Rev Tom Quenet - Area Secretary, Americas & Caribbean
Report on Amazonia
4 – 15 July 2002.
Ten people from a variety of places and backgrounds in Britain and Ireland represented
the Methodist Church, themselves and their experience of being the church at this
International Conference sponsored by the Methodist Church Brazil. The following are
extracts from their reports that reflect the different ways in which the experience affected
them. That each was moved in a different way, that each gained new insights, that each
has been enabled to speak with a small degree of authority on a small part of the world,
that each reflected deeply upon what it means to be Christian in the context, is all clear. If
you would like someone from this group to speak at your church, please contact the World
Church office for details.
Ava - a Guarani word for Amerindians. From satellite photos, the dusty roads look like clinically
drawn, straight lines inside the heart of the Amazon forest. Each new line is followed by equally
straight, smaller transversal lines. If the photos had a surreal ability to speak of the destruction the
roads bring they would bleed the blood of the Avas and the sap of the trees. They show ‘only’ the
path of the incursion of those who seek the forest for development of one sort or another.
There is a church that goes with the straight lines. That is the church of the immigrants. It is not the
only church in the Amazon region. But it is the church that grows and the one with which we
wanted to engage in order to discuss the meaning of mission in that context.
The buildings of Christian churches are a common feature along the roads we travelled. In Porto
Velho, the Capital of the State, several Methodist Societies make the effort to build temples. They
are ugly, brick only buildings. The work is hard and done collectively. The people in the Methodist
Societies have no money, no land, no education but they are sacrificially and faithfully building
churches.
“Re-build my Church”. The Byzantine crucified Christ told Francis of Assisi. “Rebuild my
church”, Francis heard and obeyed. Being Francis - a little literal and over the top - he went and
started to re-build the three run down and almost forgotten churches in the vicinity.
The Amazon Travelling Seminar had precisely this task, that of trying to understand the voice of
Christ who is calling the people in the Amazon to build and re-build the church. What does it
mean? Does it mean, brick by brick? Does it mean another plot of land to be paid for?
Foundations laid, concrete, asbestos roof? Is that what it means? Have we heard and understood
Christ’s call? Baptize and put a tie on the indigenous (Ava) boy. Cover the beauty of the Ava
woman with the rags of your charity. Clear the forest out - burning and domesticating/dominating
the environment. Purify the mind of natives of the pagan myths and legends. Destroy the
languages by using education to turn people into civilised bodies.
A travelling seminar with the intention of taking off shoes and walking along the rivers and under
the trees, with the intention of hearing the noises of the forest and admiring the beauty of the
elongated black eyes of the Avas. Would that awake the Franciscan vocation in people’s hearts?
Would that awake a vocation that calls for another way of being church and for doing mission?
There must be another church. A church that helps the Avas to get their rights of a differentiated
education/health care that the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 tries to guarantee; so that education
would be in their particular languages and respecting their own cultures. A church that would
struggle with them to demarcate their land and make sure no invasion would happen. A church that
would help to train new people coming to the forest area to learn to live off the forest’s riches
without destroying it. A church that would help to prevent others from getting away with selling
wood that does not belong to them, prevent evil men from destroying centuries old trees and an
ancient forest. Even a church that could find the work of God in eco-tourism and bird watching.
This is a church that needs building and re-building in the name of Christ. It needs daring and
creative people. It needs resources and structural support. It needs all the missionary experience it
can get, from partner churches out of Brazil as well as input from other organisations in the
churches and outside the churches in the Brazilian civil society. Building and re-building my church
might take more than just bricks and plots of land. It might take more than just going along
following immigrants on dusty roads and more than just a church to serve the new colonisers of the
rain forest.
A missionary church cannot simply be transplanted from other places into the sacred space of the
forest. It is not quite good enough to plant churches in the same way they are in other parts of
Brazil. A missionary church has got to be more creative and more imaginative than that. It has got
to be free to be different. Its spirituality is dependent upon the call of Christ, the incarnated Christ.
In the Amazon, a missionary church has got to go green. It has got to announce a green Christ
and to build an eco-church.
There is a spirituality waiting to be awakened as the voice of Christ cries out from the shadows
behind and amongst the trees of the rain forest, as the voice of Christ calls out from the roots of the
peoples of the forest. Someone has got to go after the trees and the rivers to hear and respond to
Christ’s call; someone has got to go and encounter the Avas and hear the voice of Christ. If there
is any recommendation from the Travelling Seminar it would be: let people hear the voice of Christ;
let’s ask the Brazilian church to organise travelling courses and take people to hear the voice of
Christ from within the forest, ‘Build and re-build my Church’.
The paradoxical situation we have is that the church to be re-built is dependent on the
resources, the traditions and the strength of the church that goes with the bloody roads
inside the forest, and here is the source of our weakness and hopefully the secret of our
strength.
Minister – North London, UK
Any form of mission to such an area poses enormous questions and it was these we were there to
discuss. So that both the Brazilian participants and those of us from outside started from
something like the same base line, we spent the first week travelling – to see farms, ranches,
primary forest and deforested areas, indigenous groups and riverine peoples, good practice and
bad practice, incomers and long-term residents of the area.
What were the main issues? - how to organise outreach and mission in such a vast area –
questions of transport, cost, training of pastors and lay people. There were also questions of
theology and of cultural sensitivity. Methodist Church Brazil is predominantly middle-class and
urban - of the coast and the south east of the country. It has high and rigorous academic
standards for its clergy that it is able to enforce through the Methodist University in Sao Paulo (a
large and impressive institution). But is this replicable in the Amazon region? What type of
theological education and formation would be more relevant? Is Brazilian Methodism able to
embrace widely differing cultures and respect the lifestyle of indigenous people? Should
indigenous people be evangelised at all?
These were some of the tricky questions that we grappled with. We did not come up with
the answers but we started a dialogue across the continents, which we hope will continue
to the mutual benefit of all the participants. Above all we hope that this bold initiative will
help guide Brazilian Methodists as they carry the Good News to the people of the Amazon
whilst avoiding some of the cultural and theological imperialism of past generations.
Minister – Central London
My experience of Brazil was a very varied one. I experienced people who wanted very
different things for their country and for various groups of people within it. The agendas
were often very different and in some cases conflicting. People have different agendas and
views, partly because they have different experiences and come from different contexts.
Brazil is a huge country and is not a monochrome culture. This means that there are no
simple answers. We can’t sit here and prescribe for the people of Amazonia. Neither can
the people in Sao Paulo do this for others in the north of the country. There needs to be
dialogue. Different conflicting and contrasting voices all need to be heard and it is only
when this is done that progress can be made. This may mean abandoning personal ideas
and agendas but that is an inevitable product of genuine dialogue.
Student – Sheffield, UK
As we talked together as a group I was comforted by the realisation that no one quite knew what
was in store. On arriving in Brazil we had already bonded well as a group and my first culture
shock was the sheer size of Sao Paulo. There didn’t seem to be any thinning out of the city no
matter which direction we travelled. Visits to the theological college and university campus along
with the church’s HQ left me reeling - money did not seem to be a problem as these facilities were
far superior to anything that we have in Ireland. The wealth of the church was contrasted starkly by
a visit to the homeless shelter where we saw how the other half lived. This contrast was good
preparation for the conference… The Brazilian people exuded warmth and a natural friendly
disposition but even those who were living in the remotest areas have had outside influences by
satellite television. Perhaps this is best illustrated by the picture I have of visiting a riverside village
in an incredibly remote area (I felt that a National Geographic film could be just around the corner)
when I saw a little boy of about 7 or 8 years with a Ronaldo hair cut.
Minister – Ireland
On Sunday morning our group divided and attended ordinary morning services of the
churches in the area. I found myself attending a church in the poorest part of town. The
locals referred to the area as the chicken coop because that was the size of the houses in
which people lived. The church was packed with young people. There were more children
than adults. Again we were greeted like long lost friends… and then they fed us. People
who had nothing gave their rich neighbours a meal. We talked and we laughed and we felt
ourselves to be part of what we were, brothers and sisters in Christ.
Minister – Barnsley, UK
We are used to the idea that globalisation is bad, and multinational companies are our bogeymen,
but seeing what local people were doing in terms of mining and damaging their own region,
demonstrated that the romantic image of local solutions to local problems is not always going to
work. Brazil is a huge country, and with its size comes great diversity of experience. We did have
something to offer (even if it wasn’t taken advantage of as much as we had hoped!). For
example, the problems of mining, and what to do when it finishes or moves on, have been
suffered in the UK. The issues of minority languages and how to facilitate their use are not just
issues in distant countries. Indeed I think it was the case that some of the Europeans attending
the conference had more experience of some of the problems we were shown than the Brazilians
from the big cities.
Lecturer – Birmingham, UK
The tree top situation was the next highlight, seeing the vastness of the two rivers (Pakaas &
Madera). The colour contrast at the point the two rivers join - one black and the other a muddy
brown. The pink dolphins playing in the underwater currents where the rivers meet. Next was a
day on the river visiting several tribes of indigenous Indians, seeing the poverty and humbleness
of their situation, but being lifted by seeing the laughter and fun on the children’s faces. Also a
concern of how the Brazilian people, who were with us, seemed to find this situation
uncomfortable and it was certainly a new experience for them as it was for us.
Administrator, Saltash, Cornwall, UK
The atmosphere at the closing celebrations at local churches was uplifting. There was plenty of
dancing, music and happiness. The joy, especially of the children was quite contagious. I have
already been invited to speak and disseminate the experience at my District synod in September
and will give a written report to all the Circuits.
Student – Lytham St Annes, UK
My other response came from meeting the people at El Dorado Church, who were so loving, and
generous with what little they have, and so full of the joy of life and their faith. When I compare
them with my congregation back home, I am guilty of wondering if we would be doing them a
favour or a disservice if we helped them to material improvement: blessed are the poor: perhaps
we should join them.
We started the trip with the impression that the Methodist Church was wondering what to do as its
mission in the area. Half way through the trip we were still asking ourselves why we were there.
Towards the end of the time we gradually began to find out that the Methodist Church was already
involved in some excellent projects.
Teacher – Minehead, UK
Missionary work is a major responsibility of the Church. I am uncertain of the precise meaning of
“missionary work” in the contemporary world, or if a precise meaning exists. One fairly obvious
interpretation would be: a drive to convert individuals or communities to the Christian faith. At the
Conference, a strongly expressed view was that this approach, when dealing with indigenous
groups, is more harmful than beneficial. Although this was a minority view, I am inclined to agree
with it… I believe that trying to export Christianity in this way; actively trying to convert others,
almost inevitably involves imposing one’s culture, while disregarding the pre-existing one in the
target community. When dealing with indigenous groups, the provision of political, social, physical
and even economic assistance should be a greater priority… I believe that both extremes of the
ecological debate involve placing a massive gap between human beings and the rest of the
created world. At one extreme, human needs are valued much higher than anything else… at the
other, there are those who, perhaps inadvertently, place human need below every other demand;
striving to preserve everything, standing in the way of progress, and wanting to go back to an
unattainable ideal. I do not think that rainforests should be burnt to the ground, but I do not think it
is necessarily wrong to clear some areas to allow people to live off the land… A balance needs to
be reached, which must be reflected in the Church’s policy, but I am not prepared to, or even
capable of making any precise suggestions.
The fundamental methodological principle of Amazonia 2002 was contextual learning. I believe that
this is a very worthwhile approach. We were able to see, and for a very short time, stay in the midst
of the beauty of the Amazon region. However, in order for contextual learning to be truly effective,
participants need to be exposed to as much as possible of the particular context, I suggest that
future participants be given the chance to learn from the negative, not just the positive aspects of
the Amazon context.
Graduate teacher – London, temporarily living in Japan