Colombian megachurch hopes to draw in former combatants
Avivamiento was one of just two large evangelical churches to voice its support for the 2016 peace accord, which is still being implemented.
In a country scarred by more than five decades of war, Colombia’s peace accord has become a religious issue as well as a politically charged one.
As part of the implementation of a 2016 peace deal, the Colombian government has permitted a Bogotá-based megachurch called Avivamiento to begin building churches it hopes will draw ex-combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC is the acronym in Spanish).
Colombian voters narrowly rejected an early version of the peace deal in a contested referendum. A revised peace deal was ratified by the Congress of Colombia. Now the agreement faces new challenges after Colombians elected right-wing candidate Iván Duque in last June’s presidential elections. Duque promised to revisit the accord and alter significant portions of it, including the transitional justice process that was key to gaining FARC’s signature on the agreement.
