización) gatherings provided a meeting ground for the diverse interpretative currents and stimulated the formation of consensus documents on significant evangelism and social issues.  The value of indigenous perspectives, the role of women in theology and life, liberation theology, political participation, social and family ethics, incarnational evangelism, peace and justice issues, . . . all demanded and received appropriate consideration.  Much of this material can be found in the extensive and continuing publications of Ediciones Kairos, in Buenos Aires, under the editorship of René Padilla.

Perhaps the most important of the Conferences was CLADE III, held in Quito, Ecuador, in 1992, with over a thousand participants from nearly every country in Latin America.  Nearly three hundred were from various indigenous communities.  At this conference for the first time, the respective presidents, the executive secretary, and the secretary of evangelism of the two representative international organizations CLAI and CONELA shared in a public forum of dialogue on the basic issues of evangelism and missions. The Bible studies and the diversity of concerns were related to the general theme: “Todo el evangelio desde América Latina para todos los pueblos” (“The whole Gospel  from Latin America for all Peoples”). The resulting consensus document, approved by the overwhelming majority of delegates, remains one of the classic historic statements on evangelism and missions produced by the Latin American Church.
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The FTL is a loosely knitted association of national groups which determine their own agenda, frequency of meeting, and themes of discussion.  Written study papers are usually presented with a view to publication and wider distribution.  International membership calls for a written paper, which is presented to the local group, a recommendation from that group to the General Board, and the payment of a nominal annual quota.  The FTL is governed by a geographically and denominationally representative Board elected every four years, whose work is directed by the General Secretary, at present Ruth Padilla DeBorst.  Membership in our continent has consistently remained at several hundred adherents.  However, its participation in national, regional, and international meetings, as well as diverse other activities, extends the network of its influence significantly.