The secretaries of CLAI present their activities

Bottom of photo (Cotopaxi) The secretaries’ and program coordinators’ reports were given in Quito, next to the landscape of Cotopaxi Volcano, 5,897 meters high.

Quito/NS

According to theologian Elizabeth Salazar, the Andean region (Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador) have an objective of reaffirming CLAI as a space for ecumenical meeting and reflection.  “In 2007 our work, in addition to attending to the needs of member churches and those sympathetic to mission in society, is to gather and/or accompany the processes in which our countries in the region are living at a social and political level, and to promote and stimulate processes of reflection and action in the churches and the different actors of our society about the Culture of Peace.”

According to Reverend Luiz Caetano Grecco Teixeira, from the Brazil region, the orientation of churches and ecumenical member organizations of CLAI is guided through three lines: better contextualization in the Brazilian reality, respecting regional and cultural diversity; openness towards the participation of other sectors of Brazilian Protestantism, which tend to be distant to or absent from the ecumenical sphere; and to guarantee the freedom of the regional department and of the Brazilian churches to define their priorities and issues.

The Greater Colombia and Caribbean region comes from a context affected by integration and free trade agreements, an accelerated growth of the HIV-AIDS pandemic, and militarism and violence in different spheres, which displace millions of people, as in the case of Colombia.  “From the regional secretary we hope to have a strongly relational agenda, to accompany churches pastorally, to sponsor south-south exchanges between churches in the region, and to stimulate the prophetic work of the churches with a responsible public voice, maintaining an inclusive position facing the sectors that are neglected,” says Pastor Jairo Barriga, regional secretary.

In the Mesoamerican region, 2006 was marked by the theme of insecurity of the citizenry.  “In 2006 we had various meetings which sought to analyze the situation of citizen insecurity in the region and to mark out the pastoral challenges that are created.  For 2007 the emphatic theme will be local development from the churches.  We want to train 200 pastors and to spur them on towards community solidarity in search of local development through the establishment of networks between churches and local governments ,also promoting the recovery of values in the role of community social action,” says Pastor Eduardo Chincilla.

For the Río de la Plata region the emphasis for 2006 was on the formation of different types of spaces for meeting and participation for the different church sectors (authorities, children, youth, women, etc.).  “We have held inter-religious gatherings with children and youth for peace.  We participated in the organization of Children’s Evangelical Music festivals in different cities in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and we are starting a joint project with the Evangelical Scout Ministry of Argentina,” reported Reverend Juan Gattinoni.  These activities seek to serve as a space for dialogue between Christians of different denominations to share, deepen, and understand the different concepts of evangelization.

The new Board of Directors, who will guide CLAI until 2012, congratulated the secretaries and the program coordinators and demonstrated a determination to accompany them in their future evaluations and plans by means of work commissions.