Chile is by any stretch of the imagination an unusual country - a long narrow strip of land reaching up towards the Equator and down towards Antarctica, curtailed on one side by the high Andes and on the other by the mighty Pacific.

This was my destination for a week in mid-November, as part of my ongoing induction as Executive Leader of CMS. The purpose was to get a feel for the Anglican Church in Chile as well at to network more widely with leaders of the Province of the Southern Cone gathered in Santiago for their Provincial Synod. 

So what did I find? That sense of Chile lying between the high mountains and the ocean seems to me to serve as a metaphor for the work of the Anglican Church in the country. 

This is a church that has intentionally worked with some of the wealthiest in the land, as a means of influencing the nation as a whole. Thus I visited St. Paul's School in Vina del Mar; a church in a coffee shop in downtown Valparaiso; as well as the vibrant Church of La Trinidad in the upmarket Santiago suburb, Las Condes. La Trinidad's energetic and charismatic pastor, Alf Cooper (an Anglo-Chilean and a CMS mission partner) is also the Protestant Chaplain to the President of Chile and it was my privilege to preach to some of his staff in the Presidential Palace. 

And yet historically some of the most significant Anglican mission in Chile has taken place amongst indigenous peoples, and so I flew down to Temuco to meet the delightful Bishop Abelino Apeleo, himself a member of the Mapuche people. There we visited historic churches founded by SAMS missionaries which still echo to the vibrant sounds of praise and worship - including the General Thanksgiving translated into Spanish and used in dialogue form. 

And there was the joy too of meeting with Bishops and other representatives from the Southern Cone who often minister in harsh, tough conditions such as the Chaco of Paraguay and Northern Argentina: conditions which require huge amounts of persistence, dedication - and faith. 

All in all I found a Church that was both distinctively Latin and yet evidently Anglican, with an enduring commitment to mission. It's also worth saying that the Province is not so uniformly evangelical as is sometimes thought from outside - rather there is a strong commitment to work across traditions for the cause of the Kingdom. It was a privilege to visit my brothers and sisters there. 

Philip Mounstephen

(Philip Mounstephen is Executive Leader of Church Mission Society, of which the South American Mission Society - SAMS - is now an integral part)