I WAS VERY, very pleased with "Turning the World Upside Down," by Aaron Gallegos, in the September-October 1997 issue. I am coordinator for South America of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and served in Central and South America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Venezuela, and Brazil) for 18 years as a missionary. I have become weary of attending ecumenical meetings and consultations that speak of everything and yet exclude or avoid mentioning the traditional ministries of the evangelical churches of Latin America.
I appreciate political and justice ministries, but believe they need to be integrated with other ministry emphases that are important to the church of Jesus Christ, such as evangelism and church planting.
I truly do applaud Sojourners' courage in publishing this timely article, and I hope more of us within the mainstream Protestant movement will take it to heart. Evangelicals and pentecostals are growing and taking more seriously their justice ministries without losing sight of their spiritual ministries of conversion and the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Today the mainline, as it continues to lose many members to these other groups, needs to leave aside its arrogance and take these other aspects much more seriously.
We who appreciate many of the great contributions of liberation theology have said on many occasions that we must listen to the voices of the poor. Then let us be serious about this concern and listen to what the poor are saying—they want a more holistic approach to the gospel.
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