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Statistics Field Address: |
Prayer Profile: There are approx. 1,000,000 Mapuches throughout all of Chile, with nearly half living in the greater Santiago metropolitan area. Our target and the unreached element is the 250,000 that live in the rural reservations of the 8th to 10th regions of Chile. They are a resilient people who are said to be the only Native American group to successfully defend their land from the Inca and Spanish conquests. For more than 100 years now they have lived on small reservations scattered throughout southern Chile. The limited land has led the growing population to flee to the economic opportunities in the cities, rather than face the hard life of subsistence farming on just a few acres. The people work hard at their farms, and when possible they seek outside employment in nearby towns, forestry or large farms. They remain poor. They often have a low self-esteem due to the years of oppression and racism. Alcoholism is a major problem. There is access to basic education, but those who want to go beyond elementary school often must live in dorms in the city. The arrival of electricity has also brought cultural changes, but the distinctives remain. Few own vehicles: animal carts, walking and buses form the main methods of transportation. They are a warm and generous people and are governed by a sometimes complex social code. Both younger and older generations are bilingual, but the older tends to speak Mapudungun and the younger to speak Spanish. There has been a renewed pride in cultural heritage. They are known as excellent weavers of woolen goods and often for wood carving. The traditional game is a form of field hockey, but the game of choice today is soccer. The Mapuches are animists who believe in a supreme god, Ngunechen. Although most are baptized Catholics, they have no association with the church. Traditional Mapuche festivals, pregnant with religions meaning, are widely attended. The whole community will participate in the ngillatun festival when they gather to pray for a good harvest or other blessing. And most on occasion of illness will consult the shaman (the Machi) for a healing ceremony. Curses, augmented by some form or magic or another, are widely practiced. Rural Mapuches are still unreached for a number of reasons. They are generally more isolated than the rest of the population; contacts with the outside world remain slow. The more traditional Mapuches still communicate primarily in their own tongue, Mapudungun. Until recently they had no Scriptures in their own language; Years of oppression and antagonism from the mainstream Chilean culture have made them reluctant to listen to "whites" on any subject. The recent government emphasis on Mapuches and their culture has helped break down some of the barriers. Although most have heard of Jesus, most have not had the gospel presented in a clear and patient way by someone who has taken into account their cultural, linguistic and religious heritage. The gospel is vastly different from traditional religion and good evangelism is not a short process. The churches that exist among the people are led by laymen who have had little, if any, Biblical training. As a result they tend to be small churches, often plagued by bad doctrine, and with little vision to reach their own community, much less beyond their community. Mapuche political groups have rejected the gospel as the religion of the Chileans, not the Mapuches. The C&MA has had contacts with Mapuches for decades and some churches go back half a century. But in the early 90's the national church and mission committed to a focused effort to reach the reservations. They began with training for the lay leaders to equip them and give them a vision to reach their own people. Before C&MA missionaries entered the 9th Region to work with the Mapuches, it was assumed that there were very few works among them. Within a few short months, at least 24 C&MA Mapuche works were unearthed, mostly extensions of local Alliance churches into the rural areas around them. The annual conference has built that vision to reach their own people even more. Many of the Mapuche congregations have begun home groups in other areas and some have even built chapels. As leaders of these churches were encouraged and trained, they began to evangelize the areas around them. The number of Mapuche churches has increased to 35 congregations and the average total attendance rose from 600 to 900 between 1993 to 1997. The Mapuche NT was dedicate in 1997 and it has encouraged many believers and touched non-believers. The Jesus film became available in 1995. There are a few limited radio broadcasts in their language. The key to reaching them, however, is visitation from house to house. Many trained workers are needed to expand this ministry. The Mapuches are relatively responsive to the Gospel but are suspicious of the reasons for evangelization. |
