A CHRONOLOGY OF PROTESTANT BEGINNINGS:  CHILE

by Clifton L. Holland, Director of PROLADES

(last revised on May 27, 2003)

Historical Overview of Chile:                                                                                         

 

Independence from Spain declared:                                                                                       1810

Independent Republic established:                                                                                        1818

Religious liberty permitted:                                                                                         1865 (1925)

 

Number of North American Agencies in 1989:                                                                            58

Number of North American agencies in 1996:                                                                            48                    

Indicates European society*

Significant Protestant Beginnings or Events:

     1811       -    *British and Foreign Bible Society work

     1821       -    *British and Foreign Bible Society colporteur, James Thomson, invited by President Bernardo O'Higgins to Chile.

     1825       -    *Anglican chapel services begin among foreign immigrants in Valparaiso, led by laymen and Anglican chaplains from British vessels.

     1838       -    *Captain Allen Gardiner’s (an Anglican layman) missionary outreach to the Araucanian Indians in Bío Bío River region; in 1844, Gardiner began mission work among the Indians in the Patagonian region of southern Chile under the auspices of the Patagonian Missionary Society; Gardiner and his companions all died of starvation there in 1851; this mission was later reorganized as the South American Missionary Society, SAMS, in the 1890s.

     1845       -    Foreign Evangelical Society & American Seaman's Friend Society; David Trumbull (a Congregationalist) begins English-speaking services in Valparaiso.

     1846       -    *Lutheran services began among German immigrants

     1856       -    First Protestant church built among West Coast nations

     1866       -    American and Foreign Christian Union (Congregationalists); first Spanish-speaking church organized in 1868 in Santiago.

     1873       -    Presbyterian Church USA, Board of Foreign Missions (1895)

     1878       -    Methodist Episcopal Church, Board of Foreign Missions; William Taylor (1884, now affiliated with United Methodist Church)

     1884       -    *Baptist missionary work began among German immigrants in Victoria, near Temuco; from 1894 to 1897 a religious revival occurred within the German settlements; services held in German and Spanish.

     1892       -    *First Baptist Church established among German immigrants.

     1895       -    *South American Missionary Society (SAMS) – Anglican/Episcopal tradition (work began by Charles A. Sadleir, a clergyman from Canada, among the Araucanian Indians near Temuco)

     1895       -    Seventh-day Adventist Mission Board (elder G. H. Baber in Valparaiso; Austral Conference Union established in 1906)

     1897       -    Christian and Missionary Alliance (1895 independent work)

     1907       -    Southern Baptist Convention, Foreign Mission Board (1917, now International Mission Board)

     1909       -    The Salvation Army, USA

     1907-1910  - Pentecostal awakening within the Methodist Church in Valparaiso, led by Willis C. Hoover

     1910       -    Methodist Pentecostal Church established by Willis C. Hoover (a split from the Methodist Episcopal Church).

     1912       -    YMCA, International Foreign Department

     1913       -    Church of the Lord – Iglesia del Señor (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1923       -    Gospel Mission of South America, M. Strong

     1925       -    Evangelical Church of the Brethren (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1930       -    Apostolic Church of the Lord (a split from the Church of the Lord)

     1933       -    Pentecostal Evangelical Church (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1933       -    Evangelical Corporation of Vitacura (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1933       -    Pentecostal Church of Southern Chile (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1934       -    Christian Church of the Apostolic Faith (a split from the Pentecostal Evangelical Church)

     1936       -    Christian Church Won with His Blood  (a split from the Pentecostal Evangelical Church)

     1936       -    Christian Evangelical Church (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1937       -    Evangelical Army of Chile (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1938       -    *Swedish Pentecostals arrive

     1938       -    Apostolic Pentecostal Church (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1938       -    Apostolic Christian Mission (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1940       -    International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (1947)

     1941       -    Assemblies of God Foreign Missions (1914)

     1941       -    Church of the Lord that was Won with His Blood (a split from the Church of the Lord)

     1941       -    Evangelical Council of Chile formed

     1942       -    Child Evangelism Fellowship

     1942       -    Pentecostal Christian Church (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1943       -    The Humble Manger of Christ Evangelical Church (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1943       -    Free Apostolic Pentecostal Church (a split from Apostolic Pentecostal Church)

     1945       -    Independent Board for Presbyterian Missions

     1946       -    Pentecostal Church of Chile (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1946       -    National Evangelical Church of Christ (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1949       -    Christian Church and Churches of Christ

     1950       -    Pentecostal Evangelical Methodist Church that Meets in the Name of Jesus (a split from the Methodist Pentecostal Church)

     1951       -    Pentecostal Church of God (a split from the Pentecostal Evangelical Church)

     1952       -    Pentecostal Church Mission (a split from the Pentecostal Evangelical Church)

     1953       -    Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE)

     1953       -    Pentecostal Evangelical Christian Mission (a split from Pentecostal Evangelical Methodist Church that Meets in the Name of Jesus)

     1954       -    Baptist Bible Fellowship International

     1954       -    Church of God World Missions (Cleveland, TN)

     1956       -    Pentecostal Evangelical Corporation (a split from the Pentecostal Evangelical Church)

     1957       -    Mission to the World, Presbyterian Church of America

     1962       -    Church of the Nazarene

     1963       -    Campus Crusade for Christ

     1963       -    Maranatha Baptist Mission

     1964       -    United Pentecostal Church International

     1970       -    Mennonite Board of Missions

     1973       -    Spanish World Gospel Mission

     1975       -    Church of God of Prophecy

     1979       -    South American Missionary Society, SAMS-USA

     1981       -    Christian Church of North America

     1982       -    Open Bible Standard Churches

     1982       -    World Team

     1985       -    The Navigators

     1986       -    SIM USA

     1988       -    The Interdenominational Corporation of Pastors

     1988       -    CMF International

     1989       -    Global Outreach, Ltd.

     1990       -    Operation Blessing International

     1990       -    International Gospel Outreach

     1991       -    International Partnership Ministries

     1992       -    Evangelical Lutheran Synod

     1992       -    Baptist Mid-Missions

     1993       -    American Baptist Churches in the USA

     1994       -    Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists

     1996       -    Baptist International Missions

     1996       -    Macedonian World Baptist Missions

 

Date of Origin Unknown:

 

                        Brethren Assemblies, USA and Canada

                        Gospel Fellowship Association

                        Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship

                        Youth With A Mission (YWAM)

 

 

NOTES:

(1)        Dates listed indicate the earliest recorded ministry or in case of discrepancies, the date most frequently indicated.

(2)        North American Agencies include U.S. and Canadian.

SOURCES:

(1)     Daryl L. Platt, "Who Represents the Evangelical Churches in Latin America? A Study of the Evangelical Fellowship Organizations." Pasadena, CA: an unpublished Doctor of Missiology Dissertation, School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary, June 1991. Used by permission of the author.

(2)     Jean B. A. Kessler, A Study of the Older Protestant Missions and Churches in Peru and Chile (Goes, Netherlands:  Oosterbaan & le Cointre N.V., 1967)

(3)     PROLADES (Latin American Socio-religious Studies Program), international headquarters in San José, Costa Rica: www.prolades.com

(4)     Dayton Roberts and John Siewert, editors:  Mission Handbook of U.S. and Canadian Christian Ministries Overseas (MARC 1989).

(5)     John A. Siewert and Edna G. Valdez, editors: Mission Handbook of U.S. and Canadian Christian Ministries Overseas (MARC 1997).