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When you are called to report to the police in North Africa, you start packing. If you are lucky, they make you leave the country within 24 hours. If you are not so lucky, they put you in prison.”

Rev. Marcos Amado, who leads PM International (PMI), a Latin American mission agency, was relating a story about Carlos (a pseudonym) a PMI worker who had started a basketball team for disabled people in a North African country.

“So I guess my time is up here.” The day came when Carlos had to report to the police chief in the capital city. The chief asked him if he was working in the country. Carlos said yes. The chief asked if he was helping the disabled; yes again. The police chief said, “I have called you here because my daughter has been helped by this program and I want to thank you.”

Carlos could hardly believe it. He had been having problems with his residency permit. The next day a policeman came to his house and delivered the permit.

Carlos is one of 6,500 Ibero-Americans-defined as Latin Americans, Portuguese, Spaniards and North American Hispanics-who serve in more than 100 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe. But in the world of post-September 11, perhaps the most significant place where Ibero-American missionaries serve is in Muslim-majority countries. Some also serve among Muslim people groups in countries such as India where Islam is not the majority religion.

Suited for Arab Muslim ministry.
The Ibero-American affinity with Muslims, at least superficially, is a natural one. The Ibero-American racial complexion is closer to that of Arabs than it is to North Americans and Europeans. Culturally, too, they are closer in how they perceive time, the concept of family, the importance of the group (vs. individualism), and the preeminence of the spiritual over the material world.

“We can’t say that it is the same in Latin America as it is in Jordan or Tunisia, but generally speaking, most Latins are closer to Arab Muslim cultures than are people from Western ones,” Amado says. Mr. Hugo Morales, partnership training coordinator for COMIBAM (Cooper-ación Misionera Iberoamericana), a movement that mobilizes Ibero-American mission work, believes there are historical, colonial and economic reasons too. In 711 A.D., the Muslims of North Africa launched an invasion across the Strait of Gibraltar, occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula for more than seven centuries. The colonial ties of the peninsula stretch across to Latin America. Latin America and North Africa are closer in living conditions than that of the super-wealthy nations of the United States and Western Europe. Finally, “Ibero-Americans don’t carry the political baggage of superpower status like US citizens do,” Morales says.

But Morales is quick to point out that while these similarities make entry into North African cultures relatively easier, the longer Ibero-American missionaries stay, the more they realize that the challenges are almost as great as those faced by any missionary: learning the language, understanding cultural cues, dealing with hostility, educating children, etc.

It was partly this realization that led PMI to develop cross-cultural, immersion training. “I went through this training myself,” Amado says. “It is five months of living in the country where the person is going to work, living with indigenous, Muslim families, traveling by oneself, and studying the language four or five hours a day. It is tough, but in the end worth it. Some missionaries asked how I had learned so much after only five months in the country. A few had never taken a taxi or bus, nor traveled around the country.”

The intense training pays off. On average, 50 percent of Ibero-American missionaries stay longer than three years; it is 90 percent for PMI missionaries. In 1999, Amado spearheaded the formation of the first Ibero-American Institute of Islamic Studies, a program that unites 18 missionary organizations to train Spanish-speaking missionaries.

Roots of Ibero-American Missions.
The roots of the movement that transformed Latin America from a mission field into a mission force go back to COMIBAM ’87. This movement remains instrumental in mobilizing Ibero-American churches for global mission and now operates with most of its resources coming from Ibero-America. In 1996, there were 3,900 Ibero-American missionaries; today there are 6,500. According to Ted Limpic of OC International, 500 work in the Muslim world, 92 among Hindus, and 87 in Buddhist countries.

Because most Muslim-majority nations forbid missionary work, tentmaking ministry is the best option. The type of work a missionary does determines the group of people among whom they will minister. “A good example is a PMI worker, an engineer by trade, who designs water purification systems for needy communities,” Amado says. “This puts him in contact with people of various social levels, principally the needy, and gives him a chance to share his faith.” PMI recognizes that to do ministry in poorer countries, one must engage in holistic witness. But Amado says, “We are not involved in community development projects only because they give us the opportunity to go into Muslim countries. We are involved in them because we believe that it is part of our mission as Christians. At the same time, we speak about Christ.”

PMI’s holistic projects such as community outreach centers, water wells and vocational training are funded by Partners International and others. PMI raises their worker support from Latin America which Amado admits is a growing challenge. “Latin American economies are very unstable. Argentineans are suffering and the Brazilian economy is not good. Churches are making the extra effort, but it is hard to keep up with 450 percent devaluation,” Amado says. He recently sold his car to make ends meet.

In spite of the economic and spiritual challenges, the missions movement among Ibero-Americans is healthy. PMI has put teams in additional North African countries, Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and India, and is hoping to start in Pakistan and Niger.

Morales points to a new trend: Ibero-Americans hearing God’s call to India, especially to the Dalits (untouchables). “As a continent that has known poverty and the oppression of an unspoken class system, we are able to identify with and speak to the spiritual and material plight of the Dalits. Ibero-Americans are waking up to the reality of doing mission in the difficult places of the world.”

Steven Downey is vice president of communications and marketing at Partners International, Spokane, Washington.