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Box 4506, Albuquerque, NM 87196. http://www.irc-online.org/
GroupWatch files are available at http://www.pir.org/gw/
Group: Central American Mission (CAM International)
File Name: cam.txt
Last Updated: 7/90
Principals: Cyrus Ingerson Schofield, founder.(1)
Category: Religious
Background: Central American Mission (CAM) was organized in Dallas,
Texas in 1890 by three real estate businessmen and their preacher,
Cyrus Ingerson Schofield. Through his work with CAM Schofield
became one of the intellectual fathers of the fundamentalist
movement and a leader of the contemporary evangelical movement.(1)
Another major figure in the early history of CAM was Cameron
Townsend. Townsend--who introduced the concept of bringing the
Bible to native people in their own languages--went on to found
and head Wycliffe Bible Translators. He worked with CAM from
1917 through 1932.(1)
CAM is a church planting, non-charismatic, nondenominational
fundamentalist organization believing in the inerrancy of the
Bible. Its mission is to establish indigenous churches where none
exist and to assist existing churches.(2,3) Its doctrine is
strongly anticommunist and looks upon material gain as a sign of
God's favor.(1) It began operating in Costa Rica in 1890 and has
since expanded into the other countries of Central America, Mexico,
Spain and the southwestern states of the U.S.(2,4)
CAM is considered to be a part of the second wave of Protestant
development in Central America, following the first wave spearheaded
by mainline denominations in the 19th century. After World War II,
Central America experienced an influx of pentecostal evangelicals
and many abandoned CAM as being too conservative. By the 1960s CAM
adjusted its operations and began to work jointly with the pentecostal
churches of the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association. Although
CAM as an organization expressed discomfort with the religious
right and the Reagan administration's activities in Central America
in the 1980s, its field organizations expanded dramatically and in
some war-torn areas CAM may have worked side-by-side with government
agencies and troops within the countries of Central America.(5)
CAM consists of a board of directors in the U.S. and a body of 300
missionaries working in the field. According to CAM it takes about
8 years of study, deputation, and language school to prepare a
missionary for field work.(13) In each geographical area there is a
field director and a field council to make decisions on a regional
level, all subject to approval by the board of directors. Field
directors are considered representatives of the board of directors.(3)
CAM operates Bible institutes, seminaries, conference and camping
centers, medical clinics and Christian grade schools.(4)
Countries: CR, ES, GT, NI, PA, and US.
Funding: CAM is funded by donations. Missionaries are expected to
generate their own funding through contributions. All contributions
received at CAM Center are considered contributions to the general
organization unless specifically earmarked for a particular
missionary.(3) CAM reports that it has 6,000 donors annually who
contribute over $4 million annually.(13)
Activities: The main activity of CAM is the work of individual
missionaries with Spanish-speaking and Indian peoples to convert
them to Christianity and establish indigenous churches. CAM also
conducts evangelism, teaching, and pastoral counseling through
radio and occasionally television. CAM owns radio station TGNA in
Guatemala City and Radio Maya in rural Guatemala. CAM has a publishing
center in Mexico that produces Christian literature and Bibles for
distribution by missionaries.(2) CAM also publishes a quarterly
bulletin which has a distribution of 29,000.(13)
CAM missionaries provide in-depth theological education to
indigenous people. Missionaries teach Sunday school classes and
provide Bible training on site. Those who want more formal training
attend CAM resident Bible institutes and seminaries. CAM also
sponsors two Christian day schools for children of missionary
families which provide education from grades 1-9. One school is
located in Siguatepeque, Honduras and the second in Puebla, Mexico.
High school education is offered through a correspondence course
program through the University of Nebraska. CAM also cooperates
with the Evangelical Christian Academy in Madrid, Spain.(2)
For youth, CAM operates Christian camps and retreats and has groups
active on college campuses.(2)
El Salvador: The first CAM missionaries arrived in El Salvador in
the 1890s. Today there are more than 156 CAM churches which are
grouped in a national council known as the Evangelical Church of
El Salvador. CAM is the fourth largest evangelical denomination in
El Salvador. Among its social services, it operates a home for the
elderly.(6)
CAM reported that it lost 100 members of its churches to the
counterinsurgency war between 1977 and 1979. However, its churches
grew 30 percent in 1980 and rapid growth continued through 1986
when evangelicals--including CAM--claimed to represent up to a
fifth of the population of El Salvador. According to author David
Stoll, this growth can be at least partially attributed to the
fact that the evangelicals'identification with anticommunism and
Washington D.C. provided members with a safe haven from government
violence.(5)
Guatemala: Cameron Townsend was the leading evangelist for CAM
in Guatemala from 1917 through 1932.(1) CAM has 775 churches in
Guatemala as well as humanitarian and development projects
including schools, medical clinics, church construction projects,
daycare centers, and food distribution centers. Its Guatemala Bible
Institute and Central America Theological Seminary train pastors
from throughout Latin America.(7) In 1989 CAM turned the theological
seminary over to a national board of directors. The seminary is a
major contributor to Guatemala's evangelical goal of winning over
50 percent of the population over to evangelical Christianity by
the year 2000.(9)
CAM has medical clinics in: Chimaltenango; Santa Cruz Barillas,
Huehuetenango; San Andres, Solola; Nahuala, Solola; and San Lucas
Toliman, Solola. There are CAM schools in Guatemala City, Santa
Cruz Barillas, Huehuetenango; Antigue; Chimaltenango; Santa Lucia;
Jutiapa; and San Pedro, San Marcos. CAM also has radio stations in
Guatemala City (TGNA) and Barillas (Radio Maya) where it broadcasts
in six languages. It has a guest house on Lake Atitlan, a seminary
in Guatemala City, and a Bible institute for Indians in
Chimaltenango.(7)
CAM reported that its churches in the highly contested Ixil
department grew rapidly between 1980 and 1984, the most violent
years of the counterinsurgency war. As in El Salvador, membership
in an evangelical church brought a measure of safety from government
violence to area residents. However, as the violence in the area
abated, CAM membership dropped back to its earlier levels of 10
percent of the population.(5)
CAM helped to organize and promote the Evangelical Fraternity of
Latin America (CONELA), the more conservative, fundamentalist
alternative to the Latin American Council of Churches.(5,7)
Honduras: CAM arrived in Honduras in 1896 to work with the
Spanish-speaking residents of the interior. There are 225 CAM
churches and congregations in Honduras. Today CAM International
operates the American Academy, a Bible institute, several schools,
and an evangelical hospital.(8) In Siguatepeque CAMis in process
of building the Las Americas Conference Center which will house
conferences, youth camps and short-term Bible institutes. The
conference center is being built in cooperation with the Honduras
Association of Evangelical Churches, a group with a membership of
more than 2,000 local churches, and will serve groups from the
other Central America nations.(9) CAM sponsored Luis Palau's
crusades in 1970-71 in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, Honduras.(8)
Nicaragua: The first CAM missionaries passed through Nicaragua in
1894.(12) CAM has 85 churches in Nicaragua where it is connected
to CNPEN (Evangelical Pastors of Nicaragua), the conservative
evangelical group supportive of the Reagan administration's
policies in Nicaragua and allied with conservative U.S. private
organizations such as the Institute on Religion and Democracy
(IRD).(9,12)
CAM pastor Boanerges Mendoza, reknowned for his close connections
with the U.S. embassy in Nicaragua, was picked up by the Nicaraguan
state security (DSGE) for questioning about his connection to the
contras, the CIA, and other U.S. agencies opposing the Sandinista
government.(10) CAM called the brief detention for questioning of
Reverend Mendoza "a holocaust against evangelicals in Nicaragua."(12)
Mendoza himself said that he was never physically mistreated and
that after his release he was allowed to continue his work as a
pastor and evangelist without restriction.(10) While it is clear
that Mendoza is well connected to and supportive of the political
right in Nicaragua, it remains unclear whether he is or was more
than "a useful pawn in the CIA's manipulation of the Nicaraguan
religious scene."(10)
Mendoza named Jimmy Hassan, a former leader of the Campus Crusade
for Christ in Nicaragua and outspoken opponent of the Sandinista
government, as co-pastor of his CAM-connected church.(10)
A second CAM pastor in Managua, Modesto Alvarez served as the
channel for U.S. money coming from the U.S. embassy in Costa Rica
to support rightwing evangelical pastors in Nicaragua. It is not
known what U.S. agency sent the funds to the embassy. According to
Alvarez the money was distributed to some 500 pastors. Alvarez is
among the leadership of CNPEN.(11)
CAM's Central American Theological Seminary in Guatemala trained
most of the teachers at the Nicaragua Bible Institute, a training
school for pastors. CAM also donated $200,000 to help rebuild the
homes of 100 Nicaraguan families devastated by Hurricane Joan. The
funds came from a TEAR Fund grant. CAM also helped with relief aid
after the 1976 earthquake.(9)
Govt Connections: Jimmy Hassan is a lawyer and once served on the
Supreme Court of the Sandinista government. He resigned when he was
demoted because of the large number of appeals stemming from his
decisions.(12)
Private Connections: CAM is a member of the Interdenominational
Foreign Mission Association (IFMA). Other members include:
Frontiers, Inc., Gospel Missionary Union, Mission Aviation
Fellowship, South America Mission, Trans World Radio, United World
Mission, World Literature Crusade, and World Radio Missionary
Fellowship. It also undertakes joint ventures with the Evangelical
Foreign Missions Association (EMFA) whose members include:
Assemblies of God, Bible Literature International, Campus Crusade
for Christ, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Church of
God, Compassion International, Foursquare Missions International,
Latin America Mission, Luis Palau Evangelistic Team, Nazarene
Division of World Mission, OMS International, Overseas Crusades,
World Concern, World Vision, and Youth for Christ International.(5)
In its work in Guatemala CAM receives support from the 700 Club of
the Christian Broadcasting Network and purchases the majority of
its medical supplies from the Summer Institute for Linguistics,
the overseas organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators.(1,7)
It receives air transportation to its rural operations from Mission
Aviation Fellowship. Mission Aviation Fellowship's main project in
Guatemala is working with CAM's medical clinic in Barillas,
Huehuetenango.(7)
In Guatamala CAM works closely with Agros Foundation, a group that
buys plots of land at market value and resells them to campesinos
with interest-free loans. CAM also works with Christian and
Missionary Alliance, a New Jersey-based mainline evangelical
denomination that has 40 churches in Guatemala and sponsors several
feeding and sewing projects. Christian and Missionary Alliance
worked closely with the U.S. government in counterinsurgency
efforts during the Vietnam war.(7)
Jimmy Hassan, connected to CAM in Nicaragua, made a 1985 appearance
on the 700 Club and "quickly became a cult hero of the Christian
Right."(12) His exaggerated claims of mistreatment at the hands of
the Sandinista government received major coverage in U.S. rightwing
Christian periodicals such as Christianity Today, the Presbyterian
Layman, and the United Methodist Reporter.(12)
Mission Aviation Fellowship has worked closely with CAM in Honduras
since 1950 when it provided transportation services to the CAM
projects in Siguatepeque.(8)
In El Salvador CAM works with and funds Alfalit International, a
group that integrates literacy training with religious study.(6)
CAM also cooperates with Feed the Children/Larry Jones' Ministries
International and Medical Ambassadors in El Salvador. Medical
Ambassadors provides medical and dental care accompanied by
religious instruction and evangelization.(6) Operation Blessing,
the social assistance branch of the 700 Club of the Christian
Broadcasting Network, has offered assistance in the construction
of churches to LAM.(6)
Comments: CAM calls itself a fundamentalist, evangelical, non-
political group. However, its history varies in each of the
countries it enters. When the rise of the pentecostal evangelicals
in Central America began to strip membership from the more
theologicaly conservative CAM, it responded by working with the
pentecostals. In some countries of Central America, CAM worked
closely--if not directly--with repressive governments. In Nicaragua
it worked closely with the rightwing opposition to the government.
U.S. Address: CAM International, 8625 La Prada Dr., Dallas, TX 75228
Sources:
1. David Stoll, Fishers of Men or Founders of Empire?: The Wycliffe
Bible Translators in Central America (London: Zed Press, 1982).
2. "A Great Door...," brochure, CAM International, undated.
3. "Here We Stand," brochure, CAM International, undated.
4. "CAM A Going Concern," brochure, CAM International, undated.
5. David Stoll, Is Latin America Turning Protestant?: Studies in
the Politics of Evangelical Growth (Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press, 1990).
6. Private Organizations with U.S. Connections in El Salvador
(Albuquerque, NM: The Resource Center, 1988).
7. Private Organizations with U.S. Connections in Guatemala
(Albuquerque, NM: The Resource Center, 1988).
8. Private Organizations with U.S. Connections in Honduras
(Albuquerque, NM: The Resource Center, 1988).
9. IFMA News, 3rd issue, 1989.
10. D. Paul Jeffrey, "When the Embassy Gets Religion: Nicaraguan
Evangelicals Caught in Reagan's War," Christianity & Crisis,
Oct 20, 1986.
11. Paul Jeffrey, Religious News Service, Aug 24, 1989.
12. "The Other Invasion," The CEPAD Report, July-Aug 1989.
13. "CAMology," brochure, CAM International
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