November 17, 2003

BUENOS AIRES - When we read the Gospels we find many tasks ordered by Christ and his followers and one of the many interpretations that that keep arising is related to the missionary, evangelizing mandate of Jesus and a book presented here today offers some answers.

In the book, "El Ultimo Mandato: Una relectura desde Amirica Latina," author Mortimer Arias, an Uruguayan Methodist pastor who has ministered in several Latin American countries examines Jesus missionary mandate focused toward the Western hemisphere. The book was launched in the Evangelical Theological Studies Institute (ISEDET).

What was the mission of the Church? What was Jesus final and definitive mandate? What does evangelism consist of? What is its motivation, contents, methods, agents and purpose, are some of the fundamental questions that Arias seeks to clarify.

With this text, published by the Clara publishing house and World Vision, the author hopes to motivate the task to share the Good News, the final mandate from our Lord and which gives sense and meaning to our lives.

The book is accompanied by a 50-page methodological guide, written by educator Eunice Arias, daughter of the author. The aim is to facilitate study in Churches and communities interested in the issue of Evangelism in the Latin American context.

Guido Bello Henriquez, superintendent of the Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina, and general coordinator of the Evangelical Latin American Christian Education Commission (CELADEC) presented the author. Event organizers Professor Jairo Roa and the Rev. Harold Segura from World Vision were also present.

Arias was born in Durazno, Uruguay. He studied in the Theology Faculty in Buenos Aires. He was pastor of the Methodist Church in Uruguay for 16 years. He then moved to Bolivia where he was pastor for 20 years and Executive Secretary of the Methodist Church. He was also the first bishop of the Methodist Church of Bolivia for six years.

He gave the inaugural conference at the V World Council of Churches Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya in 1975. He then traveled to the United States and obtained a PhD from the Methodist University of Perkins.

Upon his return to Bolivia he became Executive Secretary of the Evangelical Methodist Council of Churches of Latin America (CIEMAL) and is the first secretary for Mission and Evangelism for the Latin American Council of Churches.

He was jailed for more than 40 days after the Luis Garcia Meza military coup in 1980 and then went into exile. After a short period in Brazil the Claremont, California seminary invited him teach Mission and Evangelism.

He was dean of the Latin American Biblical Seminary in San Jose, Costa Rica between 1986 and 1989 and then taught Mission and Evangelism in the Illif, Denver Colorado Seminary. Upon his retirement he returned to Uruguay.

He has given conferences in different universities in the United States and Europe and has published several books including the Clamor of My People, Salvation is Liberation, Announcing the Kingdom of God and the Final Command. He has also written several hymns.

ALC News (Agencia Latinoamericana y Caribeqa de Comunicacisn)