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Greetings!
Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that this beautiful, diverse, friendly country that we call home has been fighting a civil war for 52 years. I know it is there, but the conflict isn't always evident. Of course, it is different for Ricardo. He and all of his friends and most of his family have only known war... and that reality has been very visible at times. Civil war has been the reality for generations of Colombians!
Ricardo and I have been praying for peace and revival in Colombia for our entire life together and we thought those prayers were being answered this past weekend when the Colombian people voted to accept or reject the peace treaty. While there were things in the treaty with which we didn't necessarily agree, we'd choose what Jesus would choose, peace and forgiveness! Jesus taught us to be peacemakers. He also taught that forgiveness is costly to those who forgive and free for those who receive.
The following section contains a letter written by the president of our seminary, Elizabeth Sendek, after the vote was counted. We invite you to read this letter. watch the video that I translated in order to better understand where our country stands today and then, please pray! Pray with us for peace in Colombia! Please feel free to share the newsletter and the video in your churches and/or prayer groups so that together you can intercede for Colombia.
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The Letter from Elizabeth Sendek of the Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia (FUSBC):
"On Sunday, October 2nd, the Colombian people said No to the agreement reached by the national government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known as the FARC) after four years of negotiations. How is it possible that a country could say NO after more than five decades of war, at least four failed attempts at negotiation, and four years of conversations leading to an agreement celebrated by the international community?
Allow me to share some observations. I write from an institution, which was born at the time of World War II (1944) and in its early years trained pastors for an Evangelical Church that was the victim of religious and political persecution during the period of Colombian history known as The Violence (1948-1957). I write from a place where in the last decades we’ve had among our students and residents those who have experienced the horrors of war, personally or among their family members: massacre, kidnappings, disappearances, displacement, looting. I write from a place where those who’ve studied here were also at one time murderers and, through the redeeming and transforming grace of God, today serve in His name. I write from an educational community where we promoted the responsibility of reading and understanding the [Peace]Agreement, and of examining the personal and ministerial challenges that we would face as the people of God in order to be able to live in peace.
- The difference in favor of the No vote was 53,894 votes (0.8%). Of the total number of Colombians who were eligible to vote, 62% did not. So one can hardly say that No is the voice of the majority of Colombians. The majority seems to have chosen indifference. On the other hand, a victory for Yes under similar circumstances – a narrow margin of victory and a small number of voters – would have lacked the political weight necessary to implement the Agreement.
- The voting map shows that the municipalities most affected by violence in the country expressed themselves with an overwhelming Yes. Meanwhile, the center of the country, except Bogotá, rejected the agreement. Thus we clearly have a country divided ideologically and geographically.
- The debate beforehand was marked by disinformation, incivility on both sides, and arrogance. It failed to explain the Agreement clearly so that it could be understood by most people in a way that addressed their doubts and fears. This contributed to the No vote. A huge unknown is what both the FARC as well as those who have been rivals and bitter enemies – the government and the supporters of the No vote – will actually do from this point forward.
- Recent statements from the government as well as the champions of the No vote and the FARC seem to offer a glimmer of hope that all is not lost. The government and the FARC declare that they will maintain the bilateral ceasefire, and all say they’re willing to keep talking. No one is sure of the roadmap for these talks, although representatives of the government and the supporters of the No vote have been appointed to initiate dialogue. Any progress will require more than words, and all parties have to put aside arrogance. In politics that’s asking for miracles.
- Many evangelicals seem to have aligned themselves with the No vote. I wonder whether we ought not repent for the way in which we participated in the debate, recognizing that both the intensity and tone of the argument reflected a high level of misinformation and aggression. To paraphrase a FUSBC professor, it seems that Colombian-ness counted more than piety.
Our agenda
As an institution called to train people committed to serve God, the church, and society, it’s imperative that we reflect on the agenda that this historical moment in Colombia presents us. The following are some preliminary points:
- Recognition of our vulnerability and limitations; we need to depend on God and we need one other, in all our diversity.
- Reconciliation and the contribution of the church to rebuilding the social fabric of the country must be permanent issues on the institutional agenda. This is not a temporary situation.
- Strengthening the role of contextualization as a core competency across our curriculum. Insisting on the formation of upright character, on the development of a Christian worldview, on the practice of healthy hermeneutics, and on living a piety that takes into account the importance not only of service in the church but of service as citizens.
- Exploration of how to contribute to equipping the church for participation in public life with honesty and without naïveté. What do we propose for a country that does not know where it’s going but that desperately needs to learn how to live together?
Let us raise our prayers for Colombia, for the church, and for FUSBC. In these difficult days, may God allow us to walk in wisdom, humility, justice, and mercy.
Elizabeth Sendek
President, Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia
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This video was created by one of the local newspapers to try and help explain what is happening now. We found it helpful and hope you do too (especially in it's translated form). :-)
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In the meantime, there are a lot of interesting and exciting things happening in our ministry but we'd rather you focus your prayer with us on the entire country. We still don't have a firm answer about what is happening with Juliana but her dizziness has let up some and so we thank God and press on.
Thanks so much for your partnership in ministry with us. We thank God for you regularly!
Blessings,
Ricardo, Beth, Juliana and Jonathan
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US phone 859-559-0628 | WhatsApp +57 317 730 5344 | gomezministry@gmail.com
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