We have been serving the Lord in Chile since 1986. Chile is a beautiful country, a long, narrow strip of land running for about 3000 miles between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains. In the far north are the altiplano and Atacama desert, in the middle is the agricultural region, so similar to the west coast of the United States, and in the far south is the cold, wind-swept Patagonian region. Besides these areas, Chile also owns a few islands in the middle of the ocean, such as Easter Island or Rapa Nui and claims a wedge of Antartica going right down to the South Pole. Over the years we have been privileged to see many parts of the country. Arica, with its famous Morro, which is very close to the Peruvian border, and where our SAMS-UK colleagues David and Jean Hucker are working. Lake Chungara at 4500 meters over sea level right at the Bolivian border. Iquique. Antofagasta where our Australian colleagues Bruce and Bron Hallyburton are working. La Serena where our friends Pablo Zavala and Pamela are working. The Anglican church there just began three year ago, holding its first service on Easter 2005. Then the central zone. That is where we have always lived. First in Santiago, the capital. Then for 15 years in Villa Alemana near Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. And now we are back in Santiago. Our travels south have taken us as far as Isla Lemuy, an island off the big island of Chiloé, Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Frutillar, Valdivia, Osorno, Lican Ray, Pucón, Villarrica, Temuco, Chol-Chol and Concepción. These places in the south are all places that are very green. From many of them you can see several snow-capped volcanoes. Some are right under the volcanoes. It is a land of rivers and lakes and forests. It was largely because of the beauty of these areas that Russ exclaimed many years ago, "But Lord, how can you send me to this place. It´s too beautiful. I thought missionaries were supposed to suffer."
Chile is a land that has not only been blessed by God with beauty, and many natural resources, but spiritually as well. It is one of the most evangelized countries on the planet and it has had several waves of revival, especially the revival of 1909. A lot of people believe in God. They are "spiritual." Yet for all that, a relatively low percentage of people go to church--more than in Europe, but much lower than the United States. The revival in 1909 was extraordinary and has had long-lasting effects. It began in the Methodist Church of Valparaiso where the pastor, Mr. Hoover, was leading his flock to seek God, encouraged by news of what had happened or was happening in the Azusa Street Revival, the Welsh Revival and similar outpourings of the Holy Spirit in Sweden, Russia, India and South Africa. Unfortunately, or perhaps in God´s sovereignty, fortunately, the Methodist Church leadership was not at all in agreement with what happened beginning that September night in the church in Valparaiso, and within three weeks they had kicked everybody connected with and in favor of this revival out. The kicked'out church grew and grew, spreading the Gospel and revival all over the country. The ones who kicked them out--well, they´re still there, not much growth in the last 99 years. Maybe many are faithfully serving the Lord, but you wonder what might have happened . . . The sad thing about the revived church was that it has split into a few very large denominations (particularly the Pentecostal Methodist Church, the Pentecostal Evangelical Church and the Pentecostal Christian Church) and nearly 3000 small ones. But this pattern has led some to say that Church growth in Chile happens by splitting.
The Anglican Church in Chile also has a long and interesting history. The oldest Prostestant church building in Chile is St. Paul´s Anglican Church in Valparaiso. But that was a chaplaincy church serving the British community there. St. Paul´s and other English-speaking chaplancies certainly are a part of the Church´s history, but the main root of what is today´s Anglican Church of Chile is the missionary work done among the Mapuche people. The Anglican Church did not work among the Spanish-speaking people until the 1960´s, and when Chile became its own diocese and the Southern Cone of America became a Province, the majority of the members and perhaps even of the non-foreign-missionary clergy were Mapuches. Even though today, the majority of the church is not Mapuche, that part of our history and that sector of the Church remains important in many ways. Even today, in Santiago, a few of the churches are made up mainly or even almost exclusively of Mapuche brothers and sisters who have migrated to the big city for work.
We, the Smiths, have now been in Santiago since July 11th, 2007. We have been asked to work in the comuna of La Florida alongside Nelson Ojeda and his wife Marisol in the church called San Lucas Evangelista. Nelson is also the archdeacon of the Metropolitan Region and was elected to the Provincial Executive Committee. In the ministry we are also joined by Cristóbal Cerón and his wife Ale, by Stephen and Rebecca Shead (Australian missionaries. His principal duties have to do with the Center for Pastoral Education (CEP), but they attend and help out in La Florida.), by a new Bolivian couple, who have come to study at the CEP, and by a team of lay preachers and others. It is nice to be part of a team. There is a lot of potential for growth. La Florida is one of the second biggest comunas in the country and is right next to the biggest where a lot of our people live. Besides helping Nelson in La Florida, Russ also gets to go to several of the other churches in other comunas that make up Greater Santiago where there is no pastor so that the people can have Holy Communion on a regular basis.
This page is maintained and updated by Russ & Heidi Smith
