South Metropolitan Chile Mission
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Image not found or type unknown South Metropolitan Chile Mission PABLO MILLANAO TORREJÓN Pablo Millanao Torrejón South Metropolitan Chile Mission (Mision Sur Metropolitana de Chile or MSMCh) is an administrative unit of the Seventh-day Adventist Church within the territory of Chile Union Mission. It is headquartered at 173 Fernando Rioja street, Zip Code 7980186, in the commune of La Cisterna, in the city of Santiago de Chile, Santiago de Chile Metropolitan Region, Republic of Chile.1 Territory and Statistics The MSMCh is responsible for guiding Adventist churches and evangelistic work in 17 communes located south of the Santiago Metropolitan Region. That is, the population of these communes corresponds to about 14 percent of the total inhabitants in the national territory,2 where almost 11percent of the Adventist members live in Chile Union Mission.3 The communes that comprise the ecclesiastical field cover an area of approximately six thousand eight hundred four km2, in which there are 80 organized churches and 16 groups. Until June 2019, the total population in this territory was 2,636,766 inhabitants, and the total number of members was 10,871. Thus, in the MSMCh missionary field there is one Adventist per 243 people.4 The MSMCh administers Adventist Education in its territory through the Graciela Carvajal Rojas Educational Foundation. This institution has four educational units5 and serves about two thousand one hundred thirty-three students at all levels of education, that is, from preschool to middle or high school. The academies in the MSMCh field are: el Colegio Polivalente Adventista Santiago Sur (South Santiago Adventist Academy), established in 1945, located at 4349 Las Industrias avenue, San Joaquín, Santiago (South Zone), Santiago Metropolitan Region, with 660 students–this “academy is currently subscribed to free admission and has the SEP (Preferential School Subsidy) and PIE (School Integration Program)” agreements6 with the Ministry of Education of the government of Chile; Colegio Adventista La Cisterna (La Cisterna Adventist Academy), established in 1962, located at 203 Ossa avenue, La Cisterna, Santiago (South Zone), Santiago Metropolitan Region, with 526 students;7 Colegio Adventista Buenaventura (Buenaventura Adventist Academy), established in 1962, located at 3928 Buenaventura street, Lo Espejo, Santiago (South Zone), Santiago Metropolitan Region, with 717 students;8 and Colegio Adventista La Florida (La Florida Adventist Academy--Millawe), established in 2014, located at 9262 México avenue, La Florida, Santiago (South Zone), Santiago Metropolitan Region, with 230 students.9 All of these Adventist academies promote interaction between theory and practice, with a strong emphasis on moral and Christian values.10 In the area of evangelism through communications, the mission has one radio station (New Time) and two open television channels (Hope Channel) in the region. Furthermore, both radio and television are also digitally transmitted and can be tuned through channel 25.2 (digital TV signal) and channel 25.3 (radio signal through digital TV). Since 2017 this new means reaches nearly 80percent of the population of Santiago.11 Regarding the number of servers, the MSMCh has a total of 287 employees, of whom 18 are credentialed ministers, 6 are licensed ministers, 5 are missionary credentialed workers, and 3 are missionary licensed workers.12 The Origin of the Adventist Work in the Mission Territory Adventism in Chile began in the late 19th century and was characterized by strong confidence in God on the part of the pioneers. The first Adventists in Chile were Claudio Designet and Antonieta S. de Dessignet, a French immigrant couple who settled in the south of the country.13 “However, it was with the work of Clair A. Nowlen, F. W. Bishop, and Thomas H. Davis that from 1894 the establishment of the Adventist Church in Chile was more successful. G. H. Baber was the first Adventist pastor to arrive in Chile, in 1895. The first church in the country was established in the city of Santiago.”14 Later, once converted, Carlos Krieghoff joined them to help spread the gospel. In addition, the young Pastor Alfredo R. Ogden arrived in November 1901, and weeks later he performed a baptism with catechumens that had been prepared by one of the Thomann brothers.15 It is worth highlighting some events that took place at the time in the southern area of the capital. At the beginning of the 20th century, the printing press of the missionary review Las Señales de los Tiempos (The Signs of the Times) and the church review, La Revista Adventista (Adventist Review) moved to what today is the commune of Lo Espejo (1908). Before that the equipment had been in the city of Iquique and then in Valparaíso, where evangelistic leaflets for the entire country were printed. The Chile Conference office was also located in Lo Espejo until 1916, when the transition of the headquarters to the commune of Santiago began.16 Around 1923 canvassers were the main form of spreading the Adventist message through the sale of books and reviews.17 While the publication work stood out to fulfill its prophetic role, one of the first churches to rise in leadership, missionary initiative, and educational endeavor was the church of La Cisterna. From the beginning they invested in this area and established an academy, which with the course of time started to offer elementary and high school. On the other hand, just as the church of La Cisterna was active in evangelization through education, in 1932 the churches of San Bernardo and La Legua, in southern Santiago, were very active in carrying out many missionary activities in their communities.18 In fact, over the course of three decades, Adventist education in Chile had strong support from the brethren, as they created approximately eight educational units in many regions of the country.19 Thus, one of the first schools established in MSMCh was La Legua Academy, which began to operate in 1945, and received official recognition two years later. After three and a half decades, a new school was built, which years later became South Santiago Adventist Academy.20 This academy was built together with a church, on more than 3,000 m2 , located on Las Industrias avenue.21 In the field of educational work in the southern region of Santiago, in the period from the 1940s to the 1960s, three schools were established, which over the course of time started to offer elementary and high school. One of them was Buenaventura Adventist Academy, which began operating in 1962 as an elementary school, and in 1963 received official recognition. “In its beginning, Buenaventura Academy was public, serving children from the nearby region and the church, receiving a lot of support from OFASA (present ADRA) and funding from the SDA church. As the time went by, it became a private school, supported by contributions from parents and the SDA membership.”22 Another school that also began operating in 1962 was La Cisterna Central Church. At first it operated in the church rooms, which at the time was located at 86 Ossa avenue, and served approximately thirty students. On December 7 of that same year, the Ministry of Education, in Exempt Resolution no. 18,195, recognized the Adventist Private School no. 60 as Cooperator of the State Educational Function. Subsequently, “the property where the church and school were located was sold to the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications and became part of the Intermodal Corridor of La Cisterna Metro Terminal; so, it was finally expropriated.” For this reason, in the 1970s, the school moved to where it currently is, at 203 Ossa avenue, La Cisterna.23 During this time the Adventist church public evangelism in this region of Santiago was responsible for carrying out work in favor of the gypsies.24 This interest in them began in the late 1970s, when Francisco Milanovich attended a series of meetings on the book of Revelation, in the church of La Cisterna. Once converted, he wanted the truth to reach his people. Thus, supported by the Sepúlveda, Bravo, and Tiszavari brothers, he developed a preaching program for the ethnic comrades. The first evangelizing campaign directed specifically at the gypsy people took place in 1982, inside an old tent. The speaker was Antonio Tiszavari, of Hungarian descent, and whose language was similar to that of the gypsy people. Two years after the series of meetings began, this group received the donation of a new tent to continue the meetings in better conditions. Furthermore, that same year they were visited by the president of the General Conference and the South American Division (Neal Wilson and João Wolff, respectively). The following year land was purchased for the construction of a gypsy church with the help of the Central Conference (presently Metropolitan Chile Conference). In 1986 Antonio Tiszavari was called to serve the church as an evangelist worker, and the district that included the gypsy brethren was assigned to him. The target audience at the time was about one hundred fifty families, within a 10 km radius around the commune of La Cisterna. With the establishment of an Adventist community of gypsies, the SDA church continued to fulfill its role of carrying the message to every tribe, race, and people in its own location.25 In the last decade of the 20th century, with the support of Chile Union Mission, the preaching of the gospel advanced throughout the country and consequently in all missionary fields. As a result, many church departments carried out working with greater emphasis on mission. Among them, it is worth mentioning the role played by the “Women's Ministry,” which in 1995 provided services in hospitals to terminally ill patients, organized and directed small groups in order to study Bible prophecies, and promoted many seminars in households.