General concepts, the very essence of what FAIENAP is
We are aware and attentive to the feelings and thoughts that FAIENAP produces in people, organizations and denominations.
- For some, FAIENAP is the infrastructure, a place to conduct camps, retreats, congresses, seminars or workshops.
- For other FAIENAP is the organization, the Executive Council, the Executive Director, the visible face of the Director, the people who work daily in the offices and the brothers who are responsible for the maintenance of the base.
- For other FAIENAP is the place where the bibles of the different ethnic groups are translated and / or revised.
- For others FAIENAP is also the supplier of exhibitors for the different events that take place in different areas of the Peruvian jungle.
- For others FAIENAP is CAMIT, a Transcultural Missionary Training School, where training is provided with experiential experiences in different areas of mission, especially transcultural mission for the jungle.
- For others, FAIENAP is also the entity that brings together associations of evangelical churches in the Peruvian jungle.
- For others FAIENAP is simply a headache.
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For others it is a blessing. FAIENAP is all this and much more, certainly much more.
For this reason I have seen fit to make a description, a basic profile of WHAT IS FAIENAP, so we can understand it better, love it, respect it, support it, support it, accompany it and pray for it.
FAIENAP, UNIFICATION ecclesiastical organism.
For centuries, the peoples of the Amazon have been in constant struggles and bloody and bloody wars. As in any war, not only warriors died, but also the weakest, that is, the elderly, children and women (weak women when they were not warriors). And as in many towns in other parts of the world, here were also some people who ate the flesh of their defeated enemies, reduced their heads, raped their wives, and took captives to the survivors who could not flee. This, the war, was a constant for a long time.
Since the missionaries arrived with the gospel, they gave them pedagogical education and then initial, primary and secondary education, installed medical posts, took them out of nomadism and became sedentary, trained them in carpentry, livestock, mechanics and raising small animals; they spoke of the love of God and the opportunity to seek and commune with Him, translated part of the Bible into their own language so that they could recognize the creator God of the universe, gave them a biblical / theological training thus raising their pastoral body, They helped them to found their local churches to create their Associations of Ethnic Native Churches and then to create FAIENAP, accompanying them in the long process of their growth and development. All this has led to the fact that wars and their effects have not been repeated.
Quite the contrary. Those peoples who were previously in wars now work together in FAIENAP. They visit, strengthen and encourage each other. Their pastors carry out missionary work going to other groups to preach the Word, something that 100 years ago they could not have imagined.
In the FAIENAP they can sit together and eat what they know, or try new foods, laugh together, make friends and create bonds of friendship, friendship and brotherhood with pastors of other groups with which they were formerly confronted. In FAIENAP, they can discuss various topics of church and mission, even in a heated way, and end up as friends and brothers. In FAIENAP they learn to cultivate patience, love, sanity, tolerance, diplomacy with other men and women with whom previously it would have been impossible. In FAIENAP they learn to respect each other, to interact and to exchange experiences that have lived in their area. Also in FAIENAP they know how to talk about issues that concern them, to face possible divisions. They know how to advise, exhort, call attention, pray for each other and continue being militia companions, because in FAIENAP all are brothers belong to one body and unites the salvation of Jesus Christ and faith in Him, baptism and Holy Communion , the Holy Spirit and, God is Father of all to whom they raise their prayers, prayers and prayers.
FAIENAP, AUTOCTONA church.
In FAIENAP, there is an impressive respect for the way the church of the other develops. This is not seen in the denominations of the cities. This does not mean that they miss the errors of biblical interpretation and therefore confront them, speak and debate, but respect the other in the process of change and change. Moreover, each ethnic group develops according to the rhythm of their culture (which is not equal to one another), according to their own economic resources or human resources of the ethnic group. Their language or language is vital to them, as it is to every culture. For their liturgy they use their own language. With their language they adore and praise the Lord. They also prepare their messages and studies in order to teach and preach in their own language. People understand it better because it is the "language of their heart". As their pastors are men of the same language group, they understand the cultural fabrics that surround the minds and hearts of their own countrymen, which does not happen with foreigners or visitors. The same happens with Sunday School teachers. The children will understand them very well because they are speaking to them in their own language and surely illustrating their lessons with stories that they know and heard in their community. The songs are sung in the native language, with the singular beauty that implies. They also create their own songs to praise and adore God with the autochthonous melodies. And when they sing them, they do it with rhythm, flavor, desire, so much so that one can be sure that they are singing it with their body, soul, heart and spirit. All this is not the same between one language group and another, it will never be the same, it will always be different. That is the wonderful ones of God's creation and salvation, the cultural variety, to express the great love of God and to give glory and honor to Him, as recorded in Revelation 7.9-12 and 5.8-12!
We know that in the churches of FAIENAP there is no offering to the pastors. We understand that it is because for centuries they have not handled money, but rather used barter. Thus, we assume that in the process of their growth they will learn and begin to remunerate their pastors. But I must leave here a very important element (We must reread the Word and reflect with Amazonian eyes the theme of the offerings, the tithe and the pastoral salary - finances - not to import cultural elements, but to understand, apply and teach the spiritual principle of the Lord's command). The roles in the native communities are well distributed, so that man is in charge of making the farms of yucca, bananas and other fruits of the land, he is also in charge of hunting and fishing; to build the house and repair it; to look for firewood and do it in rajas. Thinking and reflecting on this cultural element, ancestral, we conclude that the dignity of man lies in the faithful fulfillment of their roles before the home and the community. In the old days, when women looked for husbands, they had well-established values to see a candidate man. The women saw if that man was a worker, hunter, fisherman and that he would never miss the roof and the food. If the man does not comply, for A or Z reasons and / or asks for help to get food for his family, the "man" became one who is unable to work, support his family, idle, vividor and so on. It is in this context that we must understand that "the pastoral salary" is not an element that can be easily included in the life and work of the churches of the jungle. I do not say that it will be impossible, nor that it should not be done, but if I say that it will not be easy to achieve it. It is a cultural theme, of roles and values.
FAIENAP, AUTONOMOUS church.
The autonomy with which the native churches handle each other is also impressive. There is a great respect between them. Perhaps it is because of the old war experiences, as they fear that the peace, balance and good relationships won so far will be broken. Therefore, a church or leaders of an Association will never interfere in the affairs of another association or church. The missionaries, pastors or leaders of an ethnic group, will never go to another group that already has a church, pastors and their respective leaders and suppose that it is a "white field" and raise a church, put the name of its denomination or association Also, put a pastor from another place, who is not from the area, does not speak their language, does not know the culture and declares that he did the missionary work for God. That will never be a native leader! However, this attitude we see in men and women who go from the city, sent or not by their churches or denominations, to the native communities. We have a lot to learn from the native brothers, we from the city and the denominations, especially respect for their autonomy!
In FAIENAP they respect each other and have learned to respect the culture, the liturgy, the forms of evangelization, mission and church administration of the other. So much so that one group can have its liturgy with much rhythm and movement, while another is more static and yet neither is criticized or judged believing itself to be better or more "spiritual". Likewise with their native tunes, each has its own, and none resemble, all are different, but none of them presupposes that they are better than the others. Their ways of managing the church are also different and each one goes according to their own group rhythm, cultural temperament and own natural resources, but nobody is competing with another group for having more statistical numbers in their reports.
In the same sense, FAIENAP, as an organization, is "a fraternity", and the AUTONOMY of each group is one of its main principles that governs the spirit of FAIENAP. While it is true, when agreements are made at FAIENAP sessions, they are made with the majority of opinions and votes. But the execution, both in form and substance, already depends on each Association affiliated with FAIENAP. For this same reason, we direct and require as a requirement, that the missionaries of the cities and denominations, who have a call to work in the Amazon, are first trained in CAMIT, without which their work will be a sad and painful job for both sides, both for the receiver and for the one sent.
FAIENAP, a sample of what will be in heaven. (Revelation 7.9 - 12 and 5.8 - 12)
Without any desire to exaggerate, this is real. When the different Associations come together, one can breathe, almost feel, to be before the Throne of God, because they are present, all redeemed by Jesus Christ, of different ethnic groups, languages, nationalities, races. One can see the shapes of their faces, the colors of their skin, their different statures, and enjoy that they were all saved by Jesus Christ.
Each ethnic group or Association has its particularity, its peculiarity. None is the same. Some are effusive, others are sparse. Some are healthy, timid or naive, others are bold or daring. Some talk heatedly, so much so that anyone who does not know them might think they are angry, but that is their temperament, their way of discussing the issues on the diary. At the other extreme are the others who, on occasion, have to be asked questions to say a word or an opinion. However, everyone, everyone loves the Lord, loves the Lord's work, loves his people and gave himself completely to the service of God. When they raise their prayers, our ears hear different languages, but all raising their prayers to God and Father, creator of heaven and earth. When we hear them sing, it is not only their voices, which is a delight for the ears, but their corporal gestures, some with smiling and cheerful faces, others with the seriousness that the holy presence of God implies; some with the beating of hands, others also with the rhythmic movement of the feet and body, but also others with serene and loving reverence for the divine presence. All are of the family of God, they are priests at the service of the King, they belong to the holy nation of God, they are the people that God acquired for himself, and all are at the service of God to announce the wonderful works of God. (1 Peter 2.9)
A work with the FAIENAP in the Amazon gives us a PLATFORM OF OPPORTUNITIES.
Opportunities to do Missions. For us, the believers of the mestizo churches or of the cities and denominations, the ethnic groups constitute opportunities for a missionary work with the FAIENAP and the different ethnic groups of the Amazon. Especially in regard to "the end of the earth" (Acts 1.8) or "to make disciples of all peoples or nations / ethnic groups" (Matthew 28.19; Luke 24.47). This must be taken as a life project, since being called and sent by God is very serious and it is not short term or a mere adventure to have something to tell or a tourist trip we go to enjoy the jungle and its people . It is not like this! If we are called and sent by God, then it is to serve men, women and children and not to serve us.
Opportunity for an adoption plan. For this reason, we recommend an adoption plan, which implies responsible accompaniment, not with paternalistic attitudes, but with the attitude of living the Christian life and walking the pilgrimage in this world, together, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, accompanying the native brother while his development and growth are carried out until together they "reach the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God ..." (Ephesians 4.13).
Opportunity to have a life project. Therefore, working with FAIENAP, should motivate us to a long-term plan, which will mean arm yourself with patience, perseverance and humility. Virtues not so easy to cultivate, especially in these last times in which the "spirit of this century" or "the god of this century" (2 Corinthians.4.4, Ephesians 2.2, 6.12, Galatians 4.3, 1Timothy 4.1-3, 1Juan 4.3;) has replaced these virtues with other things. We must also be prepared for possible cultural clashes, against cultural and denominational ethnocentrism, and put our will to love the native brother and be with him in his struggles, defeats and victories. They should strive, be courageous and have encouragement that they will be together, every day, the missionary, the adopted native church and Jesus Christ until he comes. For what He promises, He will "be with us to the end" (Matthew 28:19).
Opportunity to practice empowerment. It is timely and elementary in this point, to state that, by working with FAIENAP, it allows us to practice EMPOWERMENT. That is to say, to the native brothers, the necessary tools for them to do the work, their work, and develop in them skills, abilities, skills and attitudes, and good cheer, because nobody better than they are the ones who perform and execute the ministry in your own community, area or ethnic group. We would make a blunder if we took away the pulpit and we are the ones who pastor the native churches, or if we take away from them the right to do missions in places where the gospel of salvation has not arrived. Empowerment must include training for their leadership in the different areas of the life of the church, such as the creation of a biblical Institute and that they themselves should direct and teach it; also the training for Sunday school teachers; production or translation of materials in your own language; strengthen the organization of your church and train your leadership in church administration and management; train them in music, instruments and helping them to create new songs with their native melody.
Opportunity to be transformed. Working with FAIENAP also allows us to be "transformed by changing our ways of thinking and reflecting" (Ephesians 4:23). Here are some elements in which we have the opportunity to change through reflection when we work, live and come to love the jungle and its people. For example, our tendency towards individualism. In the native communities, as in the scriptures, we find community attitudes and lives instead of individualisms. We must also divest ourselves of our Denominational and cultural ethnocentrism to carry the gospel without these "wrappings". We should also reflect and revise our Liturgical, Administrative and Indoctrination Forms in which there is a lot of culture, and unfortunately culture imported from other latitudes. With the same purpose we must refocus our emphasis on spiritual or heavenly things rather than on material things, as we should also emphasize more towards the human being than towards the numerical statistics of growth. In the same way we must reflect on a serious reconciliation with nature and the environment, and leave the asphalt, the instantaneous, the scrap and the disposable. Only by changing our way of thinking and reflecting will we understand the good will of God that is pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12 2)
Ezequías Malpartida S.
Missionary
Lima on July 2, 2017
