COVID-19 HELPS GROW URUGUAYAN SEMINARY

BY TIANNA HAAS

Uruguay’s long resistance to the gospel has earned it the name, Graveyard of Missions. It is the most secularised nation in Latin America with the highest percentage of atheists and agnostics; it also claims the highest rates of suicide and depression on the continent.

Yet today, more Uruguayan church leaders than ever have gained access to biblical and theological training. Why? One could say it’s because of COVID-19.

Previously, education through the Biblical Seminary of Uruguay was mostly limited to those who could attend the campus in the capital of Montevideo. Some professors travelled and hosted trainings in 35 cities. Still, this was beyond the reach of many.

Th is year, in partnership with SIM, the seminary launched a new two-year course with 200 pastors and church leaders enrolled — an encouraging number. But barely a week in, the president announced a national lockdown. Even those living nearby could not attend.

So, the seminary decided to try recording the classes on video and distributing them on YouTube and WhatsApp. Students began to interact in Zoom sessions. Today, virtual learning has overcome the barrier of distance.

Seminary director Ernesto Dueck said: “We know that this is a strategic moment to continue to encourage and prepare leaders for the harvest, especially during and after this crisis.

“The students are sharing the video classes with their teams and people who couldn’t travel to Montevideo. We are anticipating many more people following the courses than before. We can serve more people!”

With many people laid off from work, the seminary has waived tuition costs for the semester. Subsequent semesters will be half price until the economy recovers. Funds raised through SIM project 91173 will help with some of the shortfall.

Dueck and SIM Uruguay Director Andres Corrales, from Costa Rica, both envision church growth as a direct outcome of the programme.

In one church alone, 14 worship leaders are attending the school of worship. Before the coronavirus, none of them could travel to the classes.

The classes have also created a feeling of camaraderie, no small feat during prolonged weeks of isolation and hardships brought on by the coronavirus.

In 1995, just 1,000 churches existed in the entire country, most with between 30 and 50 members. Today, there are several thousand, but a deficit of trained leaders means they are not always equipped to speak into the challenges in their society.

Ernesto said: “Even in this hard time, they are acquiring knowledge and skills to serve in signifi cant ways when all this finally over.”

At a glance, one might think the seminary campus is the ‘graveyard of missions’ with its locked doors and empty classrooms. Yet the student body has jumped 30 per cent within weeks and is set to grow beyond Uruguayans to Spanish-speakers anywhere.

It has taken an historic pandemic to grow this young seminary in the Western hemisphere’s most ‘non-religious’ nation.

Visit the seminary on Facebook: www.facebook.com/seminariobiblicouruguay/

PLEASE PRAY:

• For professors as they teach on new platforms, navigate technological setbacks, and continue rightly discerning the scripture.

• For students to persevere in faith and in their studies. Pray the Lord provides income for them and for the seminary.

• For the Uruguayan church to strengthen spiritually and in number.

• For more professors and staff to come from around the world and help grow the seminary.