LATIN AMERICA SOCIO-RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROGRAM (PROLADES) A MINISTRY OF IN-DEPTH EVANGELISM ASSOCIATES (IDEA) EXPANDED STATUS OF CHRISTIANITY COUNTRY PROFILE: GUATEMALA, 1980 By Clifton L. Holland Original Draft: October 1982 (Last Revised: January 2008) PROLADES Apartado 1524-2050, San Pedro, Costa Rica Telephone: (506) 283-8300; FAX 234-7682 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.prolades.com 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS FIGURES 5 I. COUNTRY SUMMARY: 1980 7 II CURRENT STATUS OF CHRISTIANITY 9 III. UNREACHED PEOPLES 13 3.1 Ladinos 13 3.2 Amerindians 13 3.3 Other Ethnolinguistical Groups 16 IV. OVERVIEW OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 19 4.1 Roman Catholic Church 19 4.2 Protestant Churches 20 V. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY 44 5.1 Roman Catholic Missions 44 5.2 Protestant Missions and Denominations 47 5.2.1 Early English Baptist Efforts 47 5.2.2 Presbyterian Churches 47 5.2.3 Union Church 51 5.2.4 Central American Mission 52 5.2.5 Church of the Nazarene 54 5.2.6 California Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quaker) 54 5.2.7 Seventh-day Adventists 55 5.2.8 Christian Brethren – Plymouth Brethren 56 5.2.9 Primitive Methodist Church 57 5.2.10 Emanuel Church Associations 58 5.2.11 National Evangelical Mission – Church of God of Prophesy 58 5.2.12 Baptist Churches 59 5.2.13 Lutheran Churches 60 5.2.14 Church of God (Cleveland, TN) 61 5.2.15 Assemblies of God 62 5.2.16 Interdenominational Evangelical Mission 62 5.2.17 United World Mission 64 5.2.18 Church of God (Anderson, IN) 64 5.2.19 Continental Missionary Crusade – Iglesia El Calvario 64 3 5.2.20 Bethesda Church of God 65 5.2.21 Apostolic Church of Faith in Jesus Christ 65 5.2.22 Missionary Church of God 66 5.2.23 Protestant Episcopal Church 66 5.2.24 International Church of the Foursquare Gospel 66 5.2.25 Defenders of the Faith Mission 66 5.2.26 Prince of Peace Evangelical Church Association 67 5.2.27 Palestine Pentecostal Mission 68 5.2.28 Churches of Christ 68 5.2.29 New Jerusalem Church of God 68 5.2.30 Elim Christian Mission 68 5.2.31 Assembly of Christian Churches 69 5.2.32 Door to Heaven Pentecostal Church (Puerto al Cielo) 69 5.2.33 Pentecostal Church of God of America 69 5.2.34 Mt. Bashan Pentecostal Church 70 5.2.35 Voice of God Evangelical Churches 70 5.2.36 Springs of Living Water Evangelical Churches 71 5.2.37 Other Groups 71 5.2.38 Summary of Protestant Church Growth in 1960s and 1970s 71 5.2.39 The Largest Protestant Denominations in 1980 71 VI. MAJOR PROTESTANT ACTIVITIES 71 6.1 Ecumenical Organizations 71 6.2 Basic Education 73 6.3 Bible Translation and Distribution 74 6.4 Broadcasting 75 6.5 Crusade Evangelism 76 6.6 Literature and Films 82 6.7 Social Concern 83 6.8 Theological Education 84 6.9 General Service Organizations 85 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY 89 VIII. APPENDICES 97 4 LIST OF FIGURES FOR GUATEMALA 1. GEOPOLITICAL MAP OF GUATEMALA 6 2. PROPORTION OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN GUATEMALA, 1980 [PIE CHART] 8 3. RACIAL-ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF GUATEMALA, 1980 [PIE CHART] 12 4. MAP OF MAJOR ETHNOLINGUISTICAL GROUPS IN GUATEMALA 13 5A. TABLE OF PROTESTANT MEMBERSHIP GROWTH: 1910-1980 20 5. 5B. TABLE OF PROTESTANT MEMBERSHIP GROWTH RATES: 1910-1980 21 6. CHART OF PROTESTANT FAMILY TREE [DIAGRAM] 24 7. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF PROTESTANT ORIGINS IN GUATEMALA 25 8. STATISTICAL TABLE OF THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENT IN GUATEMALA: 1980 26 TABLE OF LARGEST PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS IN GUATEMALA: 1980 (+3,000 9. 30 MEMBERS NATIONALLY) PROPORTION OF PROTESTANT MEMBERSHIP IN GUATEMALA BY MAJOR 10. 31 TRADITIONS, 1935-1980 [100% CHART] PROTESTANT MEMBERSHIP IN GUATEMALA BY MAJOR TRADITIONS: 1980 11. 31 [PIE CHART] PROTESTANT MEMBERSHIP BY MAJOR TRADITIONS [PIE CHARTS]: 12. 12A. SEPARATIST TRADITION BY FAMILY TYPES, 1980 32 12B. PENTECOSTAL TRADITION BY FAMILY TYPES, 1980 GROWTH OF TOTAL POPULATION COMPARED TO PROTESTANT 13. 33 MEMBERSHIP GROWTH: 1935-1980 [SEMI-LOG SCALE] PROTESTANT MEMBERSHIP GROWTH BY SELECTED DENOMINATIONS: 14. 34 1900-1980 [SEMI-LOG SCALE] GROWTH OF TEN LARGEST PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS: 1967-1980 15. 35 [STACKED BAR CHART] ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PROTESTANT CONGREGATIONS IN GUATEMALA: 16. 35 1935-1980 (BAR CHART) ESTIMATED SIZE OF PROTESTANT POPULATION IN GUATEMALA: 1935-2000 17. 36 (BAR CHART) 18A. DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION BY REGIONS: 1980 (PIE CHARTS) 18. 37 18B. DISTRIBUTION OF PROTESTANT CONGREGATIONS BY REGIONS: 1980 TABLE OF NUMBER AND PROPORTION OF PROTESTANT CONGREGATIONS BY 19. 38 REGIONS AND DEPARTMENTS: 1980 20. MAP OF GUATEMALA BY DEPARTMENTS 40 NUMBER AND PROPORTION OF PROTESTANT CONGREGATIONS BY 21. DEPARTMENTS: 1980 [BAR CHART] 22A. TABLE OF NUMBER AND PROPORTION OF PROTESTANT CONGREGATIONS BY DEPARTMENTS: 1980 (SORTED BY DGE DEPARTMENTAL ENUMERATION) 22. 42 22B. TABLE OF NUMBER AND PROPORTION OF PROTESTANT CONGREGATIONS BY DEPARTMENTS: 1980 (SORTED BY CONGREGATION-TO-POPULATION RATIO) 5 FIGURE 1: GEOPOLITICAL MAP OF GUATEMALA 6 EXPANDED STATUS OF CHRISTIANITY COUNTRY PROFILE: GUATEMALA I. COUNTRY SUMMARY 1980 More than half of Guatemalans are descendants of indigenous Mayan peoples. Westernized Mayans and mestizos (mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry) are known as ladinos . Most of Guatemala's population is rural, although urbanization is accelerating in the departmental capitals and in the national capital, Guatemala City. The first colonial capital, Santiago de Guatemala, was ruined by floods and an earthquake in 1542. Survivors founded a second capital, now known as La Antigua Guatemala, in 1543. In the 17th century, Antigua Guatemala became one of the richest capitals in the New World. Always vulnerable to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, Antigua was destroyed by two earthquakes in 1773, but the remnants of its Spanish colonial architecture have been preserved as a national monument. The third capital, modern Guatemala City, was founded in 1776, in the "Valle de Nuestra Señora de la Ermita." On February 4, 1976, Guatemala City and most of the national territory (16 of 22 departments) was severely shaken by another major earthquake that registered 7.5 on the Richter scale, which caused massive destruction and loss of life. According to Roger Plant (1978:5), “Of a total population of approximately 5,500,000, over 22,000 were killed, more than 77,000 injured and over 1,000,000 made homeless; it was the severest natural catastrophe in Central America during the twentieth century.” Although upper- and middle-class neighborhoods were only slightly damaged, many of the poorer districts of Guatemala City were devastated, along with poorly-constructed homes of the peasantry in the central highland provinces of Chimaltenango and Saca- tepéquez and the lowland areas of Zacapa and El Progreso, where whole villages were flattened or virtually disappeared from the earth. The failure of the government to rebuild destroyed rural villages only added to already great misery among the Mayan communities who turned to international aid agencies and religious organizations for assistance. For vast numbers of urban squatters, they were left with no place to live amidst the mass of rubble and fallen earth, where re-settlement was prohibited for safety reasons. In order to survive the harsh conditions, thousands of people improvised by setting up tents and huts in vacant lots, public parks or by the roadside in the major cities. Although government agencies, religious groups and international relief organizations quickly responded to the crisis, the poor squatters who lived in the shanty towns of Guatemala City and other provincial capitals were some of the most vulnerable to deprivation and violence in the aftermath of the great earthquake. As production and reconstruction began for the wealthy, the business community and landowners, the poor working-class and the rural peasant communities did not fare so well. The earthquake occurred at a time of growing labor unrest, when workers were taking advantage of a degree of support for labor union freedom professed by President Kjell 7 Laugerud (under his predecessor no independent trade union activity had been allowed). Labor organizing efforts had begun among many industrial establishments in an attempt to gain legal recognition for their labor unions. Union members were protected by law against unfair dismissal only after the union’s legal status had been officially recognized by the Ministry of Labor, but in many cases organizing workers were dismissed by employers before this legal status was granted. This pattern was repeated over and over again before and after the earthquake as a means of holding down production costs by business owners and managers, who often used intimidation by the National Police and violence by hired thugs (sometimes off-duty security personnel) to control labor unrest (Plant 1978). Today, Guatemalans are caught in the middle of many social conflicts, including power struggles between various political parties, military, business and social groups, which some Guatemalan leaders began to refer to as “mafias” (LaFeber 1984). Since 1960, the military-dominated government claims that it has been forced to employ “emergency measures” (read, “state terrorism”) in order to maintain order in the face of an armed insurrection against a democratically-elected government by a Marxist-inspired guerrilla movement.1 This civil conflict caused the deaths of an estimated 50,000 people between 1966 and 1976, according to LaFeber.2 Polarization of opinion was the result. Right- wing leaders think that all such authoritarian measures are necessary for the preservation of traditional society. Left-wing leaders think that the government is stifling not only dissidents and revolutionaries, but also all expressions of opinion that are contrary to those in power. There seems to be too little sensitivity to the impact of government policies on the lives of tens of thousands of campesinos (rural peasants) who own very little land and on the plight of the large Indigenous population of subsistence farmers.