Of all the places I have visited, Bolivia seems to be the most eager for outside help. However, Bolivian Christians are also very excited about missions. In Cochabamba there is a school training Christian workers to go all over the world. How can people in one of the poorest countries of the Americas raise funds for international missions? Well for one thing they are committed. But many missionaries from Bolivia also find ways to participate with other mission endeavors that help with financing. Good missionary practice says, however, that a missionary should never be fully supported by outsiders. Some support must always come from the local home church or region. Otherwise ownership of the mission enterprise is lost. So Bolivians are not off the hook!

When I was there last year I attended a meeting of COMIBAM, a Latin American missions organization, and was surprised to hear the president, an Argentine, tell everyone that they needed to stop depending on outside funds, stop waiting for others to begin projects or take the initiative because “we” (Bolivians and Latin Americans generally) don’t have the resources that “they” have in the North. Then he did one of those “if everyone gave a dollar a month” exercises and showed the enormous amount of resources that are available to the Bolivian church. It’s just a matter of motivation, organization and inspiration from the Holy Spirit.

Does this mean we ought to take a laissez-faire approach and let the Bolivian church take care of it’s own mission endeavors? Of course not. The buzzword is partnership.

By the way, I have a particular individual in mind in Bolivia whom I would like to partner with through Senderis. He is a middle aged single man that wants to go to Somalia as a missionary. Hard core, huh? If WE can get motivated and organized we can also participate with our southern brothers and sisters in the global mission.