Nov 14, 2009
The Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance, founded in 1846, gathered in Sao Paulo from the 22nd to the 25th of July for its annual business meeting and to conduct a symposium on the theology of the evangelical movement in Latin America.
The business meeting crafted a revised vision and purpose statement which is available here . Dr Justin Thacker, the Chair of the TC, commented, "We believe that this year's annual meeting witnessed a turning point in the history of the theological commission. While in the past, our focus has rightly been the establishment of local and regional fellowships of evangelical theologians, this work is now largely completed. Therefore, looking to the future, the TC intends to focus on the big issues affecting our world and to speak to them with evangelical conviction in a way that is globally relevant."
In addition to its annual business meeting, the TC also hosted a symposium for Latin American theologians. Approximately eighty people took part, the majority of whom came from various parts of Brazil.
Key papers dealt with the nature of the movement and its current challenges: fragmentation, visibility of public witness, lack of an explicit systematic theology, and responsibility for keeping alive an evangelical spirit faithful to the 1974 Lausanne tradition. One key debate dealt with the way in which the evangelical movement should relate to neo-pentecostalism.
In addition, there was a major focus on fidelity to the legacy of the evangelical tradition, linked theologically to names such as John Stott, René Padilla, Samuel Escobar and the Latin American Theological Brotherhood, as well as on the importance of a renewed commitment to integral mission, understood within a trinitarian paradigm.
Standing out as one of the most important rediscoveries of the conference was Daniel Salinas's exposition of the "Galilee option" as a hermeneutical key for understanding the seminal contribution of the Latin American Theological Brotherhood, based on Jesus of Nazareth's deliberate and liberating choice of peripheral and minor socio-political regions of the Roman Empire.
David Roldán of Argentina emphasised the necessity for evangelical theology to consider the process of secularization and the key role of governments and national states in generating social justice and redistribution of wealth, with the aim of rethinking in that context the specific role of the evangelical movement in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and integral mission.
Valdir Steuernagel of Brazil set out future challenges for the evangelical movement with regard to the necessity of unfolding a dynamically trinitarian integral mission and a comprehensive approach to orthodoxy, orthopraxis and orthopathía. Right doctrine, the legacy of Protestantism; right practice, the legacy of Liberation Theology, and "right expression of love". Concerning this latter point, Steuernagel stressed the importance of our confessions of faith including love, passion and the learning of the love which represents one of its missing key foundations. Justin Thacker from the United Kingdom recognised that the questions being addressed by the various contributors were not problems exclusive to the Latin American evangelical population, but rather were typical global challenges, such as the temptation to measure the progress of evangelical witness and the Kingdom of God by mere pragmatic criteria, or the continual search to define 'what it means to be an evangelical'.
Thacker concluded his evaluation as the conference drew to a close with "two scenarios of hope": first, the diversity of evangelical groups in Latin America demonstrates dissent within the framework of a larger consensus. Second, the courage of the Latin Americans must be highlighted: faced with huge problems, they are prepared to recognise them and discuss them in a climate of mutual respect and love.
Amongst the contributors were Valdir Steuernagel, Ricardo Barbosa and Claus Schwambach from Brazil; Daniel Salinas from Colombia/Paraguay; David Roldán from Argentina; Luis Scout from United States/Mexico and international members of the Theology Commission, such as its president, Justin Thacker from the United Kingdom and James Nkansah from Kenya.
