God is in charge of a new way of doing business in Paraguay.
For the last 20 years, C. Paul Amstutz, a Mennonite Mission Network associate living in Paraguay, has developed a cadre of trained business chaplains whose mission is clear: to show God’s love in the workplace. There are now 24 full-time and 26 part-time chaplains serving 44 businesses—the largest one with more than 1,900 employees.
In 1991, a small group of Paraguayan Mennonite business owners called Amstutz to create the chaplaincy program, called Capellanía Empresarial (Business Chaplaincy).
According to Amstutz, the businessmen were looking for ways to reach their unchurched employees, but didn’t think it was appropriate for people in supervisory situations to proselytize.
The chaplains reach employees through weekly devotionals, relationship-building seminars, home visits, and in-house Christian libraries and DVD lending services. Some businesses sponsor retreats for employees with topics like biblical foundations for child-rearing, and maintaining healthy relationships.
Chaplains have reported intervening in crisis situations, counseling employees on sexual boundaries, and even performing exorcisms while at work. On a more routine basis, chaplains try to greet each employee at least briefly once a week to build trust and provide them with spiritual nourishment while at work.
“The goal is to reach people and get them in touch with Christ and in relationship with Christ,” Amstutz said. “Plus, getting them connected to church to become disciples.”
The chaplain may be the only pastor an employee ever knows, though many Christian employees appreciate having an onsite pastor as well as one in the congregation they attend.
“Several Christian employees have told me, ‘You’re my second pastor’,” said Amstutz, who now spends half his time mentoring other chaplains and half as a chaplain for a local business. “Some say, ‘You’re my pastor, and my pastor on Sunday is my second pastor, because we see each other more often at work than at church.’ We complement each other.”
Employees report gratitude for having a space at work where they can worship and support each other in prayer. In one written testimony, employees of a particular business said, “We need this time to share our faith together. We wish the devotional were every day.”
Amstutz said that over the last 20 years, there has been a significant improvement in ethical behavior among the businesses that participate. But Amstutz is quick to give credit where it’s due: “Chaplaincy did not generate this difference,” he said. “God did, but it was spurred on by the choice to have a chaplain.”
The effort, he said, is making a difference in the way businesses are run throughout the country, partly because of the positive influence of this group of business owners.
“These businessmen made some courageous decisions in deciding to operate their businesses differently than they had in the past, because they knew that having a chaplain sharing the gospel at work meant that their way of doing business would have to agree with what [their chaplain] was preaching,” Amstutz said.
Capellanía Empresarial also trains future business chaplains through a one-year post-graduate program. Applicants have to be university graduates with courses in Bible and preferably some seminary. The curriculum includes Anabaptist theology, crisis intervention, family counseling, and the workplace as a platform for evangelism, among others. Amstutz said about 60 percent of the chaplains come from a Mennonite background and the rest from other evangelical backgrounds.
Mennonites in Paraguay have had influence nationally. Former Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos’s wife, Gloria de Duarte, attends a Mennonite church, and a number of members of his cabinet were Mennonites. Recently, a Mennonite ran in the presidential primaries. Now, these Mennonite business owners who are practicing a new business ethic are beginning to have more influence nationally.
Most important is the effect these chaplains have on individual employees. In one dramatic case, the chaplain may have saved a life.
Late one afternoon in Asunción, a man entered a business with a pistol and the apparent intent to murder his wife.
A desperate co-worker called the business’s chaplain. The chaplain hurried to the scene and calmed down the man. Furthermore, he offered to meet with the couple on an ongoing basis with the ultimate goal of reconciliation. They accepted, and met with the chaplain monthly for six months.
As Hildi Amstutz, Paul’s wife, wrote in their annual report: “The end result was a life and a marriage saved. Praise God!”
###
Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
