Latin lives 1

Rene Padilla was General Secretary for IFES Latin America and later of the Latin American Theological Fraternity (FTL).

He is currently International President of Tearfund (UK and Ireland), President of the Micah Network, and President Emeritus of the Kairos Foundation in Argentina, and author of several books on holistic mission and theology.

EB: What was your family background?

RP: I was born in Ecuador the son of a tailor/evangelist, but we moved to Colombia when I was a toddler. At that time, it was very difficult to be a witness to Christ in much of Latin America, but my father was especially active. My parents would move to different areas in the city, renting houses so we could start a church. We were seven children and that was enough of a little group to start a Sunday School class. We would bring our friends, and he would invite the neighbours and have Bible study, and that was the beginning of a new church. Eventually he left tailoring to give himself fully to evangelism through HCJB Christian radio, and as a hospital chaplain.

Persecuted family

EB: What was it like at school, being from an evangelical family?

RP: At that time there was a lot of persecution against anybody who was not a Roman Catholic, so you really had to take a stand. I was expelled from primary school for not attending a Roman Catholic procession. If you identified yourself as an evangelical you had to pay the consequences. There was an attempt to burn down many church buildings and our family house. Evan-gelical pastors were killed. I often say that I carry on my body the marks of persecution because even now I have scars from stones that were thrown at me as a child.

EB: What made you continue to be identified as a follower of Christ?

RP: It grew out of our commitment to Christ, and our vital relationship with the local church. Persecution was part of being a Christian; it was taken for granted. It is only in countries where there is little difference between Christians and non-Christians, that Christians believe there is no place for persecution.

Teenage conversion

EB: Was there a definite point where the convictions of your family became your own?

RP: As a teenager I had a sort of crisis. I decided to read the New Testament for myself without anybody else talking to me about it. I remember walking up and down a long corridor in my school each day around 7.00 am so I could be alone and think about it. I read it all and after that I committed my life to Christ. It was a definite, conscious experience. I started talking to my friends about Christ, taking them to church, selling Bibles, and soon I became known as ‘the pastor’!

EB: So your ministry began at school?!

RP: Kind of! I came from a very poor home in which we had enough food for just one day, or sometimes not even that. So I needed to earn money while I was at school. I started working with HCJB, first typing (I didn’t know how to, but I learned to), and then with dramatisations of Bible stories, and then writing, and ended up having three or four 15-minute programmes every week.

EB: After school you went on to study at Wheaton College — why did you choose to study there?

RP: I wanted to continue studying, and hoped to work in theology and with the Bible. A missionary recommended Wheaton to me, so I applied, and was accepted. I didn’t even know how I was going to pay the travel fare. The only man in our church with some money lent me enough to buy a fare to Miami. From there I took a bus, and arrived at Wheaton with practically nothing in my pocket. I started working right away. I did packing for Scripture Press, delivered papers (starting at 3.30 am in the morning), washed trucks, and served in the dining hall. The first semester I didn’t do any study because I worked 25 hours a week and learned English.

EB: How did Wheaton shape your future life and ministry?

RP: It gave me the tools for theological work — the biblical languages, a broad knowledge of theology, a critical mind. Some of the professors beautifully modelled for me what it means to put mind and heart together.

IFES & Lausanne

EB: You then returned to Latin America to work as an IFES Regional Secretary, and eventually as General Secretary for the continent. What are the highlights from this time? What did you learn?

RP: I thoroughly enjoyed my 22 years with the IFES (with an interim of two-and-a-half years while doing a doctorate in New Testament at the University of Manchester).

One of the greatest challenges was to develop a pastoral approach to university students with inquisitive minds, who were not satisfied with ‘canned’ answers to their questions regarding their role as Christians in a society characterised by poverty and injustice. I learned that an individualistic faith was not enough.

EB: You delivered a significant paper at the International Congress on World Evangelisation in Lausanne in 1974. What do you see as the impact and scope of that speech and subsequent discussions?

RP: The first one to be surprised by the impact caused by that paper was me. My guess is that most of the participants from the majority world felt that I was articulating their own concerns. Several of the issues I raised, such as the social responsibility of the church, the use of the so-called ‘homogenous principle’ of church growth, and the question of a simple lifestyle, were taken up as the main themes for consultations sponsored by the Lausanne Movement in the 1970s and early 80s.

EB: You believe strongly in the local church as a community. What were the biggest challenges during your time as leader of a small church in Buenos Aires?

RP: The main challenge was to implement in a local church the ecclesiology that I had been teaching and writing about, with emphases such as discipleship, the gifts of the Spirit, servant leadership, the priesthood of all believers, and integral mission.

EB: In the context of the needs of the Latin American church, what was your vision for the Kairos Foundation?

RP: Right from the beginning, the purpose of Kairos was to enable individual Christians and local churches to avoid the sacred and the secular, to see that the whole of life is under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and to become ‘the salt of the earth’ and ‘the light of the world’. We do that through literature, theological education, seminaries, personal counselling, and workshops.

Keys to life?

EB: Who have been the key influences on your life and ministry to date?

RP: I have been influenced by some of my university professors, such as Arthur Holmes (professor of philosophy at Wheaton College), some of my friends, such as John Stott, and a number of my readings throughout the years.

EB: What do you see as the key needs and opportunities in Latin America today?

RP: A big need is to mobilise civil society in relation to serious socio-economic problems. Without that, there is no true democracy. Another need is responsible politicians, more interested in establishing justice than filling their pockets.
With regard to the church, we need to go back to our basic mission, which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, not simply to increase the number of members and fill church buildings.

EB: Latin Link currently has a campaign called ‘The Forgotten Continent’ — aimed at dispelling two myths attached to Latin America: that the missionary task is complete, and that it’s no longer poor. What is your view on these two myths?

RP: It all depends on what you mean when you affirm that Latin America is ‘well-evangelised’. We have a lot of popular evangelical religion, but that does not mean that the gospel is producing the fruit that one would expect it to produce. Injustice and corruption are rampant in this continent which registers the greatest distance between the rich and the poor in the world.

EB: What key life principles have you developed over the years that you would like to encourage others to adopt?

RP: First, what God requires of me and of all his people is in Micah 6.8. Second, do not worry about success, except with regards to pleasing God because of your faithfulness to him in whatever you do. Third, make sure you use whatever power you have (including money power!) to empower others.

To find out more about the Kairos Foundation, visit www.kairos.org.ar

To read about Latin Link’s ‘The Forgotten Continent’ campaign, visit http://www.latinlink.org

The first in a series of interviews with Christian leaders in Latin America

EB: What was your family background?

Persecuted family

Teenage conversion

EB: So your ministry began at school?!

IFES & Lausanne

Keys to life?

Emma Balch

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