Lutherans In Puerto Rico 'Communicate Hope' To The World

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (ELCA) -- "The Lutheran church in Puerto Rico has become rich in tradition, rich in leadership, rich in service and rich in faith," said the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "It has done this despite many challenges -- from struggle over national identity, from distance to other parts of the Lutheran church and from nature itself."
Anderson spoke to more than 400 mission-minded Lutherans as they gathered for the ELCA's Global Mission Event (GME) Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the San Juan Grand Beach Resort. "Communicate Hope" was the theme of the = event organized by the ELCA's Division for Global Mission. =20
"My heart is saddened as I see the destruction caused by Hurricane Georges, and I know that it is not the first time this island has suffered," said Anderson at the GME's opening celebration. =20
Hurricane Georges tore across Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands before making its way through the rest of the Caribbean and to the Gulf Coast states late September.
"In all of this hardship, the world needs to hear our message of hope," said Anderson. "The Lutheran church in Puerto Rico has taught us all how to trust God and the power of the resurrection."
At the GME, Anderson said he learned more about the destruction to churches and homes caused by Hurricane Georges when he met with 10 ELCA pastors serving congregations in Puerto Rico. =20
The Rev. Nelson L. Velasquez-Rodriguez, Iglesia Luterana El Redentor (Redeemer Lutheran Church), Rio Piedras, said his entire community and church had been without electricity since the hurricane struck the island five weeks earlier. =20
"The immediate presence and response by Lutheran Disaster Response and Gil Furst, was important for congregations here," said the Rev. = Marysol Diaz, Iglesia Luterana Emanuel (Emmanuel Lutheran Church), Bayamon. The Rev. Gilbert B. Furst is director for Lutheran Diaster Response, a = ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
"The church was there not just with prayers and presence, which are valuable to us, but also with financial support. The presence of the = wider church continues to mean a lot to ELCA members here," Diaz said.
Anderson told pastors, "You are not only care-givers but people who are drained and challenged. Share and support one another. The recovery work is a long process, and you will need to pace yourself."
In his workshop, "The Beginnings of the Lutheran Church in Puerto Rico," Angel M. Mattos, Iglesia Luterana Sion (Zion Lutheran Church), Bayamon, said, "The end of the Spanish-American War in 1898 opened the = door to a long and diverse succession of missionaries from North America."=20
Mattos' workshop was one of 40 courses offered in four "global university" sessions at the GME. =20
"Gustav Sigfried Swennson, a Swiss seminarian from Augustana College, Rockford, Illinois, was the first Protestant missionary to launch a Lutheran effort in Puerto Rico," said Mattos. "He arrived in San Juan = with only five dollars in his pocket Oct. 5, 1898, just two weeks before the United States flag was raised in 'El Morro' fortress, San Juan."
"Swennson came to visit a country that was originally evangelized," said Francis Ramos, Guaynabo. "Swennson sought to bring the Lutheran perspective on faith and life here. What he really wound up doing was bringing a new spiritual perspective for a people that had only known one Christian experience, which was Roman Catholicism." Ramos was the local coordinator for the Global Mission Event.
"The first preaching of Protestant churches in Puerto Rico was directed to attack the Roman Catholic Church," Mattos said. "The Lutheran church, however, did not foster this kind of attack. Its preaching was directed to the gospel and the saving word."
"The first Lutheran worship service held in Puerto Rico took place Jan. 1, 1899. The service was held in English and it is believed that = this was the first Protestant worship service celebrated in San Juan after the United States' military occupation in 1898," Mattos said.
"The first Lutheran congregation in Puerto Rico was organized on Jan. 1, 1900, with 23 members. The name of the congregation was First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of San Juan," he said.
"The first recorded Puerto Rican to become actively engaged in the work of the Lutheran church was Gabriela Cuervos. She was confirmed on April 15, 1900, the same service that inaugurated Iglesia Luterana San Pablo (St. Paul Lutheran Church), the first Lutheran Spanish-speaking congregation. Cuervos became the first Puerto Rican missionary on the island," Mattos said.=20
Mattos added that "the first ordained Puerto Rican was the Rev. Eduardo Roig, who graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1926."
Today there are 26 ELCA congregations in Puerto Rico. The ELCA has 5.2 million members in 11,000 churches in the United States and Caribbean.
The Global Mission Event had a special component celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Lutheran church in Puerto Rico. A worship = service commemorating the centennial was held Oct. 31 at the Interamericana University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon. The service was organized by the ELCA's Caribbean Synod. =20
Dr. Jose Miguez Bonino led Bible studies at the event. Miguez Bonino teaches liberation theology at the Evangelical Institute for Higher Theological Studies (ISEDET) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Rev. Francisco L. Sosa, bishop of the ELCA's Caribbean Synod, spoke at GlobalFest. GlobalFest is an interactive festival of music, = dance and discovery during the GME.

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