October 28, 2004
by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - Dozens of volunteers are now being sought to serve as accompaniers with the Presbyterian Church in Colombia (PCI) to curb violence against its pastors and church workers.

The PCI has been asking for help for more than six months. During its September meeting the PC(USA)'s General Assembly Council approved sending accompaniers under the joint auspices of the Worldwide Ministries Division and the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.

Teams of two or three volunteers will go into the region for stints of four to six weeks until a full-time mission co-worker is hired to host mission groups and provide pastoral support for the PCI. The church is ministering amidst government repression, guerrilla warfare and brutal paramilitary incursions.

Colombia is home to what many call the hemisphere's worst humanitarian crisis.

Although PCI executive secretary Milton Mejia has repeatedly insisted that the PCI does nothing illegal, it appears that Colombian authorities are trying to link the church with Colombia's guerrilla movement. This puts PCI workers at risk and scares off folks in need who would ordinarily turn to it for help.

According to Mejia, the harassment is a way of stopping the church's human rights ministry.

After a number of displaced men were arrested and accused of bombing a department store owned by a prominent Colombian politician, PCI leaders learned that the church's synod office in Barranquilla is apparently under video surveillance. Interrogators showed to those arrested video clips of people entering and leaving the church offices.

The church also operates a small human rights program in which volunteer lawyers help displaced people apply for government assistance and document human rights abuses that forced them off their land. The coordinator of that program, Mauricio Avilez, was arrested in June and charged with subversion, which his interrogators equated with human rights work.

Although the charges are still pending, Avilez was abruptly released from jail last week.

Mejia's life was threatened by an anonymous telephone caller who tried to extort roughly $4,000 from the church - money the caller said should not be spent on helping the displaced.

"If we had someone who could leave tomorrow, we'd have them in Colombia within two weeks," said K. T. Ockels, who directs the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Mission Service Recruitment Office (MSRO). "[But] anyone who goes needs training, unless they've served with an organization like the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) or have experience on the ground in Colombia."

Potential volunteers should contact the MSRO by phone at 502-569-2530, or by e-mail at msro@ctr.pcusa.org. Applications may be obtained by using the "One Door" online service at http://www.pcusa.org/onedoor/. Once there, click on "Search," and then "Intrnational Service/Latin America" to find links to the job descriptions or type http://www.pcusa.org/msr/application.htm.

Volunteers will help the PCI to minister to Colombia's massive refugee population, which has been displaced by the violence that has wracked the country for more than 40 years. They will document human rights abuses, accompany church leaders as they speak with government authorities, and file reports that help interpret the conflict for the wider church.

The cost to each volunteer is approximately $2,000 to cover expenses, including airfare. The PC(USA) will provide risk management insurance and medical evacuation if necessary, but not standard health insurance, according to Maria Arroyo, the PC(USA)'s area coordinator for Latin America. The PCI will provide housing. Fluency in Spanish is preferable and volunteers must be at least 21 years old.

"We need someone there yesterday. Really quick," said Arroyo. "The church is calling us constantly to put someone there. It is urgent. The church feels very vulnerable, that surveillance of [its ministries] is continuing."

"People who apply for these positions need to be mature and have self-confidence and a very strong Christian background that is committed to nonviolence. They also need some knowledge of the situation. They cannot go if they do not realize how risky this is," said Arroyo. She added that she has the utmost confidence in the PCI to orient the accompaniers thoroughly upon arrival in Barranquilla.

Training for accompaniers is being developed now by the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, based on elements of several international accompaniment groups, including the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), Witness for Peace, and the Fellowship for Reconciliation. A former CPT accompanier in Colombia and an active Presbyterian, Charles Spring, will lead the first training in Washington, D.C. beginning Nov. 11.

The Peace Fellowship is also recruiting candidates for accompaniment and raising funds to defray some of the cost.

Rick Ufford-Chase, General Assembly moderator - who is already CPT-trained - was in Barranquilla and Bogota in mid-September accompanying Mejia and other church leaders. He prodded the GAC to get the accompaniment project under way when he returned.

Arroyo said the goal is to put a full-time accompanier in Barranquilla in January and that the denomination will accelerate the placement process to do so. Ockels said it is a tight timetable.

The denomination has opened an Extra Commitment Opportunity account (#051763) to help defray costs for travel and insurance. Donations may be sent to the Presbyterian Church (USA), Individual Remittance Processing, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700.

The PC(USA)'s mission service policies clearly state that the church does not pay ransom if its personnel are kidnapped or held hostage.

Presbyterian News Service