As is the case in many other countries in South America, Catholicism is the predominant religion along with native religious practices such as praising mother earth in Bolivia. A distinct feature of Catholicism in Bolivia is that it is syncretistic. You can find Catholic churches even in some remote villages, where their religious practices merge with those of the native people in each region. Often, pagan rituals and festivals are initiated with a blessing from the catholic priests that were sent to work in the small towns. In bigger cities the same phenomenon occurs.
Pagan rituals that have been a long-lived tradition in Bolivia are practiced in the countryside as well as in big cities, in both cases very much encouraged by the government. The object of these practices is mother earth and led by the belief that giving offerings to it will bring abundance, prosperity and protection to the people enacting the rituals and to the establishments where they are performed.
Historically, many Christian missions from different denominations have attempted and achieved to evangelize people in the country and plant churches in the past decades. Nevertheless, the country is still predominantly Catholic in its syncretic form, and sound doctrine has not been part of most Christian churches teaching at large.
Today, as it happens in many other countries, people can find many evangelical churches in the cities, and some in the countryside. However, a majority of them are being led by men who have little to no formal theological training. In many cases, the message that is preached in these churches is not the Gospel, the Good News that we find in Scripture.
There is still so much work to do in Bolivia.
Bolivia needs sound teaching
When I first started working as a pastor in the capital city of my country, in 2016 I realized how few churches can be found in the country where the true Gospel is being proclaimed, and where church leaders are faithful to Scripture in all matters of Christian life and the life of their congregations. Most non-Christians in my city only know prosperity gospel churches as a reference for Christianity, and associate its corruption to all Christians.
By the grace of God, in recent years, there have been churches starting to teach sound doctrine, and focusing on equipping christians to study the Bible themselves. My church has focused specifically on teaching biblical doctrines in an expository way, and on equipping men and women to be husbands, fathers, wives and mothers who honor God in the way they live out their faith in their daily lives. The church in my city has seen God bless those efforts throughout the years by sanctifying His church and growing our fellowship to hundreds of congregants and members gathering to worship every week.
I’m tremendously thankful for how the Lord has blessed me and the church since 2016 and for the people I’ve connected within the country who, like me, have a passion for sound doctrine and it being preached correctly from the pulpit. But although I’ve been thankful for God’s guidance, the great spiritual needs my country had and still has were a burden in my heart. In 2020, during the pandemic period, needs became all the more evident: Christians everywhere in the country were hungry for more instruction and for the true Gospel to lead their lives. And I personally needed spiritual and hands-on support to try and respond to these needs.
In God’s sovereignty that’s exactly when I connected with Equipping Leaders International and started working towards training more pastors. These have consisted of equipping men to lead their families as it’s worthy of our Father, and plant and lead churches according to God’s commandments.
Since 2020 we have had several conferences exploring different doctrines that led dozens, if not hundreds, to embrace the true Gospel and love sound doctrine. In collaboration with ELI the church has also been holding weekly pastoral trainings that are attended by dozens of men who have a strong desire to teach the Word of God faithfully. Many attendees just desire to be good husbands and fathers, and they have found a place where they can learn and ask questions.
The Lord has been so gracious in allowing me, ELI and the church to serve in this capacity. And the results are just astounding.
Men reaching the unreached!
I am delighted at the fact that so many men are seeking theological training in order to fulfill their roles as husbands and fathers excellently, but it has also been a joy to see men going out of their comfort zone and volunteering to preach in a remote region of our country called Copacabana.
This year I got in touch with a small group of believers in said region that is in great need for a church and pastors. They are a group of several Christians but none of them with any sort of theological training. Added to that, most of them only speak Aymara, their native language, though they understand Spanish (the official national language) to a certain extent.
My first visit to Copacabana was on June 16th 2024. I traveled there with my family. We were amazed at how true believers could be found in a region like this where ethnic groups praise mother earth. What was more amazing though, was that when the need for sound doctrine in Copacabana was presented to several brothers from the pastoral training in our church, five men volunteered to support with teaching there one Sunday a month including me.
Since then, these men have been travelling to Copacabana every week to serve this group of Christians, enjoy having fellowship with them, and share lunch together after the service. Often the meals are prepared with the produce they cultivate in their own lands, given that farming is their main occupation. With time it has become more evident to us that the Lord is growing these brothers’ and sisters’ faith, and he has given us the privilege of serving them.
There is still so much to do, and so many needs to respond to. More training needed, more men with the desire to be pastors must be evaluated and ordained, we need material to be translated to the native languages spoken in the countryside, and literary resources for people getting trained in the cities, and the list goes on… And we know that our prayers will be answered in God’s timing, as we also know that as long as there are men who love the one true God in Bolivia, He will keep using us as instruments to build his kingdom.
Christ will ultimately receive an inheritance of nations, and what can be more glorious than being a part of His plan?
