THE QUECHUAS  

The Quechuas (In Ecuador they are called the Quichuas) are the people from the old Incan Empire that was flourishing in the fifteenth century.  As if scattered by the winds that blow among the peaks of the Andes Mountains , the Quechuas live mostly in the highlands throughout the countries of Ecuador , Peru , and Bolivia .  These mountains are their home.  Some Quechuas still cling to the high country, defying the winds that would blow them from their cold high valleys and altiplanos (high planes).  Many others have settled in the warmer, lower Andean valleys where they have taken root and have lived for hundreds of years.  

The Quechuas are an ancient people with many remnants of ancient ways.  In many of the more remote areas, the people live in what they call a “paperless society”.  By this, they mean that the use of cash as a monetary system is seldom used in their villages.  Each family produces what they need, and what they cannot produce, they barter for.  They grow their own food and they weave and sew their own clothes.  There are some things that they cannot make; things which require a certain amount of talent and specialized equipment, like the making of shoes and tools.  For these things, they make trades.  A sack of potatoes for a pair of shoes, for instance; if you supply the leather. 

But the world does not stay away forever.  It will eventually come knocking at your door.  I spoke with one group of pastors who lived and ministered in these places that, until recently, had been tucked away and lost as if in the corner of some great pocket of the world.  Now, however, a hand had reached in and they had been drawn out.  The people were finding that they suddenly needed to learn to live in a world too big for any of them to imagine and distressing in ways they had never before known.  

Their society, like every other society in the world, is experiencing changes.  It is a reality of our world.  For good or for ill, there is no one who today lives in complete isolation from the rest of the world.  For good or ill (mostly for ill, I’m afraid), we all must sometimes deal with the monetary system of the world – even at 13,000 feet above sea level in a wind-swept village in the cold Andes Mountains.  

In these villages there are no factories – no businesses as we would normally think of them.  There is no way to get a job so that a man could earn a little wage.  They are paperless societies that suddenly find themselves in situations where it is not acceptable to be totally without money.  

From this condition, then, stems a great dilemma with which this group of pastors confronted me.  Their communities were agricultural based.  Most of these pastors were also farmers.  They told me of a struggle that was going on within their churches.  Many of their parishioners, they said to me, were coca growers (coca is the leaf crop from which cocaine is derived).  They asked me what they should say to their people.   

To better understand their dilemma, we need to better understand a couple of things about these mountain societies.  

The first is this:  In these places, chewing the coca leaf has been perfectly acceptable in their culture for hundreds of years.  This act does not have the same addicting affect of the coca’s derivative; cocaine.  The people of these high lands have historically used the coca leaf to stave off hunger and to give them energy in the thin mountain air.  We can argue if this is right or wrong, much like we can argue if drinking coffee to wake you up in the morning is right or wrong, but it has been an historical fact of their  

culture.  (It may not be completely fair for me to compare it to coffee, because I believe use of coca to be much more harmful.  But, taken from that culture’s perspective, they may consider it a valid comparison.)  

The second thing that we must understand is this.  The growing of coca is the only means that many have of making any kind of monetary income.  

“The people plant a field of potatoes,” these pastors told me, “and no one comes to buy them.  They plant corn, and they cannot take it to market.  But if they plant coca, the buyers come – not only with cash, but with American dollars.”   

There is also a third thing that we must see.  These pastors and these societies are beginning to learn of the evils of the world.  They hear of what evil is being unleashed through drug trafficking and drug use.  I wrote of some of these when we lived on the Colombian border of Venezuela .  It has led me to believe that drug use and trafficking are among the most destructive and evil forces in the world today.  I do not think that we can ignore this fact.  

These pastors with whom I was speaking were beginning to learn of these things.  However, they also knew in telling their people that they need to stop contributing to this evil, they would be taking away the only source of income that these people have.  This then, was their struggle.  This was their dilemma.  

“What are we to teach our people?” they asked me.  

We, from advanced and industrialized societies, tend to think that the problems of third world are easy to understand and have simple solutions.  We tend to think that our moral dilemmas in our advanced societies are far deeper.  I do not think so.  These pastors are called to minister to people that are faced with moral struggles that go far beyond gradual changes that we see coming about in more advanced societies.  They have been hit by a wave that has knocked them off their feet.  

I tell you this to illustrate the need we have in the church for pastoral and leadership training.   Most of these pastors in this situation or similar situations have never had any kind of pastoral training.  In the world, there exists no job or profession that does not require some kind of training.  Even the simplest of tasks requires an orientation so that the worker needs to know what is to be done.  

Yet, in the church, we have many pastors that have never had any kind of training.  Upon these, we lay the burden to shepherd the people of God to lead them through and protect them from the evils of our world.  But who would be better to minister to them?  These pastors know the hearts and struggles of their people.  What they are asking for are tools with which to work – some training to help their churches be a light in their communities.  

This is the work of BTCP.  We, in our family, feel that we have been given the great privilege to come along side of these pastors and leaders in the churches to help them in their work.  You also can feel privileged, for you too are part of this task.  Together, we minister to the body of Christ.