New ISGA Research Assistant and Translator

Luis Tapia, a Chilean theologian and mission worker in Ecuador, joined the ISGA team this summer. Tapia, who grew up in the city of Valparaiso, was originally part of the Chilean Baptist church, which he describes as theologically similar to Southern Baptist churches in the USA. During his studies in a Baptist seminary in Chile, he discovered Anabaptism and was especially attracted by the radical discipleship of the Anabaptist tradition. After further studies in education and an MA degree in philosophy, Tapia served as pastor of the Quito Mennonite Church in Quito, Ecuador. He then moved to Elkhart, Indiana, to study theology at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, graduating in the spring of 2021 with an MDiv. Tapia is passionate about Anabaptist theological education, especially for Latino communities in both North and South America who often do not have access to theological teaching or materials.

Tapia’s work with the ISGA has involved translating various ISGA texts into Spanish, making our educational material accessible to churches who communicate primarily in Spanish. He has also helped to add numerous new Spanish books to the Biblioteca Anabautista Digital (BiDA), which has become a crucial resource for Spanish distance-learning courses in many settings.  And he is currently communicating with various Latin American Anabaptist church leaders with the goal of adding new archival material about their churches to the Global Anabaptist Wiki.

Additionally, Tapia helped to finish an archival project initiated by Jaime Prieto of Costa Rica (read more in the previous story). Welcome to the team, Luis!