Remarkable opportunities for witness in Paraguay

Alfred Neufeld, in Canada on a sabbatical: writing resources for the church in Paraguay Photo: Harold Jantz

To talk with Alfred Neufeld, dean of the Faculty of Theology of the Evangelical University of Paraguay, is to become immersed in a wide range of amazing developments taking place among Mennonites of that country.

Since most Canadian Mennonite Brethren know Paraguay as the country that supplied Mennonite immigrants to Canada, they tend to see it as a place their kin wanted to leave. But it is also a country that others wanted to stay in and build – and to which they wanted to make a Christian witness. The nature of that witness is at the heart of the fascinating story Alfred Neufeld relates.

I spoke with Neufeld, 48, in Steinbach, Man., where he, his wife Wilma and two of their four children have come for a year’s sabbatical. When we talked, he had almost finished two Spanish book manuscripts addressed to needs facing Paraguayan pastors: a commentary on Ephesians, and a revision of his doctoral thesis, dealing with the idea of fatalism in Paraguayan culture and how to meet it with a biblical witness. He hopes to complete a third manuscript – a biblical theology text – before the sabbatical ends in December.

Engaging in mission

Neufeld is thoroughly engaged with the witness to Paraguayan society. While the first Mennonites may have come to Paraguay to “escape the world,” others have chosen deliberately to enter that world. Beginning with a mission to nearby Moro, Guarani and Chulupi tribes, and later to Latino Paraguayans in the strategic urban outreach led by mission workers like Albert Enns and Rudolf Plett, the foundations for a strong evangelical witness by Mennonite Brethren were being laid.

Mennonites of German background settled in colonies when they came to Paraguay. There are 18 colonies now, numbering nearly 29,000 adults and children, with a baptized membership of around 13,000. The entire baptized Mennonite community in the country numbers somewhat under 28,000, however. Thus at least half of the baptized Mennonite community is either Indian or Latino. These are people who have become believers and members of Mennonite churches through the witness of missionaries like Hans Wiens or Jacob Franz, and later Albert Enns, Rudolf Plett and others.

That witness, joined by the work of others of Plymouth Brethren, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Anglican and other smaller groups, led further to the creation of an Evangelical University of Paraguay, and both a national Christian newspaper and evangelical radio and television stations. And four Mennonite Brethren leaders were invited by current Paraguayan president Nicanor Duarte Frutos to assume senior roles within the national government.

In some ways, the influence of Mennonites in Paraguay, a country of six million, can be measured in economic terms. Their per capita income is said to be 10 times the national average. They produce about 70% of the country’s cheese and milk, 10% of the meat, and about 10–20% of the soya and wheat. The Mennonite experience represents in some ways a social model from which the government wants to learn, says Neufeld.

Political involvement

Christian Panorama, a tabloid produced by Paraguayan MB media ministries to strengthen the evangelical movement of that country

When the dictatorship of President Alfredo Stroessner was overthrown in 1989, the department (similar to a Canadian province) created in the Chaco had a Mennonite governor. The growing political involvement led Mennonite Brethren to think more seriously about how they as believers might participate in government. After working at it for nearly a decade, they arrived at a position paper in February 2003 that defined politics “as service for the well-being of all.”

Neufeld says the document calls for radical faithfulness to Jesus Christ, and warns of the dangers of unequal yokes and fanaticism, for example, but also encourages service that will improve education, health and economic well-being, and efforts aimed at justice and against abuse of authority and corruption.

But, says Neufeld, the invitation to take government positions actually came about largely because of relationships that grew out of intentional Christian witness. That has had several facets. A ministry of the Concordia MB Church in the state prison has had a strong impact. Over 200 persons were led to faith in Christ and baptized there. It led to a housing program for 300 ex-prisoners. Among these converts was Felix Duarte who became an important pastoral counsellor to many in government, including the current president’s wife, after serving a six-year sentence.

Mennonite Brethren also developed a media ministry, whose board Neufeld chairs. It includes a national evangelical tabloid, a radio station that is among the top five in listenership in the country and a recently-leased television station. These media ministries have given the evangelical community a strong and winsome access to many Paraguayans for the gospel, and an influence in shaping attitudes on a range of issues.

Another facet was a church plant by the Concordia MB Church of Asuncion that took aim at the city’s Spanish middle-class community. Named Raices (Roots), it began with 27 members from the mother church and has since grown to 150 members and up to 400 who attend. It embraced a model of shared leadership, cell groups and Bible studies, a commitment to non-violence and a community hermeneutic. Among the first to join was Gloria Penayo de Duarte Frutos, whose husband was Minister of Education at the time. Frutos attended from time to time and was supportive to its ministry. In May 2003 he was elected the country’s president. When he formed his government he invited several Mennonites into senior posts, two to ministerial positions.

The Paraguayan first family – President Nicanor Duarte Frutos and Maria Gloria Penayo de Frutos with their five children Photo: Victor Wall

Senior posts

Ernst Ferdinand Bergen, who became minister of industry and commerce, had headed up the MB prison ministry and was a strong supporter through his businesses for mission causes. Another businessman, Carlos Walde, was named minister advisor for economic affairs and government liaison with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He has had three evening Bible studies a week at which a number of people from government became believers. Carlos Wiens, former director of the Km. 81 Leprosy Mission, is now the medical director of the public health and social security system of the country.

Andreas Neufeld was named a deputy minister responsible for revenue collection and taxation. His role will be to help create a basic and corruption free system of taxation, something that has eluded Paraguay until recently. The appointments and the close relationship of the president to an evangelical group have put Mennonites very much into the public eye, says Neufeld.

Relationships were also forged through some of the wives. Bergen’s wife and Gloria Duarte Frutos were both head of their MB churches’ women’s societies. Together they organized national women’s prayer meetings. It brought the families together.

Neufeld says that Bergen and the others didn’t have political ambitions. When he was approached about serving, Bergen asked his church, “How will I sin more, by saying yes to serving in government or by saying no?” Neufeld says all four of the Mennonites in political office are committed to bringing about a corruption-free, honest government.

An evangelical university

When Neufeld speaks about the Evangelical University of Paraguay, he says its genesis owes a great deal to Chilean influence. Chile introduced the idea of “free universities” (independent) as it was liberalizing its economy, and one of its proponents promoted the idea in Paraguay. The result was the introduction of some 20 such universities in Paraguay in the early 1990s, among them one backed by evangelicals.

It received its charter and presently operates with seven faculties, sponsored by various groups: a Business and Accounting faculty (Mennonite Brethren), a Health Sciences school (Baptist), an Education faculty (Mennonite Brethren), a Psychology faculty (Disciples of Christ), a pedagogy program for teaching preschoolers (Anglican) and a Theological faculty (Southern Baptists, General Conference Mennonites, Mennonite Brethren). The vice-president for academic affairs for the university is a Mennonite, Melita Wall, who has also worked in the University’s nursing program. Besides her nursing degree, Wall has degrees in public health and political science.

After 10 years of operation, the University has a student body of a thousand, operating on a number of campuses. The goal is to eventually bring the programs together onto a single campus. It faces great challenges since attendance at state universities is free while independent universities receive no government grants and have to charge tuition.

The hope of the Evangelical University, says Neufeld, is that it will be able to offer the quality and integrated Christian worldview that can make its program attractive to a growing enrollment. Mennonite Brethren also sponsor three large elementary and secondary schools with nearly 2,000 pupils, while evangelicals have more than a hundred schools throughout Paraguay.

Unparalled opportunity

For church leaders like Neufeld, Paraguay is a country of promise. While poor government, corruption and a troubled economy have made life hard for many people, he tells a story of people who have been determined to let their faith in Christ and a vision for the nation direct them to a range of strategic responses.

Neufeld’s own studies took him to the MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno and to the Staats Unabhaengige Teologische Hochschule in Basel, Switzerland, where he wrote a doctoral dissertation on the mission challenge posed by the notion of fatalism in Paraguayan culture (something which Neufeld traced to the influence of Islam on Catholicism in Spain and the encounter of this stream with aboriginal fatalism). It is working with ideas such as this that gives leaders like Neufeld the understanding to reach the people of Paraguay with a liberating gospel of Christ. (See also the reference to Neufeld’s scholarly work in “The Anabaptist Colloquim,” page 16.)

Church planting, media ministries, schools, participation in government, as well as successful farming and industry – all are part of the witness Mennonite Christians are bringing to Paraguayan society. It may seem far from the picture many of their Canadian kin have, but it has given Mennonites of that country an unparalleled opportunity to shape the future of their homeland.

Harold Jantz is a former editor of the MB Herald and founder of ChristianWeek.