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Song of the Andes: The Impact of the Gospel on the Andean PeoplesBoliviaSONG OF THE ANDES: Accounts of Latin American church growth in the 20th century typically focus on the astonishing numbers attending revivals, the many thousands converted and the innumerable churches planted. After a while the statistics lose impact especially for those of us whose national church experience is very different. So David Miller's description of the rise of evangelical Christianity in Bolivia since the 1940s is refreshing because it tells the story or rather stories behind the statistics. In particular we follow orphaned Florencio across llama pastures, into brick-making kilns and down poisonous tin mines. His story shows how the loaded dice of poverty is overcome by ingenuity and utter doggedness as well as encountering the power of the living God at a time of family crisis. The willingness of Florencio and other founder leaders of a major indigenous denomination to lay bare their lives to the author shows the profound trust Miller gained from them. Aymara and Quechua Indians are reserved and diffident people. This reviewer's experience of short-term missions in Bolivia and speaking at length to long-term missionaries came nowhere near penetrating the Andean fog that Miller's narrative so skilfully dissipates about life and ministry on the altiplano. The focus on the indigenous rather than expatriate contribution is also refreshing. The work of a US missionary, with the delightfully incongruous name of Homer Firestone, is appropriately honoured, as respected partner rather than always-deferred-to leader. Also just as the church's success starts sounding too good to be true, 'reality checks' in the form of church splits, leaders' marital problems and church property wrangles serve as powerful reminders of human frailty and yet our God's sovereign will to build his church through and despite our weaknesses. Nick Cole, Redcliffe College© Evangelicals Now - June 2002 |