Leader’s Guide Latin America: People and Faith

Rosângela Soares de Oliveira Latin America: People and Faith Leader’s Guide by Rosângela Soares de Oliveira

© 2015 United Methodist Women. All rights reserved. United Methodist Women 475 Riverside Drive, Room 1501 New York, NY 10115 www.unitedmethodistwomen.org

This Leader’s Guide and material from it may be reproduced without adaptation for non­commercial purposes provided the following notice appears with the excerpted material: “From Latin America: People and Faith Leader’s Guide © 2015 United Methodist Women. All rights reserved. Used by permission.” Copyrighted material within the book cannot be reproduced without permission from copyright holder.

All biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches in Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 United Methodist Women PURPOSE The organized unit of United Methodist Women shall be a community of women whose purpose is to know God and to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ; to develop a creative, supportive fellowship; and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church.

The Vision Turning faith, hope and love into action on behalf of women, children and youth around the world.

Living the Vision We provide opportunities and resources to grow spiritually, become more deeply rooted in Christ and put faith into action.

We are organized for growth, with flexible structures leading to effective witness and action.

We equip women and girls around the world to be leaders in communities, agencies, workplaces, governments and churches.

We work for justice through compassionate service and advocacy to change unfair policies and systems.

We provide educational experiences that lead to personal change in order to transform the world. Contents

Introduction for Study Leaders ...... 5

Session 1: Sacred Land...... 8

Session 2: America in Plural!...... 16

Session 3: Life and Art...... 22

Session 4: Hands and Hearts in Mission...... 29

Appendix: Supplementary Resources...... 43

Endnotes...... 46

About the Author...... 47

4 Introduction for Study Leaders

We are in the Americas. In a certain sense this mission study is about us. We share the same corner of the world, we are neighbors, we are interconnected, but really this study is about another America—America in plural!

Latin America is a concept created in the economic and political realms. The definition and list of countries that form the region change depending on the intended goal. In 1948, the Regional Commission was established to contribute to the economic development of the Latin American countries. And by the 1980s, this Commission was expanded to include the Caribbean Islands nations. Presently at the United Nations, Latin America and the Caribbean form one region.

In church settings such as the World Council of Churches, Latin America and the English- speaking islands are two separate regions. And that is the same for the United Methodist Women Regional Missionary Initiative. The organizations define their own regions, taking into consideration cultural identity, language, history, and even religious affinity.

In Latin America: People and Faith, the author normally addresses the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries and Caribbean Islands, such as Cuba. However, when relevant to the theme, the English- and French-speaking Caribbean Islands, such as Haiti, are included.

The political and economic histories of interconnection in the Americas take us back to the United States. It is not a boomerang effect, but a mirror. We can see ourselves in the face of the other, not only because the United States is the country with the third-largest population of Latin American people in the Americas, but also because loving our neighbor is how we love God.

Some of us are more familiar with Latin America than others. Others may have either visited or lived in Latin America. Whatever the case may be, everyone now has the chance to learn about this region. This Study Guide is an invitation to enter this land called Latin America, and know it as a sacred land. We come in with respect to face the dignity of a people and with the love of God for them.

The goal of this Study Guide is to offer an entry point to the content developed in the Latin America: People and Faith. Each session’s outline highlights the major topics developed in Latin America: People and Faith, either offering complementary information or positing questions to broaden the conversation. The Study Guide facilitates the learning about Latin America and hopefully encourages United Methodist Women members to deeply engage in mission partnership with Latin American women, youth, and children.

One risk of any study is to treat a region with preconceived ideas and stereotyped perceptions about the other. Be aware of this risk and find in your heart and mind an attitude that brings openness and genuine love. Remember that mission belongs to God. We are called to join with God, and we can only do it out of love.

5 This Study Guide is structured for four two-hour sessions. However, you can choose to balance the timing according to the flow of the group’s interest. You may also want to have a ten-minute break after the first hour of each session.

Each chapter offers worship ideas, discussion topics, and activities based on the content developed in the Mission Study. It would be helpful for you to read the activity suggestions of the Study Guide that follow the flow of Latin America: People and Faith.

The sessions contain more suggestions than you can possibly use in a two-hour class. Rather than try to use all of the suggested activities or discussion topics, you may have to choose just a few. On the other hand, if you can plan for longer sessions or meet more than just four times, you will find plenty of ideas to use in your class. In Sessions 1 and 4 of the Study Guide, there is a glossary for the Portuguese and Spanish terms used in Latin America: People and Faith.

Today, the Internet offers a variety of resources that can enrich your conversation and even afford “immersion” in the region. A Supplementary Online Resources list for each chapter and a short list of books and articles that can enhance the overall study is provided in the Appendix.

When you invite participants to research online, you may suggest that they look at Spanish or Portuguese sites as well, as there is a considerable amount of information in the region that does not get translated into English. Usually the Google Translation link at the top of a website automatically translates the text into the chosen language. Sometimes the translation is awkward but it should provide sufficient information to help figure out the main idea.

Use the game “Who Is Who?” as an opportunity to engage the participants in further research about some key leaders and moments in history. You may use it as an extra class activity for groups or individuals in preparation for the next session. Invite them to summarize their learning to the class in a creative way such as a panel, drama, song, or painting.

Both Latin America: People and Faith and the Study Guide offer a variety of personal stories that bring to life the regional context, everyday life, and mission responses. They are just a glimpse of the diversity, complexity, and challenges of the region. Use them to cultivate con- versations. For example, ask volunteers to prepare a monologue based on the story that can then be read during the worship moment. Act out the story and then discuss in small groups how the story relates to their community. Share ways of expressing solidarity. You may want to weave the stories in Session 4 with the focus of each session, rather than having them only on the last session.

Plan to have plenty of flip chart paper, markers, and sheets of paper in the classroom. Flip chart paper is a good tool for small groups to summarize their presentation. A laptop or a device with Internet access will be very helpful for further research, to show video clips, and to play songs. Issues of travel agency magazines, newspapers, response, New World Outlook, and National Geographic with pictures and articles about Latin America will be very useful for collages and murals. If you can be in communication with the participants prior to the session, invite them to contribute to the art exhibition with singing and collages.

6 In The United Methodist Hymnal there are some songs with lyrics that are in both Spanish and English. You may choose some of them for your worship moment. You can also use the Global Praise book and music CD Tenemos Esperanza, both published by the General Board of Global Ministries. The songs come from several Latin American countries and the book includes explanations about the rhythms and typical instruments. The songs are published in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Encourage the participants to sing in all three languages. Use the musical gifts you might have in your class: invite participants to spend extra class time to learn the songs so they can then lead the whole class in the singing.

You may want to bring a Bible in Spanish or Portuguese to the altar table, together with the United Methodist Women Bible (NRSV). Arrange the class with art crafts, pictures, and color patterns that are expressions of Latin American peoples and countries. Bring what you have at home, borrow from your neighbors, or order from women’s organizations in Latin America. United Methodist Women is in partnership with several projects in the region, and you may find the contact information in response or on the United Methodist Women website (www. unitedmethodistwomen.org).

Make the learning space an environment of welcoming and sharing. Remember that: ‹‹ Prayer helps us to listen. ‹‹ Small groups are a good opportunity for sharing. ‹‹ Dancing brings joy. ‹‹ Working groups are tools for engagement. ‹‹ Art provokes curiosity. ‹‹ Dialogue ties us together. ‹‹ Education opens doors. ‹‹ Solidarity transforms lives.

This study is a journey. Enjoy it! ¡Divirta-se!

Blessings on your way! ¡Bendiciones en tu caminar!

May God’s wisdom nurture the conversation! ¡Que a sabedoria de Deus alimente a conversa!

7 Session 1 Sacred Land

Purpose The purpose of this session is to introduce the land and the people’s history, struggles, and dreams.

Learning Moments Plan your conversation around the four topics listed below, based on the contents of Chapter 1 in Latin America: People and Faith:

1. Peoples in the Americas 2. Colonization of the Americas 3. Church in the Colonization 4. Independence Movements

Building Community Welcome the participants as they enter class. Give them a sheet of paper and a marker. Let them find their seat. Invite them to write in big letters the name they want to be called and to draw an object that identifies them. For example, it could be a special key chain that they always carry, a high-heeled shoe, a bike, etc. Invite them to stand up, comment on the object drawn, and ask the participants to read out loud their own names. Give them each 30 seconds for the presentation. Ask them to bring the sheet back to be used again the next day.

Opening Worship

Greetings ¡Bienvenidas! Welcome! ¡La paz de Dios! Peace of God!

Prayer Moment (Psalm 67:1–3, adapted) Leader: May God be gracious to us and bless us All: And that we may see God’s face shining upon us! Leader: May God’s way be known upon earth. All: Let all the peoples praise you, O God.

8 Song “Tenemos Esperanza” (We Have Hope), Global Praise: Tenemos Esperanza, no. 10 Let’s sing a song that comes from Argentina and gives us the reason why we are journeying together: We have hope.

Bible Reading Ask everyone to silently read Exodus 3:1–10 and to take note of the following verbs in the story: see, say, and be.

Bible Narrative Invite three volunteers to read Exodus 3:1–10. Prepare a copy of the Bible text assigning the verses to a narrator, Moses, and God to each volunteer. Ask Moses to mimic the gestures de- scribed in the text (Narrator: verses 1–2, 6b; Moses: 3, 4; God: 4, 5–6, 7–10).

Meditation Moses gets distracted in his pastoral task of leading the flock to the mountain of God. Something caught his attention, and that is the beginning of a dialogue that is at the core of the journey for liberation of God’s people. God also sees something. God sees Moses, the misery of the people, and how the Egyptians oppress them. The way God sees offers us an understanding of the social dynamics between the Israelites and Egyptians. In that context, the God who is “I am” shares with Moses a compassionate call to deliver the people from oppression.

A hope, a future, a mission is unveiled to Moses on the mountain. And it offers us a model to go into mission. Place yourself in a dialogue with God like Moses (“Here I am”); remove your sandals and open yourself up to listen to God and the cry of God’s people. You need to feel the earth under your feet, and realize that the ground is holy.

Remove yourself from the center and feel that this unknown people and land are holy to God and to you. While unveiling the dynamics of oppression and liberation, highlight the faith, hope, and love in action towards Latin America.

Sharing Ask the following questions and suggest that the participants write down their answers in journals they will keep throughout the study. You may carve out some time in the final session during which they can share any spiritual insights the questions generated in them. What have you seen? How would you “remove your sandals” in this learning journey? Do you want to prepare yourself to say to God, “Here I am”?

9 Prayer Have a map of Latin America in the class. Invite the group to come closer, to take off their shoes, and have a silent prayer. End the silent prayer with “God of all, hear our prayers! Amen.”

Activities and Discussion

Peoples in the Americas The focus of this session is to meet the native peoples of the region we know as Latin America. This is a moment when you can create space for your group to share their experiences and knowledge about the first nations of Latin America. If they had visited places such as Machu Picchu in Peru, the pyramids in Mexico or Guatemala, the Amazon forest in Brazil, or rural indigenous communities in Bolivia or Ecuador, let them share their impressions and learnings.

Name each of the four corners of the room after one of the indigenous peoples described in Latin America: People and Faith: Aztec, Mayan, Inca, and Tupi. Decorate the corners with a poster with their name, and any other picture, symbol, or object you were able to collect in your research. Encourage the participants to choose a “corner,” read the text in Latin America: People and Faith, discuss and share one thing that impacted the group the most about the indigenous peoples; for example, their cultural legacy, social structure, scientific knowledge, or religion.

Form small groups and distribute the following three questions and quotation to them. Ask them to report back with their conclusion, as if they were journalists and have each just two minutes of TV time.

Question 1: Who are the indigenous peoples in Latin America today?

Latin America: People and Faith discusses “indigenous peoples,” a term that has been used to refer to the original inhabitants of the Americas. Although there is no official definition of the term “indigenous people,” there is an agreed modern understanding of the term developed by the United Nations Forum on Indigenous Issues.1 The elements used to identify who is an indigenous person are:

‹‹ Self-identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member ‹‹ Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies ‹‹ Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources ‹‹ Distinct social, economic, or political systems ‹‹ Distinct language, culture, and beliefs ‹‹ Form non-dominant groups of society ‹‹ Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities

10 Question 2: How many indigenous peoples are in Latin America today?

It was not until 2000 that the official census in most Latin American countries started to count self-identified indigenous persons. Read about population estimates from the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) “Social Panorama of Latin America 2006”:

According to various estimates, in the early twenty–first century there are between 350 and 400 million indigenous people in the world, representing over 6,000 languages and cultures in around 70 countries. Out of those numbers, between 30 and 50 million indigenous people (depending on the source consulted) are estimated to be living in Latin America and the Caribbean, speaking around 860 languages and dialects. The indigenous peoples either directly or implicitly recognized by States number 671, of which 642 are in Latin America.

In volume terms, Peru has the largest indigenous population (about 8.5 million), followed by Mexico (6.1 million), Bolivia (5 million) and Guatemala (4.6 million). Then come the countries with between 500,000 and 1 million indigenous people (the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador) and lastly, those with under 500,000 (Argentina, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay). In Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the indigenous population was entirely or almost entirely wiped out by colonizers.2

Question 3: How do they live?

Read the information about the prevalence of poverty among the indigenous population as reported in the 2009 “State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples” by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

A World Bank study on indigenous peoples and poverty in Latin America concluded that “poverty among Latin America’s indigenous population is pervasive and severe.” This study, which documented the socio-economic situation of around 34 million indigenous people in the region, representing 8 per cent of the region’s total population, showed that the poverty map in almost all the countries coincides with indigenous peoples’ territories. A similar study in the region by the Inter-American Development Bank observed that being poor and being indigenous were synonymous. Its report on Mexico concluded that indigenous peoples live in “alarming conditions of extreme poverty and marginality...Virtually all of the indigenous people living in municipalities with 90 per cent or more indigenous people are catalogued as extremely poor.”3

“Dispossession of traditional lands and territories is one of the major problems faced by indigenous peoples all over the world. This process has been going on for centuries, first as a result of the intrusion of colonial systems and the ever-growing search for rich agricultural areas and natural wealth; today, as a result of development policies and globalization.”4

11 Wrap Up Paraphrase Exodus 3:4, replacing “Moses, Moses” for the names of the indigenous peoples who inhabited or still survive in Latin America, and invite the group to respond with “Here I am.”

Colonization of the Americas The history of colonization is very painful for some and a reason for pride for others. There was a time when church hierarchy and kings expanded their power, mixing evangelization with conquest. The encounter of civilizations—indigenous, European, and African—was based on an economy of exploitation and found resistance and resilience. There are similarities with the history of colonization in North America. Give a moment for the participants to share their feelings about the theme.

Activity Have you ever played “Rock-Paper-Scissors”? It is a well-known game. Each one has its own power to win or to lose in the relationship to the other. Let’s see if we can look into colonization through this game, and let’s play all sides of history!

Form several groups of three. Assign parts of Latin America: People and Faith to each group to allow them to discuss and play. Let them identify in the narrative who or what can be a rock, paper, or scissors. That is the main goal of this activity, to wrestle to see one event in relation to the other.

One example of identification:

Hernán Cortés with 508 soldiers, horses, and cannons = rock Montezuma expected that god would come from the sea = paper Alliances with other indigenous peoples = scissors

Paper/rock = When Montezuma saw the Spaniards arriving from the sea, he read this event from his spiritual perspective, which could be interpreted as a paper that could wrap a rock (Hernán Cortés) with his war power.

Rock/scissors = But Hernán Cortés (rock) wins over Montezuma (scissors), as Cortés builds an alliance with the enemies of the Aztecs to conquer the empire.

Scissors/paper = However, this alliance (scissors that cut paper) cut the spiritual vision of Montezuma, bringing death to his people.

You may use or change the assignation presented here. It is an exercise to understand the dynamics of power. The purpose is to see the various faces in a very particular moment in history: power over, resistance, and alliance. Another example of identification:

12 Resistance of indigenous peoples and African slaves = rock Economic-driven interest of the colonization = paper Christianity in colonial times = scissors

Paper/rock = The economic driver of the colonization wraps up the resistance of the indigenous peoples and African slaves resulting in oppression and death.

Rock/scissors = However, in the resistance movement both the indigenous and the African slaves blended into Christianity their own religiosity that survives in Latin America today.

Scissors/paper = Even within Christianity there were some voices that denounced the economic exploitation of the colonial powers.

When all the groups have identified three elements to play, give them time to share.

Wrap Up Latin America: People and Faith presents three possible academic views about colonization: discovery, encounter, or invasion. Encourage the participants to share the insights about colonization they got from the game and how they relate to those three perspectives discussed.

An Overview of Latin America Play Chapter 1 of the History, Culture, and Faith in Latin America DVD. Suggested questions for conversation:

‹‹ What are some of the remarkable accomplishments achieved by the indigenous civilizations before the arrival of the Europeans? ‹‹ What was the role of church during colonization? Who was Fray Ramón Pané? ‹‹ How did the slave raisings confront colonization?

The Role of the Church during Colonization Forced Christianity in the Americas was preceded by forced conversion of Jews and Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula. Through encomienda, the Catholic Church and the kings created a new world, and even a new Christianity. Discuss the ways that the indigenous and African slaves were forced to convert, as presented in Latin America: People and Faith. What are other situations of forced conversion to Christianity that the group can bring to the conversation?

Who Is Who? Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (1474–1566) was born in Seville, Spain. He became the Bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, before returning to Spain. He wrote several books, including A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies and In Defense of the Indians. They recount the first decades of colonization and report on the atrocities against the indigenous peoples inflicted by the colonizers.

13 Father António Vieira (1608–1697) was born in Lisbon, Portugal. He became a Jesuit in Brazil and left behind a collection of sermons.

Fray Bartolomé and Father Vieira lived in different times and places. Bartolomé served the crown of Spain, Vieira the crown of Portugal. However, in their priesthood they grew concerned about the mistreatment and violence inflicted on the indigenous peoples and the slaves, and took that concern to their kings. They advocated for the evangelization of the natives and slaves. Still today, their voice of concern is a precious source of historical information about that period. Even though, as Latin America: People and Faith points out, those voices were ambiguous, their theological voice of dissent inspires the struggle for human dignity.

Zumbi dos Palmares (1655–1695) was a leader of Quilombo of Palmares, the largest settlement of African free slaves in Brazil. He led the fight against the Portuguese colonial government, but was defeated and Quilombo of Palmares was destroyed. Today, the descendants of Quilombo dwellers across Brazil have gained the legal right to live on the land they have occupied for centuries.

Divide the class in three groups. Read the section in Latin America: People and Faith about the aforementioned leaders. If possible, let the groups do online research in the classroom. Some of Fray Bartolomé de las Casas’ writings, including A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, are available in public libraries or electronically in English. Topics for research: Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Father Antonio Vieira, and Zumbi dos Palmares. Each group should prepare a report playing the role of each character.

Wrap Up Conclude this session reading some quotes of the writings of Fray Bartolomé de las Casas.

Independence Process From the late seventeenth century through the nineteenth century, most countries or sub- regions in Latin America succeeded in their fight for independence. Haiti was the first to gain independence from France, after which Túpac Amaru, José San Martin, and Simón Bolívar led military action with some success in the region. While some women are recognized for their role in the wars, the honor usually went to the generals. Read more about the women and discuss the legends presented in Latin America: People and Faith. Try to expand the information about them.

Activity Prepare a timeline of the independence dates and trace a line from country to country on the map. Refer to Latin America: People and Faith for the dates of independence. Another example of a timeline can be found on the Timetoast website (www.timetoast.com/timelines/ latin-american-independence).

14 1791 – Haiti 1816 – Argentina 1818 – Chile 1819 – Gran Colombia 1821 – Peru 1821 – Mexico 1822 – Brazil

Wrap Up Highlight the hopes that an independence process can bring to the region.

Closing Prayer We thank you, God, for challenging us to hear the cry of your people. Be with us while we walk this journey barefoot. In the name of the one who did not measure his love for us, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Glossary Cunhadismo – Portuguese word for a Tupi tradition of welcoming strangers by offering a girl for a wife.

Mit’a – Mandatory public work for the Incan Emperors adapted by the Spaniards during the colonization (mita).

Encomienda – Right of the Spanish colonizers to use the indigenous labor force to mine and farm, in return for the colonizers’ obligation to care for their workers’ material and religious well- being, meaning “conversion to Christianity.”

Patronato Real – Agreement between the Pope and the kings of Spain and Portugal that gave the kings the power to establish and control the Catholic Church in the New World. The king subsidized the missionary activity of the Church and claimed the authority to appoint bishops.

Palenques or Quilombos – Settlements created by cimarrones or quilombolas (runaway slaves), to live in community as free people.

Engenhos – Portuguese word to describe the sugar cane mill. It usually includes the social structure established on the colonial sugarcane plantation, whereby the landowners lived in the main house and the slaves in the senzala.

Capoeira – A means of self-defense disguised as dance, accompanied by instruments and songs brought to Brazil by slaves from Africa, and practiced to fight against the masters. Capoeira is still practiced today all over Brazil, and has gained international interest, including in the USA.

15 Session 2 America in Plural!

Purpose The purpose of this session is to interact with the political history and Christianity in Latin America.

Learning Moments Chapter 2 of Latin America: People and Faith presents almost 300 years of political history of Latin American, including the arrival of Protestantism to the region. Plan your conversation around three major thematic blocks in the chapter, such as migration, Protestantism, and political context of the twentieth century.

Building Community Welcome the participants at the door of the class. Try to use a greeting in Spanish or Portuguese. For example: ¡Bienvenida!, which is “Welcome” in Spanish for women. For men use ¡Bienvenido! In Portuguese, use Bemvinda! and Bemvindo! When everyone is seated, ask them to write down the name of one country in the region that they feel connected to or are curious about. Then ask each participant to say their name again, the object drawn (from the previous session), and the country they wrote down. Ask them to bring the sheet back to be used again the next day.

Opening Worship

Prayer Moment (Psalm 51:10, 12) Leader: Create in me a clean heart, O God, All: And put a new and right spirit within me. Leader: Restore to me the joy of your salvation, All: And sustain in me a willing spirit.

Song “Momento Novo” (In This New Moment), Global Praise: Tenemos Esperanza, no. 18

“Momento Novo” is a song collectively composed in Brazil. It is an invitation to hear God’s call to walk together. Enter the circle! Come!

16 Bible Reading Ask the participants to silently read Ruth 1:6–18.

Bible Narrative In advance, invite a volunteer to prepare the reading of Ruth’s declaration to Naomi so it can be done as dramatically as possible (Ruth 1:16–17).

Meditation Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah are a family of three women living in a time of survival, searching for a place where life can be a little kind to them. Naomi heard about a new possibility and decided to try it by herself. Then a drama unfolds.

Naomi understands the migration challenge and frees her daughters-in-law to find security in the house of a new family that they have the potential to create. Orpah goes back home. Ruth understands the implication of migration: walk, shelter, God, and even death. It sounds as if she were preparing herself to cross the Sonoran desert! Ruth’s faith is amazing!

Sharing Put yourself in Ruth’s place. Would you go with Naomi? Would you leave your family behind? Would you adopt a new God on your migration journey? How is God calling you to “enter the circle with all people”? Invite participants to write down their reflections in their journals. If you feel that a few individuals are willing to share their thoughts with the rest of the group, give them space to speak.

Prayer Open space for spontaneous prayer phrases. End the prayer moment with “Guide us, God, for this new moment.”

Activities and Discussion

From Colonization to Migration In Chapter 1 of Latin America: People and Faith, the historical and political context of the relationship between Europe and Latin America was described in terms of colonization. In Chapter 2, the relationship between Europe and Latin America is presented as immigration. Read the section titled “Arrival of European Immigrants” in Chapter 2 of Latin America: People and Faith. Identify and discuss some of the elements that define immigration and how it differs from colonization. Ask a participant to summarize a few elements about colonization as discussed by the group in the session for Chapter 1.

17 Create space for the participants to share their own migration stories, and engage them to make the connections with the Latin America context. Have a world map and markers or yarn of different colors. Either tape a large map on the wall or give letter-size world maps to each participant. Depending on the size of the class, this activity can be done as a class or in small groups.

The goal of this activity is to share the participants’ history of immigration as well as to identify similarities and differences with the Latin American immigration movements in the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.

Ask participants to draw a line of at least one side of their family’s immigration roots. The line should start where the participants live now and go back into the past. Then use the information in the Mission Study Chapter 2 to draw the line (using a different color) from the countries of origin to Latin America. Compare the class maps with the map showing the movement of European immigrants to Latin America, and draw a group conclusion. Highlight the factors that pushed people to move from their place of origin to the United States and the factors that pulled others towards Latin America as presented in Latin America: People and Faith.

There are a couple of situations that you could face in your class with this activity. For example, no one is able place their origin outside the site where they are living now; or they don’t want to name the change in place of origin as immigration, maybe because of violence experienced; or there are such a variety of places of origin in your group that it makes the activity too long. It is also important to consider that migration and slavery are two different experiences of relocation. While migration may be associated with forced movement due to economics, violence or war, slavery is an involuntary and always violent abduction from one’s place of origin. Be flexible to adapt the activity to the group context, and underline the opportunity to listen to each other’s story. All those circumstances can reveal connection with the experience of pain or joy that is part of the Latin American roots.

Ask volunteers to prepare a case study focusing on immigration to Latin America in the nineteenth century, or how European immigrants replaced slave labor. For example, the cycle of mass migration to Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile and the ideology of “whitening” of the population as presented in the Mission Study.

Recent History Play Chapter 2 of the History, Culture, and Faith in Latin America DVD. Suggested questions for conversation:

‹‹ How would you respond to this statement by Prof. Theron Corse: “If you want to think positively about Latin America, this is easily the best time in history to do it”? ‹‹ How has migration impacted Latin America? What kind of “melting pot” is Latin America? ‹‹ What are the stories Methodist Women in the Americas (including United Methodist Women members in the United States) can tell to each other to stand up in mutual caring support?

18 Arrival of Protestantism In the section titled “The Church in Latin America During the Colonial Period,” the author of Latin America: People and Faith indicates that Catholicism was brought to the region by the Spanish and Portuguese crowns, and Protestantism by the decision of mission boards of churches in the north, from countries including the United States, Scotland, and Great Britain. Christianity also came with commercial traders, Bible societies, and waves of mass migration.

Form groups to research some key concepts about the ways that Christianity arrived in Latin America, and let them present their findings to the class. Suggested themes for groups include: church and colonization, missionary societies, church of migration, Bible societies; the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America (CCLA), and the women’s missionary movement.

While there are some similarities with regards to how Christianity arrived in the Americas from Europe, the mainline Protestant churches were planted in Latin American in the late nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries first, but not exclusively, by North American missionaries. If there are any participants who have in their family or church history missionaries who went to Latin America prior to the late twentieth century, give them the opportunity to share what they know. You may complement it with online research, photos, biographical books, and articles from response and New World Outlook.

In 1916, CCLA convened in Panama City, Panama for the Congress on Christian Work in Latin America (CCWLA), also referenced as the “Panama Congress.” There, they reviewed the missionary work in the region and agreed on some common ground. For an assessment of this historical moment, as mentioned in Latin America: People and Faith, examine the committee reports, especially the section that discusses the women’s work. Women missionaries in Latin America worked primarily in the area of education. In fact, a few schools created at the time still exist, such as the one founded by Martha Watts in Brazil. See the Report of Commission Five on Women’s Work, “Christian work in Latin America,” Committee on Cooperation in Latin America, report published by The Missionary Education Movement, NY, 1916” (books.google.com).

Discuss the cooperation between the Protestant mission boards in Latin America. Invite volunteers to read and present a summary of the “Ecumenical History of Latin America” (from: A History of the Ecumenical Movement, WCC Publications, 2004) by Dafne Sabanes Plou (www.overcomingviolence.org/en/about-dov/annual-focus/2006-latin-america/ecumenical- history-of-latin-america.html).

Does migration and religion relate to your own family story? Has your family changed religions? Was religion one of the causes for your family’s migration? What are the traditional and cultural practices of religion that your family still cultivates? Discuss those questions connecting the relationship between Protestantism and immigration to Latin America. For research purposes, have available a copy of Christianity in Latin America: A History by Justo L. González and Ondina E. González.

19 Twentieth-Century Latin America Write down a couple of key concepts for understanding the political and social structures of Latin America. Let the participants choose the words that sound unfamiliar or familiar to them. Give them a chance to silently read the section in Latin America: People and Faith and then have them share their understanding of those words. You can suggest the following concepts: oligarchy, clientelism, populism, industrialization, democratization, dictatorship, military coup, imperialism, multinational company, economic embargo, or foreign debt.

Form groups to read about the main political movements and their key political leaders in Latin American and Caribbean countries in Latin America: People and Faith. Discuss how those political movements related to the US government.

Who Is Who? Distribute to the participants the names of some political leaders presented in the Mission Study. Suggest that they present a narrative account, pointing out the governance, ideological views, and the people’s perspectives on them. For example: Getúlio Vargas (Brazil), Juan Perón (Argentina), Lázaro Cárdenas (Mexico), Jacobo Arbenz (Guatemala), Fidel Castro (Cuba), Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic), Anastasio Somoza (Nicaragua), Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil).

There are ties between the people of Latin America and the people of the United States that can be traced through solidarity campaigns. Identify some campaigns that participants of your group are familiar or involved with. Invite them to share their perspectives and experiences. Two examples are the awareness campaign in the United States about the School of the Americas (see School of the Americas Watch, soaw.org) and immigration and border security concerns (see Washington Office on Latin American, www.wola.org). Look for more examples in response and make a collage with them.

New Waves of Migration Using the same map used by the group to trace their family migration stories, ask for participants to draw the lines of the new waves of migration according to the information provided in this section of Latin America: People and Faith. Discuss the difference and similarities between the maps, and highlight what pushes people to move from their place of origin and what pulls them to live in other places.

Form small groups to prepare a case study and suggest that they present the study as a play. Let the participants share their impressions of the stories. For example: As stated in Latin America: People and Faith, since the earthquake in 2010, people from Haiti have been searching for new places to live in the Americas, such as Brazil. Read Janet Tapping Coelho’s July 15, 2013 report, “Haitians Brave Risky Jungle Treks for Brazilian Dream” (www.globalpost.com).

20 Use the South-to-South migration and the border to the United States theme for another case study and play. Read “Migrants’ New Paths Reshaping Latin America” by Damien Cave, published on January 5, 2012 in the New York Times (www.nytimes.com).

The 2012 US Census estimated that Hispanics make up one-sixth of the country’s population: 52 million. Visit the link titled “Hispanics” on the Pew Research website for articles about demography (www.pewresearch.org). Compare the census map with the migration map done at the beginning of the class. Highlight the call to mission that can be perceived in the maps and connect it with United Methodist Women’s call for welcoming and radical hospitality.

For a historical overview and cultural heritage stories of Hispanics in the United States—limited to the experiences of Mexicans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans–visit the PBS website for the documentary series Latino Americans (www.pbs.org/latino-americans/en).

Closing Prayer Loving God, you have invited us to come and meet you in so many places and join others in this journey of faith and transformation. Grant us strength and wisdom that we may enjoy being part of this new moment. Amen.

21 Session 3 Life and Art

Purpose The purpose of this session is to learn about the social context and culture of Latin America peoples and experience art as a tool for social change.

Learning Moments This session examines Chapters 3 and 4 of Latin America: People and Faith. Chapter 3 presents the social context and challenges that people in Latin America face in their everyday life, while Chapter 4 focuses on the cultural expressions of the region. The two perspectives of the chapters can be integrated. You can organize the study by beginning with reflecting on the social context and finishing with exploring the culture and art of Latin America. You may choose to focus only on a particular issue, examining it from a variety of angles. For example, you may choose to examine the issue of violence against women:

‹‹ Summarize the information about the issue as presented in Latin America: People and Faith Chapters 3 and 4. ‹‹ Give a regional overview and then focus on a particular country. ‹‹ Illustrate the issue with facts and figures. ‹‹ Do a case study on femicide in the region. ‹‹ Research the initiatives and campaigns to eliminate violence against women in the region, including the ones that target educating men about their role in the matter. ‹‹ Play songs or video clips produced for an educational campaign on violence against women. ‹‹ Organize an art exhibition with drawings, images, or sculptures that show how art and culture are used to prevent violence against women in the region. ‹‹ Motivate the participants to draw or write a poem or prayer using Latin American art elements to educate on women’s rights to a life free of violence.

Building Community Welcome the participants, greeting them either in Spanish with “¡Hola! ¿Como estas?” or in Portuguese with “Oi! Tudo bem?” Both mean, “Hi! How are you?” On their name sheet, suggest that they write down a word or an image of a cause that they are concerned with in relation to Latin America. For example, if it is poverty, write down the word or an image that reflects

22 poverty. Then let each one share this information with the others. Ask them to bring the sheet back to be used again the next day.

Opening Worship

Prayer Moment (Psalm 33:1–5, adapted) Leader: Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous. All: Praise the LORD with the lyre. Leader: Sing the Lord a new song, All: For the word of the LORD is upright. Leader: The Lord loves righteousness and justice. All: The earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

Song “Al Despuntar en la loma del día” (When o’er the hills morning light is breaking), Global Praise: Tenemos Esperanza, no. 1

Let’s praise God the creator in a Cuban folk style. The God we know is always present in the world.

Bible Reading Ask the participants to silently read Mary’s Song of Praise in Luke 1:46–55.

Bible Narrative In advance, invite a volunteer to prepare the reading of Mary’s Song so it can be read as dramatically as possible (Luke 1:46–55).

Meditation Mary can’t suppress the joy she is experiencing, even if for a moment she was scared of the blessing she was carrying in her body. With eyes of hope and compassion for her people, she recreates God’s understanding of the present moment in history. It reminds us of God’s conversation with Moses (Exodus 3:1–10).

23 The God that Mary praises cares about the social dynamics that make the poor go hungry and allows the rich to have excess. In a future with justice, there is a place for the ones formerly excluded from places of honor and there is food to satiate the hungry. The powerful and the rich will be challenged to understand the roots of their emptiness.

Sharing What is the blessing that you carry in your body? Are you scared? Do you feel blessed? What is the future of justice that you see God is leading us to? Give a moment for the participants to reflect on these questions and to write in their journals. Invite one or two to share their vision of a future with justice.

Prayer God, have mercy on us and guide us on the path of justice. Amen.

Activities and Discussion

Silent Cry Play Chapter 3 of the History, Culture and Faith in Latin America DVD. Suggested questions for conversation:

‹‹ How do you compare women’s access to church leadership in the United States and Latin America? ‹‹ What are the opportunities women need access to so they can be empowered to break down the cycles of poverty, gender inequality, racial discrimination, and violence? ‹‹ What do you hear from the youth?

Inequality The author of Latin America: People and Faith uses the perspective of inequality to present the social, political, and economic contexts of Latin America within the region and in the world. Read and discuss her definition of inequality. Form small groups to reflect on how inequality impacts people’s access to housing, food, education, land, and economic growth. Highlight how it affects women, children, and youth, especially Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples in Latin America.

‹‹ Review the Mission Study comments on Eduardo Galeano’s analysis of development that had exposed Latin America to an economy of exploitation of its natural resources to benefit the powerful nations since colonization. Identify the root causes of inequality. Comment on the policies of some nation’s governments,

24 such as Bolivia and Venezuela, that renegotiated the terms of economic agreements in their favor. ‹‹ Discuss the root causes of the challenges faced in Latin America and the Carib- bean and how those issues are related to the socio-economic and political poli- cies of the United States.

Poverty There are many countries in Latin America that have been experiencing steady economic growth. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2013 Human Development Report, “The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World,” shows that more than 40 developing countries have made greater human development gains in recent decades than could have been predicted. The report affirms that these achievements “are largely attributable to sustained investment in education, health care and social programmes, and open engagement with an increasingly interconnected world.” 1

Activity Form four groups. Assign to each group an identity an area of human development: politicians (sustained investment), church members (education), mothers (health care), and community organizers (social programs). Ask each group to act on that role and come up with ways to increase human development in each area assigned in the parentheses.

As indicated in Latin America: People and Faith, there are new policies to combat poverty that have received acclaim for helping millions of people get out of extreme poverty. Ask volunteers to research and present the poverty reduction programs like Bolsa Familia (Brazil) and Oportunidades (Mexico). Discuss how the programs integrate women and children, education, and health to combat extreme poverty. You can find additional information on government, World Bank (www.worldbank.com), or UNDP (www.undp.org) websites.

Domestic Violence Ask volunteers to tell or act out the story of Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes, introduced in Chapter 3 of Latin America: People and Faith. Discuss the reason for naming the law that criminalizes domestic violence in Brazil “Maria da Penha.”

A summary about the Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes case: She had suffered domestic violence perpetrated by her husband. With the support of women’s organizations, Fernandes brought her case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She claimed that the state had failed to prosecute her husband. The Commission found that the Brazilian government had violated the Convention of Belém do Pará (the Inter-American Convention to combat violence against women) and among the recommendations to the government, it included the adoption of measures that guarantee the effective prevention, punishment, and eradication of violence against women in Brazil. You can find her case on the Organization of American States’ website

25 for Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (www.cidh.oas.org), as well as on YouTube under the UN Women account (http://youtu.be/GLFcZJwSRJU).

Child Labor Form groups to discuss the issue of child labor in the region that is articulated in Latin America: People and Faith. Present the working situation of indigenous children or children from rural areas in the cities or in the agricultural field. Highlight the connection between gender and race or ethnicity and age. Supplementary information can be found on the websites for the International Labour Organization (www.ilo.org) and the International Domestic Workers Federation (www.idwfed.org/en). Also watch “Voices of Children Domestic Workers” produced by Children Unite Films on YouTube (youtu.be/s-b5tW0XGXU).

United Methodist Women has partnered with the Child Labor Coalition (www.stopchildlabor. org) and the Global March Against Child Labour (www.globalmarch.org) to protect children against child labor. If anybody in the group had participated of any activities related to this topic, let them share their reflections. Also give them an opportunity to research the sites and bring any updates to the conversation.

Land As Latin America: People and Faith affirms, Latin America is known for the richness of its natural resources. However, mining in the indigenous areas is a source of violence and economic injustice. It connects the economies of the north and south, where the north reaps the benefits and the south does not. There are a couple of leading stories that can exemplify the impact of mining on people’s lives, the environment, and the quest for justice. Ask volunteers to research some of the leading stories that illustrate the analysis in Latin America: People and Faith on this issue. Below are two examples:

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (Development and Peace) launched the campaign, “A Voice for Justice,” to call the Government of Canada to establish an ombudsman to investigate the complaints presented by the affected communities. According to Development and Peace, Canadian companies conduct 80 percent of mining activity in Latin America. Watch their video clip campaign at www.devp.org/en/education/fall2013.

La Via Campesina, an international peasant’s movement that promotes the rights of farmers to use and freely exchange their seeds and breeding animals, recently joined with the Mayan People’s Movement in Guatemala to defeat a law that would have given the multinational agricultural corporation Monsanto exclusivity on genetically modified corn seeds in the region. The defeat of the “Monsanto Law” preserves the Mayan people’s right to traditional cultivation of their land in their ancient territories (viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/ biodiversity-and-genetic-resources-mainmenu-37/1668-mayan-people-s- movement-defeats-monsanto-law-in-guatemala). On World Food Day, there was

26 a Global Day of Action Against Monsanto organized in fifty-two countries. For example, women in El Salvador lead marches championing the elimination of pesticides used in food production and a cause of chronic kidney failure.2

Race Relations People of African descent make up 23 percent of the total Latin American and Caribbean population. (It exceeds 80 percent on some Caribbean islands.) Race miscegenation has been experienced since colonization, and Gilberto Freyre developed the concept of “Brazil as a racial democracy.” Latin America: People and Faith analyzes the myth of “racial democracy” from the perspective of racial discrimination as socially structured against the indigenous peoples and the African descent population in Latin America. Discuss how inequality affects race relations in Latin America. How can miscegenation hide racial discrimination? How systematically is the racial discrimination against Afro-descendant and indigenous peoples in the region? How are women affected by racial discrimination? What are the actions and movements for change? Comment on the examples and data indicated in Latin American: People and Faith.

Violence against Youth “One in every three Latin Americans reported being a victim of a violent crime in 2012,” according to the UNDP Human Development Report for Latin America 2013-2014.3 “Across the region, impunity and corruption play an absolutely crucial role in spurring and perpetuating cultures of violence,” affirms the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies.4 Discuss the data and analysis presented in the Latin America: People and Faith.

Ask for volunteers to research response and New World Outlook for projects and campaigns that prevent youth violence and promote the culture of peace in Latin America. Make a collage with the stories and pictures of youth engaged in peace education, including through art and culture.

Arts and Culture Transform your class to a museum hall, art gallery, or theater. Bring samples of pottery, fabrics, pictures, basketry, and art from the pre-Columbian period up to present day Latin America. Follow the Chapter 4 outline in Latin America: People and Faith to decorate your space with the materials you were able to gather and to summarize the information you will present as the tour guide.

Prepare a PowerPoint presentation with photos as an alternative to gathering the objects described above. Remember to use only images that you have permission to use or that are considered public domain. You also can bring magazines such as National Geographic that illustrate the topic you want to discuss. Websites such as those for museums, art galleries, historical church websites, or websites of some of the renowned artists mentioned in text may also be resources. If you are able to communicate with the participants previous to the class, invite them to bring their own materials and photos that can be part of this art exhibition.

27 Organize the exhibition hall for pre-Columbian art, Colonial Period art, and nineteenth- to twenty-first-century art.

Discuss the analysis by José Jorge Carvalho that was introduced in Latin America: People and Faith, about the art produced by local cultures as a tool of resistance and preservation of traditional knowledge.

Play some of the traditional music from different Latin American countries. Use the radio or the Internet to choose the genre of music you want to listen to in class. Bring CDs of music from the composers and singers who produced songs of resistance against the military dictatorship, such as Mercedes Sosa. Search YouTube for clips of “Canción con Todos” (Song with Everything) by Armando Tejada Gómez, and invite the class to sing it. The words to this song are printed in Chapter 4 of Latin America: People and Faith. Please check for permission before playing any videos or songs from the Internet.

Create space to teach some Latin American dances such as tango, samba, salsa, merengue, etc. It can be a very good immersion exercise and an opportunity to build community with joy.

Women in Culture, Arts, and Politics

Who Is Who? Invite volunteers to prepare a short presentation of some key women in Latin American history and culture. Be creative! Read a poem or short story written by your character, sing a song, dress like the person you are representing. You can choose a woman from the text or someone else you have heard of or have known from your community. For example: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Mexico); Gabriela Mistral (Chile), Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua), Silvina Ocampo (Argentina), Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala), Domitila Chúngara (Bolivia), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Michelle Bachelet (Chile), the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Argentina), Marina da Silva (Brazil), and Sandra Cisneros (USA).

End the session by producing a collective mural. Form groups to produce a collage of images, write a poem, and/or create a song. Put them all together as a mural that collects faith, hope, and love in action towards Latin America. Give everyone some time to look at the murals.

Closing Prayer Merciful God, thank you for being compassionate and just. Teach us to be this blessing to the world. Amen.

28 Session 4 Hands and Hearts in Mission

Purpose The purpose of this session is to find the call to be in mission with women, children, and youth of Latin America.

Learning Moments ‹‹ The last chapter of Latin America: People and Faith reviews the colonization of Latin America through Christianity, bringing to the reflection people’s strategy of resistance. This section of the Study Guide offers tools to reflect on ways Christi- anity has been challenged and even changed by Latin American people. ‹‹ The goal of the text is to enable United Methodist Women members to be part- ners in mission in the region. A series of testimonies of women in mission in Latin America and the Caribbean bring to life the context and mission responses to enrich the partnership conversation.

Building Community Welcome the participants greeting them with !Gracias por tu participación! (Spanish for “thanks for your participation”). To say this in Portuguese, use Obrigada (if woman), Obrigado (if man) por sua participação!

On their name sheet, ask them to review what they had written on the previous days and to wrap it up with a prayer in solidarity with the Latin American people, a prayer to hear God’s call for mission.

Opening Worship

Prayer Moment (Psalm 5:1–3, 11–12, adapted) Leader: Give ear to my words, O LORD; All: Give heed to my sighing. Leader: O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch. All: Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. Leader: For you bless the righteous, O LORD.

29 Song “Vamos todos al banquete” (Let us go now to the banquet), Global Praise: Tenemos Esperanza, no. 8

Let’s sing a song from El Salvador. It is an invitation for you to come with your gift to share and work together, so all can be equal in love.

Bible Reading Ask the participants to silently read Matthew 28:1–10.

Bible Narrative Invite volunteers to prepare a play based on the scripture reading.

Meditation Except for the angel and Jesus, all others in this narrative are in fear. However, the angel and Jesus have the same message: “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell.” Somehow this message was not for the soldiers, just for Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, and the disciples. Why? The soldiers almost could have taken Jesus’ place in the tomb, as they became like dead men.

The women who came to see the dead man—Jesus—left the place with fear and great joy, they ran carrying a message to their community. He is alive! There is hope!

Sharing What is the message that you carry to tell with fear and great joy? Who have you met that gave you this message? Are you ready to run, go, and tell? Give a moment to the participants to reflect on the questions shared about their readiness.

Prayer Thank you, God, for meeting us where we are, and for making us ready with great joy, though with fear. Bless us, and bless the people in Latin America and the Caribbean who also have met you and are on the run to go and tell. Let us join you in mission! Amen.

Activities and Discussion

Tradition and Resistance This chapter revises what has been addressed in previous chapters to introduce new possibilities of partnership in mission today. You may choose to start your last session by summarizing the key conclusions that your group had reached about Christianity in Latin America and the ways

30 that colonization and migration changed Christianity in the Americas. If you haven’t had the chance to do some of the activities suggested in previous sessions, you can use them in this session. For example, play “Rock-Paper-Scissors” or conduct research for “Who Is Who?”

In their book, Christianity in Latin America: A History, Ondina E. González and Justo L. González developed the perspective that Christianity in Latin America, from its beginning up to present day, has two faces: one face justifies the violence upon the people, and the other face denounces it in solidarity with the people.

(…) Christianity in Latin America has often had two faces: one that supports the status quo, blesses or at least condones injustice, and whose main concern is the survival and prosperity of the church; and another that question and challenges the status quo, denounces injustice, and is primarily concerned with the well being of the people.1

Examples of the two-face perspectives are the analyses about the horrors inflicted to the indigenous population in the Caribbean in the beginning of the colonization, and Fray Bartolomé de las Casas’ denunciations of the atrocities committed by Cuban settlers and sending word to King Ferdinand in 1515.2 Also cited is Oscar Romero, a Roman Catholic Archbishop, who learned to see how the injustice experienced by the poor of El Salvador challenged his faith. He confronted injustice inflicted by the government and was brutally assassinated in 1980.3

Form small groups to discuss the González perspective of the two faces of Christianity. Ask each group to research and present a brief report on how they see the two faces of Christianity through the ministry of Bartolomé de las Casas (Chapter 1), Dom Óscar Arnulfo Romero, Gustavo Gutierrez, Leonardo Boff (Chapter 5), José Miguez Bonino, Anivaldo Padilha (Chapter 4), and Elsa Tamez. You can also research other people found in the Mission Study. Highlight in the presentation how those theologians would define mission.

Latin America: People and Faith uses the concept of syncretism to discuss ways that the indigenous peoples and the African slaves kept their spirituality and religion protected from the colonizers. Their religions survived with their own rites and practices, but also melded with Christianity, especially Catholicism. Candomblé (Brazil), Santería (Cuba), and Voodoo (Haiti), are all religious expressions brought by the African slaves that survived and are still practiced today. In the midst of social and racial discrimination, these religions continue to be a source of cultural and social identity for indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples.

Write on a board or flip chart the definition of syncretism that is presented in Latin America: People and Faith, and the characteristics of the religions brought by the African slaves and experienced by the native peoples. Discuss how syncretism is a strategy of survival. How has syncretism changed the Christianity that was brought by the colonizers? Do you have any experience with the indigenous peoples’ religions or African religions as they are practiced in Latin America? What have you learned? What has challenged you?

The growth of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement in the Catholic Church did not go unnoticed. Read one of the characteristics of the Pentecostal movement as analyzed in the

31 González book (below). Ask the participants to work in groups to come up with an analysis of the statement and present their conclusions. Highlight how people bring to their faith the expressions of their everyday life, such as healing, poverty, and joy.

Some sociologists and historians of religion see a connection between Pentecostalism and traditional Latin American religiosity. Thus the emphasis on spirit possession, and the manner in which this is manifested, is similar to ancient African practices and beliefs. The same is true of worship involving rhythmic movements of the body and repetitive phrases. In the appeal to religion and its practitioners for physical healing, and in the rites connected with this, some see much that is reminiscent to the ancient native healers. And the emphasis on prosperity and bargaining with God that is present in many fringe groups brings to mind the old Latin American Catholic tradition of making promises to the saints and bargaining with them. Finally, the traditional themes of ex-votos and retables are often repeated in Pentecostal testimonies.4

Protestantism arrived in the Americas in the nineteenth century, which is the period when many countries were fighting for or establishing their independence. The liberal ideas of Protestantism attracted some of the leaders of the new governments and new opportunities were offered to the new nations, especially in the area of education. Use Chapter 5 of the text to draw a timeline of the arrival of Methodism in the region. Ask volunteers to research and act out the story of the missionaries named in this chapter. Many of them were missionary couples. Include in the play the role of spouses in their missionary placement. Highlight in the play what was the mission then and how they carried it out.

Liberation Theologies Read the section on liberation theology in the mission study. Review and discuss each step of the methodology as explained by Leonardo Boff. “Liberation theology is an attempt to interpret scripture from the perspective of the poor,” affirms the author. Share in small groups your favorite Bible story that inspires you to be in mission with the poor, and connect it with some of the liberation theology steps presented in Latin America: People and Faith.

Choose one of the issues that Latin American people face as discussed in the previous session (Chapter 3 of Latin America: People and Faith) as the context to apply this methodology.

Action and Faith Play Chapter 4 of the History, Culture and Faith in Latin America DVD. Suggested questions for conversation:

‹‹ How can women empower the church to put faith into action? ‹‹ Compare the understanding of syncretism in the Mission Study with the video. How do you see your community changing as The Reverend Christian de la Rosa affirms? ‹‹ How can we live the gospel fully every day when facing the life of our neighbors?

32 Mission in Community In Latin America: People and Faith, Magali do Nascimento Cunha relates the concept of mission, from the colonizing times to present day, and describes the model of proselytism to inculturation. She suggests that mission needs to be connected with the way people build community in the midst of individualism and globalization, and that the theological and pastoral reflections should recognize the signs of hope that come out of the experience of the poor. Form groups to research response and New World Outlook stories of mission that exemplify Cunha’s perspective.

Reflect on the mission of the ecumenical or denominational organizations presented in Latin America: People and Faith. Discuss the hopes and transformations that mission with God are bringing to the community. Give opportunity for the participants to tell their own stories of mission that exemplify Cunha’s analysis.

In Mission with Women, Children, and Youth Play true or false:

‹‹ United Methodist Women and its predecessor organizations have been in mission to Latin American since the nineteenth century. ‹‹ Isabella Thoburn was a missionary in Nicaragua. ‹‹ Methodist women organizations in Latin America are members of the World Fed- eration of Methodist and Uniting Church Women. ‹‹ Latina/Hispanic women in the United States can be members of United Methodist Women and fully engaged in the leadership of the organization. ‹‹ Martha Watts was a missionary educator in Brazil and the school she created is a university today. ‹‹ Churches in Latin America do not ordain women but elect women bishops. ‹‹ There are no women theologians in Latin America. ‹‹ Methodist churches in Latin America are connected through CIEMAL to witness unity and service. ‹‹ The Reverend Lizette Gabriel-Montalvo from Puerto Rico is the third woman elected for CIEMAL presidency. ‹‹ Methodist churches are working ecumenically through CLAI.

Women have been engaged in liberation theology and developed their own methodology of studying theology and biblical hermeneutics that empower women. Some of them have had their articles published in United Methodist Women magazines and mission studies, or have spoken at events; some were United Methodist Women scholarship recipients or served as Regional Missionaries. Ask the group to identify some of these women and highlight their contributions and participation with United Methodist Women.

33 Learn the work of the United Methodist Women International Ministries and Regional Missionaries to Latin America and the Caribbean. You may want to research United Methodist Women website (www.unitedmethodistwomen.org) or response magazine for updated information. What are the challenges in the region that United Methodist Women is called to be in mission with?

Assign the stories from “Hands and Hearts of Women in Mission: Testimonies from Latin America” (included at the end of this session) to as many groups you can form in the class. Invite the groups to reflect on them. Suggest questions such as the following:

‹‹ What are the justice issues they are addressing? ‹‹ What are the root causes of injustice? ‹‹ Do you see any similarities with the US context and policies? ‹‹ What would you do? ‹‹ What would move you to be in mission? ‹‹ What moves them to be in mission? ‹‹ What inspires them? ‹‹ How does the story connect with women in your area or district? ‹‹ What are the similarities and differences between women who are in mission in Latin America and the United States? ‹‹ How are those signs of hope, faith, and love in action?

Wrap up the class conversation suggesting some questions for personal reflection. Participants may write down their answers in their journals and even share them at the closing prayer. Pause after reading each of the following questions:

‹‹ How has this learning impacted you? ‹‹ What is next for you? ‹‹ In what liberating ways can you be in mission with women, youth, and children through United Methodist Women in Latin American and Caribbean regions? ‹‹ How has this study helped you expand your understanding of mission? ‹‹ Where is Latin America in your neighborhood?

Closing Prayer Invite participants to offer some of the thoughts or prayers they may have written in their journal. Conclude the session by saying the Lord’s Prayer.

34 Glossary Orishas – Deities from African religions that connect humans with god. “Yoruba cosmology held that there was only one world–the here and now–but within that one world there was a visible part, that which humans occupied, and an invisible part that was occupied by the orisha and the ancestors.”5

Xango, Ogun, Exu, Yemanja, Iansa, Oxala – They are all orixás/orishas in Candomblé that are either represented by a Catholic saint or an element of nature, and each one has a special function in connecting humans with gods.

Rituals – “The orisha were spirits that gave humans access to the knowable part of the great creative force of the universe by inhabiting a person and sending him or her into a trance as part of rituals that included dance, music and food.”6

Paje – A healer within the indigenous spirituality who usually uses traditional medicine based on herbs, plants, and seeds to cure and prevent diseases.

Lavagem do Bonfim – The Washing of the Church of Our Lord of Bonfim, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Originating in 1754, this is a festival that makes clear just how Brazilian culture and religions are still everyday life of a slavery-based society still permeates the culture and religions in Brazil.

Comunidade eclesial de base (Basic ecclesial communities) – It is new way of “being the church,” to live out God’s preferential option for the poor. It is small groups in poor or rural communities that gather to reflect on their life and the Bible, and to find ways to witness their faith acting for justice. It started in the 1960s in the Catholic Church in Brazil, and spread across Latin America. In some places, it was an ecumenical experience of living out the call for justice and human rights during the military governments.

35 Hands and Hearts of Women in Mission Testimonies from Latin America

Witness the Gospel and the “Good Living” By Cecilia Castillo, Chile Gender and Women Secretary of Latin American Council of Churches

I come from the land of Gabriela Mistral, Violeta Parra, Isabel Allende. I come from a country where women are trade unionists, feminists, parliamentarians, rural workers, and indigenous. I come from the land of many “Marias,” who in their daily life, create alternatives with resilience. I come from a continent of significantly empowered women. I come from Latin America and the Caribbean: land of “mestizajes,” indigenous peoples, and Afro-descendants, whose diverse cultural threads weave the fabric of this continent.

Latin America and the Caribbean are permanently torn between grotesque contradictions, the extreme economic wealth of a few and the “live for the day” of a large majority. Migrations and displacements show us the face of women who, alone or with their children, suffer the exodus from their land in search of other places that are more favorable for their daily bread.

The trafficked girls and women by the current slave systems shamefully show that there is no respect for human life. On behalf of easy money, our motivation and consciousness are sold.

The gender-based violence against women, domestic and family violence, together with femicide, appear visibly reported in the justice courts, but for the vast majority it has become a dull topic for the sensationalist social media to capture an audience. Sometimes those issues are heard in shy and uncommitted prayers in our churches, and taken as the will of God.

Likewise, people with disabilities are also invisible in our communities of faith.

The churches continue to want to control women’s sexuality, their bodies, and reproductive life, as well as sustaining a unique concept of family that is no longer true to the realities. The full recognition of women’s human rights is not discussed or completely adopted in the churches due to a prevalent androcentric biblical reading.

How to witness to the gospel of life in the midst of all this?

To witness to the gospel, we have much to learn from the cultures and spirituality that emerge from the indigenous peoples. “The good-living” (buen vivir) of the indigenous cultures affirms life from another perspective; it is opposed to the capitalist system of consumption that does not engender good living. “The good-living” is the ideal sought by men and women of indigenous cultures, and it translates as the fullness of life—the social, economic and political well-being that people want. “The good-living” implies a substantial critical analysis of the

36 contemporary ideas of development and in particular the link between economic growth and its inability to solve the problems of poverty, besides ignoring that their practices bring severe social and environmental impacts.

Bearing witness to the gospel of life, women advocate in the church and in the streets for better quality of life and gender justice, and denounce the violation of women’s human rights.

Indigenous Women Translators of the Bible By Elsa Tamez, Colombia Emeritus Professor of Latin American Biblical University, Costa Rica

I want to give my testimony about women translators of the Bible. There are amazing women out there. Last year, at one of the Bible Society United training courses for indigenous translators, I met Elena. She was part of the translation team of the Bible into Machiguenga, a language of a people that lives in the forest of Peru. Elena was very quiet but very attentive. She looked like a poor person. I imagined her in the forest, barefoot and disheveled, like everyone else, fighting against the poor condition of electricity in her community. After I gave thecourse about the context in which the Gospel of Mark was written, she turned to me and said quite naturally: “Where can I buy the book of Flavius Josephus about the war of the Romans against the Jews?” Her question softened me and since then, I think a lot about her: a woman, poor, indigenous, who lives in the forest, and wants to read a first-century historian.

Enith, from the Nasa culture in Colombia, is a young smart translator and a very devoted mother. I love watching how she has grown in the field of translation. She was chosen, along with three men, to form the translators’ team. She had to participate with her six month-old baby in an intensive workshop—on one side, she had the notebook, and on the other the nursing baby. That’s the image that lasted in my mind. Then, during the year, on my visits to revise the translation, I would see her as the translator and mother all together: on one hand, the computer and then Rocío, the baby, on her lap. Rocío is growing up alongside the translation project. Witnessing Enith’s growth is a great satisfaction. She and two other translators had no idea what it was to translate the Bible; she spoke fluent Nasa Yuwet, but barely knew the script alphabet. And now, three years later, she looks like a professional translator. I think the translation done by women might reflect something very deep from the human being.

When we work in the city, I see with tenderness when Enith makes the effort to find literature that will help her better understand the biblical texts. She carefully revises what she translates, and at the same time answers the call of her daughter who asks when they will come back home. Enith loves being a translator of the Bible and would like to pursue a career in linguistics someday. Those are the women that we should support.

37 The future comes! “Righteousness and peace will kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10) By Genilma Boehler, United Methodist missionary Professor of Theology at the Latin American Biblical University, Costa Rica

From the future one listens the sound of other voices, other movements. The light footsteps of those who come from there, have announced that we need to review our discourse and our actions relating to God and to life, otherwise there will be nothing for us.

The crystallized theological discourses which legitimize discriminatory attitudes need to be revised today. It means to review what is fundamental to announce hope; to affirm to the new generations that faith is meaningful: faith in life, but not only in human life but also, life in the micro and macro: vegetal, animal, and human life. Faith in the other, so similar and so different from me: all are subjects of their rights. Faith in God is broader and larger than our theologies.

For theology that has been captive of the ecclesiastical spaces, controlled and driven by invariant ideologies, there is a future that calls for theology in the public spaces. It also reclaims its place in the hearts and minds of the new generations. It means to freely affirm the meaning of the discourse about God, without restrictions, and for that we need to rehearse new steps. Ensuring that there will be a future for God on our planet, in our societies, in the younger generation has been the basic axis of my mission as a professor of theology. I teach theology to students of various degrees: bachelor, master, doctoral. They are women and men of various Christian traditions of Latin America. For each new group of students, the future is the challenge for theology.

An Ecumenical Response By Rebeca Cascante, Costa Rica Psychologist and National Coordinator of Pastoral Care for Women, CEDEPCA, Costa Rica

“This isn’t living!” “My life is terrible! What do I have to live for?” “Lord, take my life because I can’t do this anymore.” These comments and pleas to God constitute the daily bread of thousands of women in Central America. They feel exhausted, beaten, and are without hope. They are women who have been just surviving for years, some for decades, because what they experience cannot be called life. They know what it is to survive, but have not been able to make the great leap from merely surviving to experience life at its fullest, a life of dignity that God wants for all human beings.

Since the 1980s, in the midst of a Central America wracked by wars, revolutions, poverty, and natural disasters, pastors and leaders of different church denominations have united to respond to the cries of the people. From the churches and ecumenical organizations emerged programs and pastoral efforts to minister to the population sectors most affected: children, women, and the elderly. Under the mandate of Jesus Christ to preach a kingdom of justice and peace, the program of Pastoral Care for Women has strived to continue aiding women survivors of violence and all kinds of discriminations.

38 Our mission is to encourage and challenge them, from a faith perspective, to not give up; to believe that better times are coming; and that with the effort and help of others, new options will open up for them. Through psychological help, legal information, pastoral support, biblical and theological formation from a women’s perspective, they will be empowered to enjoy a full life. Because this is God’s desire: that we “have life and life in abundance,” here and now.

Promoting Peace in Children’s Lives By Teca Greathouse, United Methodist missionary Coordinator of the Shade and Fresh Water Program, a national network of after-school pro- grams for children and teenagers, Brazil

“Therefore, let us strive to promote all that leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19, NIV).

Aline is only thirteen! She is a beautiful teenage girl! Bright eyes, slim size, and taller than most girls her age. But behind the shy smile and crestfallen look, she carries an incredible story of pain and suffering.

Her mother was neglected and a victim of child exploitation since the age of six. She never attended school and as a teenager was sexually molested. At fourteen, illiterate and helpless, she was an angry and sad person. Later, she became the mother of two girls. Those two girls, at the ages of six and seven years old, were referred to one of the Shade and Fresh Water projects of the Methodist Church in Brazil where I served as a Global Ministries missionary for many years.

Aline and her sister were raised very strictly by their mother. Controlled by the effects of alcohol and drugs, their mom often physically punished them for trivial reasons. Recently, Aline was referred to our pastoral counseling program. Her fertile and excessive imagination worried us. We do not even know if she has had a boyfriend, yet. But Aline has high fantasies about her “love and sex” life. And one of those fantasies is her story of being pregnant once and having an abortion. She very often contradicts herself confessing to be a virgin and inexperienced. However, Aline’s heaviest weight is the relationship with her mother. She complains of being constantly humiliated and belittled by her mom.

I felt totally helpless hearing the story of this teenager who is so overwhelmed with fear, worry, and pain! Before she left the project that morning, I held her little hands in mine and prayed for her and her family. How I wish I could take her away from all this to a place of security and peace! Then, I asked God to take care of her life and grant it that peace.

Saying goodbye to Aline that day I said, “Go in PEACE.” She replied, “YOU are my PEACE! And this project is my only JOY.”

It was such a great feeling for me to be reaffirmed: by listening with respect, interest, and love we can bring God’s peace to the heart of people and especially to so many children like Aline. May this gracious Lord continue to grant us with those opportunities.

39 Ubuntu Journey By Leila de Jesus Barbosa, Brazil Vice-President of the Methodist Women Confederation in Brazil, and Vice-President of Latin America and the Caribbean Methodist Women’s Confederation, Brazil

I understand that mission is to announce the Gospel to every person. Not only to share the word of God, but also to practice it, helping in every possible way, especially people who live in situations of violence or human trafficking.

I was raised in a very protective family. I was like a princess who knew nothing of what was happening around me. Until one day, through the Methodist Women’s Federation in Rio de Janeiro and later through the Methodist Women’s Confederation in Brazil, I realized that the world was not what I knew. Many people around me, even in the churches, were living in terrible situations of violence. So I decided to get involved in a more concrete way, especially after participating in the Ubuntu Journey with United Methodist Women in 2011 in Brazil to prevent violence against women and children and human trafficking.

Now, I am one of the active participants in the Secretariat of Public Policies for Women in my city, Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro. I have shared all that I learned in the seminars to prevent and to alleviate the suffering of women and children. I’ve been invited to speak on the subject in Salvador, Fortaleza, and São Paulo. I also did a workshop with women, men, and youth of my church. That time, I involved health professionals in the workshop so they could answer more specific questions about the impact of domestic violence. Everybody was very surprised by how much we all need to learn about the issue.

I do this kind of workshop with great joy. It makes me feel useful as I am contributing to raise awareness to prevent violence against women and children. For me, life should be a permanent learning and teaching process.

Putting Yourself in God’s Hands By Angela Soares de Oliveira, Brazil Teacher for the Adult and Young People Education Project, Brazil

Some time ago, I began to participate in an educational project for youth and adults in my church, the Methodist Church in Vila Isabel, Rio de Janeiro. The students were men and women who dropped out of school or who never had been in the school.

I started assisting the teacher and learning the students’ life stories. Although they came from different states of Brazil, such as Pernambuco, Ceará, Bahia, and Paraíba, their stories were very similar. They all lived in situations of poverty, in regions where the long periods of drought kill the crops and the cattle. Migration to the city was seen as the only alternative to get a job. Most of them had a relative who already migrated to Rio de Janeiro. They live in the Morro dos Macacos, a slum in the hills of the neighborhood.

40 I teach a class with students who range from 27 to 82 years old. Some don’t know how to read; others can read but don’t know how to write. After they learn the basics of writing and reading, they try to go to a formal school so they can graduate with a certificate that can help them in their jobs.

The majority of the students are women. They have never been to a school, either because there was no school in the countryside where they lived or because the cultural pattern was that “women were not supposed to study.” In Rio de Janeiro, they are domestic workers. Rita, one of the students, told me excitedly about the day she was able to read the note that her boss left for her. José, the doorman, was happy because now he could post the mail in the right doors. Marcos, an athlete, no longer needed to pretend that he could read the game schedule. When we go from kindergarten through college, we take those things for granted. But for those students in Vila Isabel, it meant overcoming immense social and personal barriers.

I thought that it would be easy to teach adults just because I had access to formal education. But I started noticing the difference between my life and the students’ lives. I learned with them how to read and write again. I learned with them the gift that God has given to me. I finally understood that to do mission is just to put yourself in God’s hands for social justice.

Mission in My Community By Ludeña Dina Cebrian, Peru Founding Member of the Community of Indigenous Women Theologians of Abya Yala, and works with Andean and Amazonian indigenous women migrants (Ashaninka and Nomatsiguenga) of the Pangoa District in the Selva Central Peru

Mission as one of Jesus’ mandates to the ones committed to him has had several meanings in my life and my work in the community. At one point, it meant preaching and evangelizing unbelievers. Today it means the struggle to preserve life, the ecosystems, and Mother Earth. That’s mission, which is done from the periphery in which we, the indigenous peoples, are located. It means seeking partnerships, platforms, strategies to join this fight in the desperate hope of redeeming the only place that God has given us to inhabit—the earth.

In the scriptures we find a people desperate to reclaim their inheritance, the land that their creator had given them to care for, preserve, and eat its fruit. The people of Israel, displaced to strange towns, had their identity and culture diluted by conquerors and empires; their land threatened and about to disappear. The hope of return and the promise of freedom give a glimpse of life, a life where joy and peace are not only for the human beings but strongly expressed and shared by the whole of nature—trees, hills and mountains.

The Bible text that inspires our communities to be walking this mission of searching and creating alliances is Isaiah 55. We read it from the context of our indigenous peoples who struggle to protect our territory, the spiritual sanctuaries, from the presence of the mining companies, hydroelectric, and other weapons of the modern globalization.

Our communities are small independent churches of Andean migrants in the Selva (forest) and

41 the natives of the Selva Central (forest) of Peru. Community, for me, is also the small network of indigenous women theologians that started in Abya Yala (Latin America) and now is becoming global, in alliance with the World Council of Churches Assembly recommendation.

Promoting the Rights of Women and Children By Luzmila Quezada, Peru Theologian Professor and former United Methodist Women Scholarship Recipient

Every day we hear more and more about femicide, violence, and insecurity. According to the International Labour Organization report, “Girls in Mining,” girls in Peru can work up to 12 hours a day from the age of 10 or 12. In some cases, their work in bars can lead to sex work or sexual abuse by employers and clients. This tells us the condition of human suffering in our society.7

This situation requires the creation of spaces to train facilitators and community organizers to promote the rights of women and children. This is what prompted me to open an interdisciplinary education program through the certificate in human dignity, gender, sexuality, and social inclusion. The program targets young adult leaders in order to generate a process of collective transformation at the intellectual and behavioral level, and praxis with a vocation to service.

In this educational process, we noticed some challenges. One of them is that the structures of our churches are based on a patriarchal theology which marginalizes women when they want to develop their ministry. Far from promoting their work, the churches inhibit their development; and when women challenge their religious leaders, they are silenced or disciplined. This situation of pain and suffering for women and young people requires rethinking the distortion of theological reflection, a theology that glorifies suffering, submission, and obedience as a virtue. Rather, the mission of the church is to show the salvific action of a God who is in solidarity with human suffering in our history and in the world. It is not a passive faith, but an active faith that educates and provides equal opportunities for women and young people. Women and young adults are the protagonists of their own history. They are empowered to transform, restore, and heal the wounds. When we are working in the ministry of reconciliation and healing of the world, we build the kingdom of God. The biblical text that helps me to keep inspired in this process is 1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

42 Appendix Supplementary Resources

Before showing any videos, playing any music, or reproducing any information, please check to be sure that you have permission to do so.

Session 1: Sacred Land ‹‹ www.history.com: Search the “topic” or “video” link for articles or clips about Latin America, a particular country, or a theme. You may find a couple of short clips about the encounter of the indigenous people and the colonizers if you click on “Mexico.” ‹‹ www.pbs.org: Search the “topic” or “video” link for what may be available on the theme of this session,, such as the DVDs “The Magnificent Voyage of Christopher Columbus” and “When Worlds Collide: The Untold Story of the Americas After Columbus.” Both are available for purchase online. ‹‹ www.iadb.org: This is the Inter-American Development Bank website. If you click the country link, you may see a clip about a development issue related to the country. Search for a documentary about the Mayan civilization and its temples, “Mayas, The Flight through Time.” ‹‹ www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america: “Black in Latin America” is a PBS web- site with clips and articles about the situation of African descendants in Latin American and the Caribbean. A DVD with the documentary may be also available on the website.

Session 2: America in Plural! ‹‹ books.google.com: Check for free e-books. ‹‹ onlinelibrary.wiley.com: Publisher of World Council of Churches’ journals. Requires registration to access the articles. ‹‹ www.globethics.net: World Council of Churches’ free online library. ‹‹ www.nytimes.com/pages/world/americas: Visit the Americas section of the New York Times for updated news. ‹‹ upsidedownworld.org: Visit for updated news. ‹‹ www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/what-we-do/service-and-advocacy: Visit “Global Migration” for a list of immigration resources.

43 Session 3: Life and Art ‹‹ www.undp.org/content/rblac/en: The website for the United Nations Develop- ment Programme (UNDP) in Latin America and the Caribbean is a source for in- formation, analysis, and policy proposal for human development of the region. You may find relevant reports for the conversation. For example, the 2010 Report focused on inequality: “Acting on the future: breaking the intergenerational trans- mission of inequality.” The UNDP’s Human Development Report for the region in 2013-2014—“Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and Proposals for Latin America”—analyzed how crime and violence impact the region. ‹‹ www.youtube.com: Search for clips that are related to the issues highlighted in this section. For example: Search for the title “Stop Feminicide Now! New Video Campaign Launched at European Parliament.”

Session 4: Hands and Hearts in Mission ‹‹ www.pewforum.org: Pew Research Center, Religion & Public Life Project. “The Global Catholic Population,” posted on February 13, 2013. ‹‹ www.huffingtonpost.com: Huffington Post, “Fire in the Pews: Pentecostal-Cath- olic Competition Reviving Religion in Latin America,” by David Briggs, posted on November 4, 2013. ‹‹ www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions: Find information about Candomblé in the reli- gion channel of the BBC website. ‹‹ www.nytimes.com: The New York Times, “Hoping for Asylum: Migrants Strain US Border,” by Julia Preston, posted on April 10, 2014. ‹‹ www.sedosmission.org: Sedos, Silvia Regina de Lima Silva, “Mission and Afro- Brazilian Cultural Reality.” ‹‹ www.internationaltheologicalcommission.org: Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, see Volume XXXVI, n 2013-14. “Liberation Theology: 40 Years Old.”

44 Published Resources Barbara Campbell. To Educate Is to Teach to Live: Women’s Struggles toward Higher Education. New York: General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, 2005.

Ondina E. González and Justo L. González. Christianity in Latin America: A History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Ivan Petrella. Latin American Liberation Theology: The Next Generation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2005.

Dana L. Robert. Joy to the World! Mission in the Age of Global Christianity: A Mission Study for 2010 and 2011. New York: Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, 2010.

Robert W. Sledge. Five Dollars and Myself: The History of Mission of the Methodist Episcopal South 1845-1939. New York: General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, 2005.

New World Outlook. General Board of Global Ministries magazine. response. United Methodist Women magazine.

45 Endnotes Session 1 1. “Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Voices,” United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2006, www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/5session_factsheet1.pdf. 2. “Social Panorama of Latin America 2006,” United Nations Economic Commission for Lat- in America and the Caribbean, www.cepal.org/publicaciones/xml/4/27484/psi2006_cap3_ indigenouspeople‎, 160, 162. 3. “State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples,” United Nations Permanent Forum on Indige- nous Issues, 2009, undesadspd.org/IdigenousPeoples/LibraryDocuments/StateoftheWorlds IndigenousPeoples.aspx, 24. 4. Ibid., 87.

Session 3 1. “Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World,” United Nations Development Pro- gramme, March 14, 2013, www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/events/2013/ March/HDR2013.html. 2. Gabriela de Cicco, “Women Take a Stand against Monsanto across Latin America,” Associa- tion for Women’s Rights in Development, January 3, 2014, www.awid.org/Library/Women- Take-a-Stand-Against-Monsanto-Across-Latin-America. 3. “Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and Proposals for Latin America,” United Na- tions Development Programme, November 12, 2013, www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ librarypage/hdr/human-development-report-for-latin-america-2013-2014.html. 4. Miriam Wells, “Report Maps Three Decades of Violence in Brazil,” InSight Crime: Organized Crime in the Americas, August 12, 2013, www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/report-maps- three-decades-of-murders-in-brazil.

Session 4 1. Ondina E. González and Justo L. González, Christianity in Latin America: A History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 252. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid., 250. 4. Ibid., 285. 5. Ibid., 27. 6. Ibid. 7. “Girls in Mining,” Bureau for Gender Equality International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, 2007, www.ilo.org/public/portugue/region/eurpro/lisbon/pdf/girlsmining.pdf.

46 About the Author

Rosângela Soares de Oliveira is the executive director of World Day of Prayer International Committee in New York. She served as United Methodist Women’s regional missionary for Latin America from 2001 to 2012, and is an active member of the United Methodist Women of St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City. She is originally from Brazil and has served as a clergyperson of the Brazilian Methodist Church.

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