Anglican Perspectives

What Can’t Be Stolen

His hair was long, but that was normal for pretty much everyone who played in a rock band in the seventies. His guitar was left handed, and with an amazing gift of memory he knew not only all the words to all the songs, but he could also tell you the song order on the Beatles LP albums, which studio was used to record it, and who played what on every track.

 

Lifestyle-wise, he lived pretty much like the others in that time period, but found hedonism vapid and started to look for some meaning in life. His eye fixed on a London secretary, and in candor, he smiles remembering “that mini-skirt.” Through providence, he also connected with some believers who began to talk with him about the Gospel and the real meaning of life.

 

Powerfully converted, he and his young wife both began to experience a burden for those who lived across the globe and hadn’t received the Good News of Christ.

 

Trained in teaching, he and his wife eventually deployed to Paraguay in the 80’s where the temperature and humidity are off the charts. He was headmaster of a school that was filled with the children of the leaders of the military junta that controlled the country. With amazing strength he stood up to the highest leaders of the country who wanted their children in the mission school; not because it was religious, but because it was the best. But he insisted that they got not only classical education, they also got the Gospel.

 

After years of service and ordination, curacy and other ministry opportunities, he was called away from being a headmaster to become the Bishop of Bolivia in 1995. Shortly after that, they were planning their synod. It was all planned with all the organization done and all the schedules set. As he was praying over the upcoming synod the Lord spoke to him with the kind of clarity that those who live in easy Western environments have trouble experiencing. “Your plans are all set, but that’s the problem. They are your plans not Mine!”

 

“What do you want me to do, Lord?” he asked.

 

“Open your eyes,” said the quiet voice in his heart.

 

When he did, he saw a picture in a magazine of someone he had never met or heard of. “That one,” said the Lord. “He is supposed to be your speaker at the synod.”

 

“Yes, Lord,” he said with the simple obedience that comes on the front lines of Gospel frontiers.

 

When the phone rang and was answered, he spoke to the American priest on the other end. He told the story of hearing from God that their plans had not been His plans, and that he had been told to invite me to come to Bolivia in just over a week’s time to speak.

 

It was surprising, but really compelling. Not only did I say “Yes,” I couldn’t imagine saying “No.”

 

The airport in La Paz is over 13,000 feet of elevation. Because of pressurization on the planes, instead of descending, the cabin altitude inside the plane actually rises when the plane comes in to land.

 

La Paz Airport
La Paz Airport

At the synod, we clapped and sang. There was a tremendous joy present. I preached with a tremendous translator, speaking in short rhythm, rocking back and forth from English to Spanish.

 

For more than thirty years, Greg and Sylvia Venables have served the Gospel in South America. From Paraguay, to Bolivia, to Argentina where he still serves as Bishop even after he finished multiple tours of duty as the Primate and Archbishop of the Southern Cone.

 

In lighter moments, Greg has a thousand fun trivia facts that he shares, but it is always punctuated with the Gospel. He says, “This is the Gospel,” and lays it out so people can join its message, Lord, and people.

 

We’ve traveled together to almost every continent and hundreds of meetings, services, and battles. Always, he returns to his touchstone: the Gospel. It is the Gospel that strengthened him to stand up in Primates’ Meetings. It was the same Gospel that motivated him to give refuge to clergy, congregations, and eventually entire dioceses in North America. He said, “I just asked myself, ‘What would St. Paul do?’”

 

It wasn’t that he sees himself as a giant like Paul, what he likes is the compelling way that the Gospel shaped Paul’s life. Greg thinks that the Gospel should shape everyone’s life like that.

 

Year after year, in nation after nation, he pursues the same course. I’ve joked that if you shook him awake from a dead sleep and shouted at him, “What is the meaning of life?” he would respond with a presentation of the Gospel even before he really woke up. It is not that the Gospel is a priority for him. The Gospel of Christ is all that there is for him.

 

Archbishop Greg Venables
Archbishop Greg Venables

Liberals in Western nations vilified and hate him. Funds from liberal ministries were cut off as he intervened to help.

 

Now, with 25% inflation in Argentina, he and Sylvie watch their very modest salary accomplish less and less. Everything is more and more expensive. Crime is worse and worse. In the midst of it, though, the Gospel is taking hold and bearing fruit.

 

Just over a week ago, Bishop Greg and Sylvia came home from church to surprise robbers in the midst of a burglary. They grabbed Sylvia and threw her to the floor. Greg was tied up and horribly beaten.

 

“It was horrible,” he said quietly. “But Sylvia was amazing. And the presence of the Lord was tangible. He got us through.”

 

Now, everything that could be carried away is gone. All of Sylvia’s jewelry was taken. Even Greg’s pectoral cross. Anything electronic was stolen. So what happens now? Do they go away to somewhere safe and quiet? The problem is that it is not to the safe and quiet places that they have been called. They’ve been called to the hard and dangerous. It is the same thing that burns within those who will not leave the mountains of Pakistan, the vastness of the Chinese interior, or Northern Nigeria. It is a Gospel call that is not something that is done. It is that which defines who they are. It can’t be forgotten or abandoned. It’s not that it is a part of their life that can be left behind. It is their life, their identity, their calling. Even with everything taken away, they are still overflowing.

 

Now with nothing in their hands, what will they do? They will go on. Some of us will find ways to partner with them anew. Some of “the stuff” should be replaced by those of us who are not in the crucible just now. Lots of people are already sending support to help them carry on in ministry. You can send support through http://www.ekk.org.

 

 

Bishop Bill Atwood is Bishop of the International Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America and a contributing author to the American Anglican Council.

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