April 24, 2003

LIMA - Leaders from several Evangelical Churches and communities legally constituted an entity called the Union of Evangelical Christian Churches of Peru (UNICEP) last Tuesday.

UNICEP, according to the approved statutes, is a religious, fraternal association, representing Evangelical Churches, missions and para-Church ministries in Peru.

The new organization seeks to represent its members before the State and to Promote Evangelism, culture and values; to offer its opinion about ethical and moral aspects that affect the nation and to contribute to upholding the testimony of the Churches and their ministers before society.

The April 22 meeting was attended by leaders from the Biblical Emmanuel Church, the World Missionary Movement, the Way of Life Church, the Living Christian Center, the Biblical Christian Center, among other Churches and Christian communities A temporary board of directors was elected for one year and mandated with determining the mechanisms to join and participate in UNICEP, promoting the incorporation of new members and convening a constitutive assembly in March 2004.

The Board includes Pastor Robert Barriger, of the Way of Life Church as president and Otoniel Pardo of the Jesus is Lord Christian Community as vice president. Alicia Estremadoyro of the Christian Biblical Community is secretary and Pastor Miguel Bardales of the Biblical Emmanuel Church is treasurer. Pastors Humberto Lay and Hernan Paredes are also board members.

Leaders of UNICEP clarified that the new organization was not created to oppose the National Evangelical Council of Peru (CONEP) but rather is open to dialogue with that body and all Evangelical sectors.

The initiative to create this new organization emerged last month after a congressional debate about Constitutional reform and the approval of an article about the relationship between Churches and the State.

The Inter-Confessional Committee, that includes the participation of the Bishops' Conference and CONEP, Evangelical Churches and the Jewish Community, put forward a text that states "within a regime of independence and autonomy, the State recognizes the Catholic Church as an important element in the historic, cultural and moral formation of Peru and offers its collaboration."

It then added that the "State recognizes and respects all religious confessions and establishes collaboration agreements with them through their representative bodies, with a criteria of equity." These texts were approved by congressmen and form part of the Constitutional reform project.

Evangelical Churches, who do not form part of CONEP, said the text was a concession to the Catholic Church and a betrayal of the demand for full religious equality. The different Churches agreed to form a new body and to elect a committee that elaborated the statutes that were approved last Tuesday.

ALC News Service (Agencia Latinoamericana y Caribeqa de Comunicacisn)