This January marked Chilean pastor Alex Ugarte’s twenty fourth anniversary at Iglesia Evangélica Bautista Esperanza Viva (Living Hope Evangelical Baptist Church) in Viña del Mar, a milestone that prompted him to ask himself if he should transition to something latest.
His moment of reflection was short-lived. Last Friday, wildfires began in at the least 4 places across the Valparaíso region. Within hours, they’d reached Ugarte’s neighborhood. They soon torched his home and church and claimed the lifetime of his father-in-law, a tragedy that prompted the church leader to reconsider his vocational plan.
“God showing me this tragedy and the needs of His people helped me understand that it’s time to start out all once more,” he told CT.
Summer wildfires should not unusual on this Pacific coastal South American country. This yr, nevertheless, a very intense heatwave has coincided with prolonged drought. Strong winds caused the blaze to spread quickly toward a few of Chile’s most heavily populated areas, including historic cities like Valparaíso and the country’s tourism capital, Viña del Mar.
As of February 9, the fires have killed 131 people and damaged or destroyed greater than 5,000 homes.
Among the casualties were eight Esperanza Viva congregants, who lost their lives when the blaze reached their residential neighborhood of Villa Independencia. On Friday, Ugarte preached at two funerals, one for an elderly couple and one other for 2 siblings, who were 5 and seven.
“There’s a lot pain,” he said. “Many persons are desperate because their families are actually homeless. But our hearts remain steadfast, looking forward to seeing what God will do.”
Close to home
Esperanza Viva is one among eight churches that experienced significant damages, the National Office of Religious Affairs of Chile told CT. But church leaders in the realm estimate the true number may very well be twice that. Furthermore, at the least nine pastors lost their homes, in keeping with a gaggle of leaders from various churches trying to prepare a disaster response.
Pastor Magno Rodriguez and his wife, María Angélica Cubillos Álvarez, are amongst them. They lead the Corporación Internacional de Restauración, an independent Pentecostal church in Quilpué, a more inland city within the Valparaíso region, where they live.
“We could see the wildfire far off,” said Cubillos. “But then a neighbor got here to me crying, saying, ‘Your home is on fire.’”
Magno and one among his sons tried to place it out, but gave up when the flames intensified. The family fled in a pickup truck as flames and smoke surrounded them.
“It was like driving together with your eyes closed,” he said.
Cubillos has burns in her neck, and her husband and one among her sons each injured their arm fighting the blaze.
“It is a miracle that no person within the congregation died,” she said.
But the tragedy still hit too near home. While the fireplace spared the home round the corner, their neighbors perished from smoke inhalation, attempting to escape.
“They died of suffocation in our backyard.”
‘Looks like we were bombed’
Per week after the fires first began, the federal government has continued to issue emergency alerts for brand new fires in Valparaíso, Viña del Mar and Quilpué. (Though most fires are actually under control, the new weather and other aspects proceed to spark latest blazes.)
“Our focus is now on helping people,” said pastor Dionicio Viana, director of the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) base in Viña del Mar. His headquarters were spared by the fireplace because a close-by avenue created a type of wind corridor between two hills, which redirected the flames away from the constructing.
In neighborhoods like Villa Independencia, Achupallas (in Viña del Mar) and Pompeya (in Quilpué), few homes remain.
“When you have a look at our neighborhood [of Achupallas], it looks like we were bombed, like a war,” said Viana.
For the past week, residents have been without water and electricity. There are rumors that at the least a few of the fires were set intentionally.
“A collective psychosis has arisen and now everyone seems to be afraid of recent outbreaks,” Viana said.
“People are stealing the little that we’ve got,” said Cubillos Álvarez. He explained that looters are trying to find valuables among the many rubble. To protect against additional looting, residents are constructing fences across the houses, “but there’s not even a hammer or boards, nor lighting to do the work when it gets dark. We should use our cell phones for light.”
In the past week, volunteers from churches across the country have gathered in Viña del Mar to assist. With funding from Operation Blessing, 4 YWAM bases have sent people to affix Viana in removing debris from the streets and houses. In some instances, they’ve begun to rebuild.
“This week we began to construct a house for a brother here. We have already repaired the ground,” he said.
Although the wildfire victims have received significant attention from the media and government, this won’t last more than two or three weeks, says Viana. But then the expensive work of reconstruction will begin.
Struck down, but not destroyed
In 1982, a gaggle of Swedish missionaries opened an Independent Assemblies of God church in Villa Dulce, a neighborhood in Viña del Mar. Last week, the fireplace burned it down.
But assistant pastor Gonzalo Ramírez’s heart feels heaviest with regards to the impact the disaster could have on the religion of congregants.
“Before the reconstruction of the partitions of the church, we’ll need a spiritual reconstruction,” he said. “You can rebuild the church. But the history of it, of the missions that began in that place, the souls that got saved there … How many miracles have we seen in that place?”
With all this emotional baggage, he had to evangelise at the primary service after the disaster, two days after the church was become ashes.
Ramírez first got here to Villa Dulce to review on the church’s Bible institute (which now operates only online), where he met his future wife.
“My daughter, who’s now 15, was practically born in those pews,” he said.
Usually, between 80 and 100 people attend Villa Dulce on Sunday. But with many roads closed and folks displaced, only about half of that number made it out, where they met in a single constructing that the fireplace left mostly unscathed.
Ramírez preached on 2 Corinthians 4:7-18, reminding his church that as followers of Christ, they’d “this treasure in jars of clay to point out that this all-surpassing power is from God and never from [themselves],” and that they were called to persevere within the midst of turbulent times.
Because power was still off, the service was not livestreamed. But several days later, he preached a similar message on Facebook.
“With much respect and far humility I invite you, my beloved brothers and sisters, to look into the everlasting things that transcend what is clear … to maintain our hope in God, because those are the things that can remain,” he said.
At Esperanza Viva, Ugarte says his congregation will meet this Sunday on the grounds of the church constructing for an open-air service, for the primary time for the reason that fire. (The location was inaccessible last week.)
“For 24 years, God blessed us with a stupendous constructing, with classrooms for [Christian] education, training rooms, and a kitchen that prepared 8,500 meals throughout the pandemic,” he said. “Now our neighbors say we’re going to construct a church much more beautiful than the old one.”
