The President's Missionary

Justo Rufino Barrios had a problem. He had big plans for reform when he became president of Guatemala in 1873. He believed the Catholic Church and the aristocracy whom it supported were the reason for the poverty and illiteracy of the people. For the good of his people, he started public schools, instituted civil marriage and nationalized much of the church’s property. But the people trusted their priests more than their government and his reforms were constantly being blocked.

 

He expressed his frustration one night at a dinner with close friends. Mrs. Frances Cleaves, wife of an American businessman from Boston, suggested an interesting solution. “Mr. President, have you ever considered the expediency of having an Evangelical Church started in Guatemala as a counter to clerical interference? It would at least divert the attention of your opponents and keep them busy.”

President Barrios thought it was a brilliant idea. He asked Mrs. Cleaves to contact church authorities in America to ask for a missionary. The request eventually reached the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. But Guatemala was a tiny country and didn’t have millions of lost souls like China and Africa. After months of delay, the Board finally decided to send John Clark Hill to survey the country to see whether conditions justified devoting resources to a mission there. But Mr. Hill was preparing to go to Ningpo, China for a ten year term. He was in the midst of applying for visas, selling his home, packing all his possessions, arranging to ship them and for passage for his family. He was determined to finish his preparations to move to the Far East before taking a side trip to a different part of the world.

The delay irritated Guatemala’s president. He needed a missionary. So, on a scheduled trip to New York, he visited the mission board offices. He guaranteed safety and support for a new mission and demanded that Hill be ready to leave when Barrios returned from a short trip to Europe. The board agreed, and a few weeks later the president returned to Guatemala with a missionary in tow.

Mr. Hill’s assignment was to consider the need for a mission and report back. Instead, he fell in love with Guatemala and stayed for five years. In spite of opposition – he needed body guards at first - he was able to start an English speaking church, eventually followed by Spanish services. He started printing tracts to distribute on the streets. He also established a school where President Barrios and his officials sent their children. He was blessed to see a number of converts.

Justo Rufino Barrios probably didn’t get exactly what he was looking for, but Guatemala got a thriving Protestant presence and the Gospel was spread. More missionaries came; other churches and organizations established missions. They spread out into the rural areas. Hospitals, a seminary, more schools, a university, a printing press, and lots of churches were established. The Bible was translated into Mayan languages. The president brought a missionary to strengthen his government, but God had a different Kingdom in mind.

This story is based on an account written in 1946 by E.M. Haymaker in “Footnotes on the Evangelical Movement in Guatemala.” Haymaker replaced Hill when he left, and based his account on interviews with the people who were there with President Barrios and Mr. Hill. You can read more about the historical mission in Guatemala in my father’s book, Miracles at Midnight.