Andres and Stella Casanueva
Andres & Stella are natives of Chile were they serve with Hosanna – [Faith Comes By Hearing]. Their goal is to have the various people-groups in the Souther Cone of South America hear the Gospel in their own language.
Andres is a history professor at the university level with majors in Cultural Anthropology and Cross-cultural Missions. Stella is a licensed Social Service worker recognized at both the university and national government levels. They have 3 sons and a daughter; Felipe (Phillip – 14), Mateo (Matthew – 10), Pablo (Paul – 9) and Catalina (7). They are from Chile where they now live and serve after having served in and out of Mexico, the US and Costa Rica.
Andres and Stella are currently serving in their native Chile. They have served with Wycliffe International for almost 14 years as part of their project of Bible translation of the Mapuche Indians (southern Chile). They also served as the regional directors (South America) of Latin American translation teams and teams teaching the indigenous people how to read their own language.
Hosanna – The focus of FCBH is to establish and equip groups of a particular language to meet weekly, listen to the New Testament in their language and begin to be discipled directly from the Word of God. There must be a commitment by the group to faithfully meet and listen for some months until they have finished the entire New Testament. These groups can be made up of a church congregation, school students, prisoners in jail, factory workers, a group of neighbors, family members, etc. whether they are believers or not. We use this basic strategy to plant churches, disciple leaders, evangelize, teach, etc. Andres is the director of FCBH for region of Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay which is known as the Southern Cone. He also is responsible for Brazil and Cuba. His work consists of establishing working relationships with the various national Bible Societies, denominational leaders, local pastors, para-church ministry leaders, missionaries, government officials (permission to enter schools, jails, etc.), etc.
Bible Society of Chile – Andres serves on the National Board of Directors of the SBC and represents southern Chile, an area that covers 8 of the nations 15 regions. This work is very broad as it reaches both the Evangelical churches and the Catholic Church.
In the Light of the Word – Andres & Stella are leading the “birth” of a Christian community that meets for weekly Bible study and Sunday services. 10 months ago, they began working with a team of 5 people with the aim of planting a non-traditional church which has grown to 40 participating adults. Many of them come from dysfunctional families; 2 were rescued from attempted suicide; 3 were converted and are being transformed from life-styles that resulted in prison sentences.
Primavera. In this community (Spring-time), they recently accepted an invitation to give pastoral help and Biblical teaching to a small group of Baptists and Anglicans (Church of England) that have been pastor-less for many years. Over the past 2 months this community has begun growing both in maturity and attendance.
Cross-cultural Missions – Andres is respected not only as a missionary from Chilean but also with more cross-cultural experience and insight than others. Consequently he is often asked to participate and speak in many international missionary conferences and planning sessions with many different evangelical churches and ministries. Various seminaries and Bible institutes invite him to help them prepare future missionaries through his gifts of Cultural Anthropology and Missions. Their own missionary vision and cross-culture giftings are being used to serve and encourage the church of Chile in its own responsibility to the Great Commission.
Home Church: Centero Biblico Cristiano, Temuco, Chile