March 19, 2007

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

A thirst for a more profound understanding of the Word of God. I find that everywhere I go in Peru. I find it in Presbyterians, Methodists, and Roman Catholics. I find it in people relatively new to the gospel and in people whose families have served the Lord in the evangelical (Protestant) churches for more than one generation.

Emiliano has this thirst. He has already reached a high level of leadership in his denomination, and at the same time he is also a key teacher in its theological seminary. Still, he recently found himself struggling with Hebrew in a month-long intensive course I taught in Chiclayo.

In a real sense, his journey in the gospel began with the Bible. He had grown up in a home that practiced a combination of Catholicism and ancient indigenous religious practices. His father had sent him to secondary school with the idea that high school would be sufficient to better farm the land they owned. High school was not enough for Emiliano, and he went on to study sociology in the university. While there, he began to read the Bible. Through Bible reading, God led him to Jesus Christ and to the Peregrinos (“Pilgrims”), a denomination founded through the missionary efforts of the early twentieth century Holiness Movement that sprang out of U.S. Methodist churches.

Whenever he went to Lima he bought books (ah, the bane of so many pastors’ finances). He had taught himself Hebrew, but found it difficult going without a professor to clear up some things for him. The truth is, I’m not all that thrilled with the details of Hebrew grammar myself, but that thirst for a deeper understanding of the Word of God not only drives Emiliano to study the Hebrew that will give him more immediate access to the Old Testament, it also drives me to teach, and to keep learning myself.

Petronila shares that thirst. She pastors a church, something women have been doing for a long time among the Peregrinos. Before class, I saw her quiet strength being shared with a younger generation of Peregrinos. I don’t know if they were talking about Hebrew, but the respect that emerging leaders have for her, even when they are only a few years younger than she is, is evident.

Ivan and Caleb share that thirst. Ivan pastors a church. Caleb does youth work. They have been to the Peregrinos seminary and want to continue learning. They were in the Hebrew course, and will be traveling to Lima later this month for a one-week intensive course at the Recinto, where I work.

These folks, and others like them, will be doing theological education in their denomination. It is a denomination that is maturing, as its first and even second generation converts grow older. It is a denomination looking for a theology that will undergird the efforts of their churches to take seriously the problems of the communities that surround them and at the same time reaffirm its roots in the Holiness Movement. What does it mean for the churches to be just and sharing communities of faith in Jesus, to model that for their towns and neighborhoods, and to lead their towns and neighborhoods in becoming just and sharing communities? The answers to these new questions can be found in the same place where we find the answer to, “What does it mean to be a holy people?”—in the Bible. And yes, knowing Hebrew does help us find them.

On a different note, Debbie and I are looking forward to two rapidly approaching events. The first is the graduation of our daughter Sarah from the College of Wooster in May. The second is visiting with you when we are in the States. We will be arriving around the first of August, and will be there until the middle of January. We plan to help out in Louisville when we are not traveling, and expect to stay at the Furlough Home at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (books, very nearby!). I am committed to the PC(USA)’s October mission campaign—called “Mission Challenge ‘07—from October 1 to November 2, but look forward to sharing time with you all in the other months. Meanwhile, may the Lord continue to bless you all in your ministries!

Harry Horne

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 47