“The U.S./English version is written and narrated by Rev. David Stephenson. The goal is to tell the incredible and unique story of the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista en Bolivia, (IEMB) the Evangelical Methodist Church in Bolivia up to 2006 through the lives of some of its members.
The stories of these individuals, weave together the story of the IEMB. And the story of the IEMB interweaves with the story of the nation of Bolivia and the “Bolivian Reality”.
These are stories of faith, incredible courage and sacrifice of a people who were nearly annihilated through genocide, locked into slave-like conditions for nearly 400 years, oppressed, locked into extreme poverty, tortured and martyred because of their faith and their commitment to bring human rights to the indigenous people of Bolivia. And they faced all of this with incredible faith and courage.
Each story is like a thread which weaves and interacts with the other threads to create a beautiful, colorful Bolivian blanket, an Aguayo, which IS the IEMB and which has transformed Bolivia and impacted the indigenous people of all of South America.
Whether you are a Christian or not, I hope you will find these stories powerful and inspiring.
And for North American Christians, I hope and pray that these stories will somehow give you a new insight, a new set of glasses in which to read and examine our scriptures and your own faith. When you read the Gospel through the glasses of extreme poverty and oppression, it reads significantly different.
This is the story of the Iglesia Evangelica Metodista en Bolivia
and the price it paid to ‘Take up its Cross and follow Christ.'”
