I suppose what I am saying is that I am pleased they are Christian as opposed to Islamic extremist (which is also spreading worldwide). Having said that, I have great confidence that the Holy Spirit will eventually lead these protestant Christians to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
I wont’ speak for Evangelical missionaries in Bolivia, but your anecdotal evidence is not representative of trends in South America as a whole. Indeed, the enormous irony of the Liberation Theology movement in South America is that while the Roman Catholic church preached liberation, Evangelical Churches have had most success in South America (and here in Spain) with the poorest segments of society (e.g. Chiapas, Mexico, now majority Evangelical; Guatemala, now majority Evangelical or the favellas of Brazil, where the Evangelical Church is growing by over 1 million per year). .
This phrase requires a bit of clarification. What do you mean by the evangelical church? Is there a denomination or association of churches called the Evangelical Church, or do you really mean to say evangelical churches, many of which are free of association with any denomination or other governing body.
The problem is that one can’t forget theology. I have heard how this is happening in Latin America. Evangelical Christian groups go in and specifically target Catholic christians, oops, they would not call them Christians just Catholics. They teach them the “real” gospel (ie one can’t be Catholic and be a Real Christian) instead of lighting the fire under a Catholic Christian or actually going out and converting those who have never heard of Christ.
And you are succeeding. I am also being charitable, this is why I did not suggest anything about you - yet the position you adopt is horrific as far as I am concerned.
And, for the most part, God
MariaG, this is exactly why this concerns me so much. My old evangelical church sent missionaries to, of all places, Sicily. One afternoon, the church asked various groups to set up tables to provide more information about their ministries, and I was the representative for children’s programs. My table was right next to the one for the missionaries to Sicily, and on the table, they had obviously Catholic artifacts, including rosaries, medals and crucifixes. The obvious implication was that these people needed to be ‘saved’ from this supposed ‘idolatry.’
Which, if you really believe, must be incredibly depressing.And, for the most part, God
Fine… very encouraging for evangelicals. But you started off the thread with a comment on how depressing this must be for Catholics. In other words, you set this up as a competition between two theological streams of Christianity, so you could gloat over our supposed misfortune in the face of your chosen stream’s supposed massive gains.
I haven’t shifted my focus: the objective of evangelism (or evangelisation in Roman Catholic parlance) is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Anytime a nominal Catholic, nominal Protestant, or secular humanist becomes a sincere follower of Jesus, it is reason for celebration, both on earth and in heaven. In South America, the growth of Evangelicalism has come at the expense of mostly nominal Catholics; on Ivy League campuses and here in Spain, it is at the expense of mostly secular humanists.
This is my entire point! This is what is dangerous about the CCM also.
But herein lies the problem: such evangelism efforts often target more than just nominal Catholics, considering even the serious ones to either not be Christian, or to be Christian in spite of their membership in the Catholic Church. That’s fundamentally dishonest.
If you read Raymond Arroyo’s book, that’s why Mother Angelica left the movement.
:yup: Yet another area in which it would be wise to heed the advice of Mother Angelica.
Amen!
There is only one Church, Christ’s. That it is manifested in different ways doesn’t take away from the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Does truth not matter? All of these different churches hold to widely divergent theologies on the most fundamental issues, including the issue of soteriology. Therefore, it is hard to say that all of these people formally belong to the same church, and that all of them believe the same truth. Either that, or holding to true doctrine doesn’t matter. Which is it?