St. Macartin's Cathedral
Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
The Church of Ireland - part of the Anglican Communion
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The Chile Trip 2006
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Now that the new term is well underway, summertime might already seem like a distant memory. However, still very fresh in my mind are the experiences of a trip to South America in July. I was privileged to spend three weeks in Chile as a member of a youth team from Clogher Diocese.
Despite a full day’s delay caused by a missed flight connection, we arrived in Chile ready for action, if a little unsure of exactly what to expect! First impressions of the country were very positive: the scenery is as stunning as our own, the people are welcoming and share our sense of humour, and as a whole
Chile is a well developed nation, comparable to any western European country.
We were met at the airport by members of San Andreas church, where we would be based for most of our stay. The church is located on the outskirts of Viña del Mar, a major coastal city about 1½ hours’ drive
from Santiago, the capital. The congregation is less than two years established, and there are around sixty members, many of whom have only recently become Christians. In general Chileans are very open to
talking about faith and beliefs, and we found that the Christians were passionate in their worship and witness.
The lion’s share of our time was spent working in schools and we were given some wonderful opportunities to share our faith and tell young people about Jesus. Thankfully English is taught to a very high standard. At one school we were even asked to give a worship concert at breaktime!
Since we’ve come home we’ve been encouraged to learn that a number of students were touched by what we shared, and a few have taken real steps forward in faith – praise the Lord!
As well as schools work, we were also given the opportunity to lead evangelistic meetings in a local hotel over two evenings. Again it was encouraging to see how the Chilean Christians openly invited their friends,
neighbours and work colleagues along, and the ‘neutral’ venue perhaps made the events a little less intimidating for people not used to church services. For me personally, it was great to have a chance to preach on several occasions, and to listen to my sermons being instantly translated into Spanish!
Although Chile is a developed country, poverty sits very starkly alongside wealth. On two days we visited another church in the city in a less well off area. Again we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people, many of whom lived in very basic accommodation. Our task at the church was to paint the toilets and the Sunday school room, and thankfully the locals seemed reasonably pleased with our efforts!
There is much more to say about my time in Chile, and I hope to share more with several of our parish groups over the coming months.
Ian Linton
Despite a full day’s delay caused by a missed flight connection, we arrived in Chile ready for action, if a little unsure of exactly what to expect! First impressions of the country were very positive: the scenery is as stunning as our own, the people are welcoming and share our sense of humour, and as a whole
Chile is a well developed nation, comparable to any western European country.
We were met at the airport by members of San Andreas church, where we would be based for most of our stay. The church is located on the outskirts of Viña del Mar, a major coastal city about 1½ hours’ drive
from Santiago, the capital. The congregation is less than two years established, and there are around sixty members, many of whom have only recently become Christians. In general Chileans are very open to
talking about faith and beliefs, and we found that the Christians were passionate in their worship and witness.
The lion’s share of our time was spent working in schools and we were given some wonderful opportunities to share our faith and tell young people about Jesus. Thankfully English is taught to a very high standard. At one school we were even asked to give a worship concert at breaktime!
Since we’ve come home we’ve been encouraged to learn that a number of students were touched by what we shared, and a few have taken real steps forward in faith – praise the Lord!
As well as schools work, we were also given the opportunity to lead evangelistic meetings in a local hotel over two evenings. Again it was encouraging to see how the Chilean Christians openly invited their friends,
neighbours and work colleagues along, and the ‘neutral’ venue perhaps made the events a little less intimidating for people not used to church services. For me personally, it was great to have a chance to preach on several occasions, and to listen to my sermons being instantly translated into Spanish!
Although Chile is a developed country, poverty sits very starkly alongside wealth. On two days we visited another church in the city in a less well off area. Again we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the people, many of whom lived in very basic accommodation. Our task at the church was to paint the toilets and the Sunday school room, and thankfully the locals seemed reasonably pleased with our efforts!
There is much more to say about my time in Chile, and I hope to share more with several of our parish groups over the coming months.
Ian Linton
