 Kidnapper's story springboard for plea to support fundraising plan By John H. Adams The Layman Online Sunday, May 16, 2002
But, in his report to the commissioners during their opening plenary meeting June 15, Detterick first described a Guatemalan woman who is in prison for having been involved 25 years ago in the kidnapping of the 17-year-old son of a wealthy Guatemalan family. He used that story as a springboard to the "Mission Initiative." Detterick said he did not know exactly what role the prisoner -- Che Amora -- played in the kidnapping and eventual death of the teen-ager, but he did know that she was serving as an ambassador for Christ in the prison in a Guatemalan prison. "Ambassadors for Christ" is the theme of this year's General Assembly. "Che Amora's time in prison has been amazingly productive," he said. "She has started several businesses and turned them over to others. She began to educate herself and earned a university degree in theology … only 2 percent of all the Guatemalan people have university degrees. The Holy Spirit touched her and she became a pastor." "I recall standing there in the hot Guatemalan sun in the far reaches of the prison ground watching her affirm and build up the women," he added. "Somehow, she had talked prison guards into allowing her to build a prison chapel." Detterick said he asked Amora about her plans after she left prison. "I was shocked to learn that she couldn't leave." He said she told him that two men involved in the kidnapping were released - and that both were gunned down. "The only safe place in Guatemala for Che Amora is prison, where she ministers with joy and creative energy," he added. "She is an amazing ambassador for Christ. You and I know you don't have to be in prison to be an ambassador for Christ. It's our daily opportunity." Then, Detterick launched into a plea for commissioners to support the $40-million "Mission Initiative." Like Kirkpatrick, he cited the denomination's continuing membership decline -- an aggregate loss of more than 1.7 million members from 1966 to a PCUSA membership of 2.5 million in 2001. In percentages, the PCUSA's membership loss is substantially higher than any other mainline denomination in America. (Most evangelical and Pentecostal denominations are growing.) But Detterick added another figure -- 70 percent of the people who identify themselves as Christians in America are unchurched, which he believes is a field ripe for ethnic church development. As for world missions, he said, "We live in a global environment. We have 165 partner churches in 80 countries that desperately need more help." Detterick said half of the $40 million would "fund about 45 mission personnel for 10 years at today's cost." His staff recently cut 34 missionary jobs out of the 2003 budget. But it did not cut some of the controversial programs -- the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches, the Washington lobbying office and the National Network of Presbyterian College Women, for example. The annual budgets for those four groups are about the same as the salaries and staff support for the 34 missionaries. |
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