by Savannah Weiler

This flyer by the Regions Beyond Missionary Union’s Southern Sierra Team was printed in 1973 to advertise personnel requirements on the one side, and material requirements on the other. The illustrations make the advertisement more eye-catching and invite the reader to read the advertisements. The Southern Sierra Team stated they needed a car, cassette players and contributions towards the establishment of a radio show that transmitted daily Gospel messages (see figure 2).

This use of cassette players and establishment of a radio programme tie into my previous blogposts, outlining the use of these media to spread Gospel messages in areas in the Loreto region. A similar tactic was clearly being used by the Southern Sierra Team. The advertisement for cassette players states that evangelical and teaching messages can be left on these tapes in Quechua or Spanish in villages or homes as part of teaching via the extension method or to foster interest in the mission’s teachings.

The daily radio programme advertisement describes the success of Hermano Pablo, or Paul Edwin Finkenbinder, in using radio Gospel messages as an evangelistic tool. Hermano Pablo’s radio gospel show In Mensaje a La Consciencia garnered many listeners in El Salvador, where he operated as an evangelist.The RBMU wanted to adopt a similar programme, as it was proving successful for other evangelicals in South America. The radio show was meant to garner interest in the Gospel, and could be supplemented by a free correspondence course, another example of teaching via the extension method. This method could also be used by Jan Hellens and Rosemary Flack, two missionaries for the RBMU who wished to go to villages in the surrounding area of Calhuanca on weekly visits, and were asking for a vehicle for their work in the Calhuanca area.

The other side of the flyer states that missionaries applying to the advertised posts often needed to speak both Spanish and Quechua (see figure 1). This would potentialize the effectiveness of their work and allow them to take part in the creation of such radio shows and cassette recordings and effectively reach out to communities in these areas.

This pamphlet is a visually interesting supplement to lots of the heavily textual material housed in the archive, while still being informative and interesting. It shows some of the approaches to missionary work adopted by the RBMU and how they reached out to potential new recruits.