God’s eyes have always been upon the Wounaan.
It was in 1946 that the Canadian and US Mission Board sent the first missionaries to the Chocó jungle of Colombia. With a missional and community development focus, they established medical dispensaries and elementary schools. This holistic expression of the Gospel had an impact that went beyond Istmina—to Suruco, Noanamá, Andagoya, Isidro, Andagoyita, Basurú, Primavera, Bebedó, Condoto, Las Mojarras, Nóvita, Tadó and other localities of the region.
In 1952, missionaries Jacob Loewen and David Wirsche were also sent to the Colombian Chocó, and first encountered the indigenous Wounaan. These two men later began a ministry among this same ethnic group in Panama, but were never able to return to the Wounaan of Colombia. Years passed, and no other missionaries were sent to them.
Then, seven years ago, God sent us.
Historically, the Wounaan people are originally from Colombia, but many migrated to Panama to escape religious and cultural assimilation by the Roman Catholic Church. Settling in Panama, they heard and received the Good News, and many were discipled in the faith. This gave rise to what is now called the Evangelica Unida: Sixteen autonomous churches that form the indigenous MB conference of Panama.
Nevertheless, these believers felt an ache in their hearts that they had not been able to find a sustainable way to reach their fellow Wounaan in Colombia with the Good News of Jesus.
In 2018, the MB church of Colombia helped send a team to the place where those first missionaries from North America encountered the Wounaan. We went to dream; to envision ministry among the Wounaan of the Colombian Choco. On this team were myself [Einer] and three Panamanian Wounaan leaders—Hermes Barrigón, Ricardo Membache and Dalecio Osorio—who had all attended our School of Discipleship in Yaviza to be trained and equipped for ministry among their own people.
These men were eager to bring the Gospel to their Wounaan brothers in Colombia, despite the fact that these two people groups had been estranged for over one hundred years, separated by the thick, impenetrable, terrorist-ridden jungles of the Darien Gap. Their prayer was that, as brothers, they would be reunited, then united, in Christ.
Our team plunged into the jungle for three days, traveling by road, river, and tidal deltas to finally arrive at the community of Buena Vista in Colombia. Although some seemed open to listen, others received us with considerable mistrust. And with good reason.
After seventy years, we returned to where the first missionaries encountered the Wounaan of Colombia.
Evangelism among the Wounaan of Colombia has historically not been well-received. Earlier, well-intentioned Western missionaries often were insensitive to the Wounaan culture and imposed their own views and behaviors without understanding or considering the context of this people group. Over the years we have been with Multiply, we have been grateful for an approach to evangelism and discipleship that aims to equip nationals to reach their own people.
We knew that those most qualified to bring the Word of God to the Colombian Wounaan are their own brothers: Panamanian Wounaan believers who have themselves overcome the animism, syncretism, religiosity, and fear of evil spirits that have held the Wounaan captive for so long. With this in mind, we invited four of the Wounaan that we came to know on that first expedition—Leycer Chamarra, along with family members Nicio, Deyer and Aureliano—to come back to Panama.
At our our School of Discipleship, Leycer came to a saving faith in Jesus, and was filled with passion to reach the lost among his own people back in Colombia. First on his heart was his own father, Trino.
Trino, the chief of his village, was himself the son of the Jaibana—the village witch doctor. Despite this, hearing his own son present the Gospel to him won his heart. Soon, filled with the joy of the Spirit, Trino began to share his faith with others in his village. But, to avoid persecution by neighbors who feared angering the spirits with foreign religious practices, he did this only at night, and in secret.
He was found out.
Assassins were sent to kill Trino and Leycer. They arrived at night with machetes. When the violence erupted, one man hit Trino in the face, with the intention of decapitating him. Wounded but alive, father and son fled the village.
Taking refuge in the city of Bogotá, father and son soon realized that God was presenting them with an incredible opportunity to reach their ethnic Wounaan brothers of Colombia. Over five hundred Wounaan, along with many indigenous Embera, live as refugees in this city because of civil unrest. Leycer and his father immediately began sharing the Gospel with the refugees and, in a short time, became men of influence within this community. These leaders had great boldness; they faced persecution both from indigenous animists as well as religious traditionalists, yet their persistence in doing one-on-one discipleship was yielding incredible results.
Recently, they have asked for our help. “This is becoming a church plant,” they explained, “and we are not trained or equipped for this. We cannot do this alone!” Together, we are envisioning a ministerial coalition between the MB conference of Panama and Colombia, to give strength and support to this ministry.
Back in Buena Vista, the persecution has increased. Recently, José Chamarra and Jarold Membache—two well-respected teachers at the only school in this area—have been accused by a local witch doctor of having hanged certain young people who, in reality, had committed suicide. José and Jarold’s lives are in grave danger; the witch doctor is calling for terrorists to execute them (a common practice here) and for the Wounaan Church to be removed.
Please pray with us! We pray not with fear, but with faith, confident that what God begins, He will complete.
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 1:3-6
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