Colombia Indigenous Network Formed

In September, 2007 an Indigenous gathering of Spiritual leaders throughout the Amazon Region took place in Iquitos, Peru. One of the goals of this gathering was to establish a Trans-Amazonian Network in which they could continue to communicate with one another in order to work side-by-side and encourage one another. Besides the establishment of an umbrella outreach, like the Trans-Amazonian net, each country was then challenged to start their own network within their borders. At that meeting, only Brazil had an existing net. Today, 3½ years later, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru have begun their own networks.

In January, 2011 Colombia joined the ranks after a meeting which took place in Villavicencio. One of the main challenges in Colombia is the inability to communicate in a rapid fashion. Due to many years of civil war in Colombia, short wave radios and satellite telephones have not been used in the tribal villages because it would lead to attacks by the opposing military factions. So, for many years, the only way to communicate with one another is by hand carried letter. Back in November, 2010 thirty tribal leaders were sent invitations to attend the network conference to be held in January, 2011. By faith, the conference was planned without a real good knowledge if the invited leaders either received the invitations or if they were even planning to attend. When January 18th arrived, the scheduled first day of the event, 95% of the leaders invited were in attendance!

This particular gathering was characterized by a tremendous spirit of unity among the indigenous brothers. At least 19 of the 80+ tribes in Colombia were represented and they were genuinely excited about creating their own entity. As has occurred in the other network initiatives in the Amazon Region, these leaders were encouraged by the fact that the network is headed up only by the Indigenous with the Foreigners and Nationals availing themselves as advisors only when asked to by the Tribal leadership.

One thing that seemingly is separating Colombia from the rest of the region is that the Indigenous have an open door to the National Government. Newly elected Colombian President, Juan Miguel Santos, is making the Tribal people in his country a priority. This is a radically different approach to what we have personally witnessed in both Peru and Brazil. Please pray that President Santos follows up on his promises and that the Gospel can make great strides in the next 4 years due to the open doors in Colombia.