VENEZUELA - from vocational education to theological training

It was awarded from the fund for "Women studying Theology." I was able to study for a Master’s degree in Theology at the Catholic University "Santa Rosa" of Caracas, in my country, Venezuela.

They were very intense years, of invaluable learning, strong challenges, triumphs and adversities. The hardest of adversities was to have to combine my work and my Master’s studies with the attention to my husband, Pastor Presbyterian, who suffered for years the degenerative disease known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (E.L.A.) . This situation stopped for a while the production of my Master’s Degree Special Work in Theology. My husband died after this disease process, I was able to write my Work as a degree requirement of the aforementioned Master’s.

My Special Degree Work, as it is called here in Venezuela, was entitled: "Curricular Development for a Doctoral Program in Latin American and Caribbean Theologies" to be launched at the Catholic University "Santa Rosa" from Caracas, Venezuela where I studied for my Master’s degree. This special grade work was submitted to the Ministry of People’s Power for Education, which received the corresponding legal approval.

Completing my Master’s degree in Theology, obtaining the prestigious title of Master in Theology was and has been a blessing for me, for my family, for my Church and for my country.

Upon completion of the Master’s Degree in Theology, I was invited by the Dean of the Faculty to give classes in Joanic Literature to students studying for the Bachelor’s Degree in Theology.

Time later I was appointed by the educational authorities of my country, as Academic Vice-Rector of the Catholic University in which I completed my Master’s degree in Theology, there in that position represented the Ecumenical Network of Venezuela and at the head of the Vice Rectorate mentioned I was for 6 years. An extraordinary time of growth in faith, in the experience of God, in ecumenism, in personal and professional development.

The Master’s Degree in Theology, which I was able to complete with support from the Aid to Protestantism Fund and my Presbyterian Church of Venezuela, has opened up other fields and ministries: I belong to the Network of Christian Theologians, Pastors and Leaders, I have been an Invited Professor to teach at the Theological Community of Mexico, the International Faculty of Theology in Mexico and currently am a Professor at the Lutheran Seminary of Augsburg (SEMLA) in Mexico. Here in Venezuela, I currently perform the functions of Moderator of the Central Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela and Coordinator of the Pastoral Education of this church. I also serve at the continental level as Vice President of the Alliance of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in Latin America (AIPRAL)

I must also point out that having fulfilled the requirements required by the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela, including having completed theological studies, I was ordained as Minister of Word and Sacrament and as Teaching Minister.

Before completing my master’s degree in theology, I was an educator by profession with a master’s degree in education sciences, teaching for more than 40 years, currently at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela.

The certain possibility of having studied for a Master’s degree in Theology has enriched my personal and professional life and opened doors for me in the field of Theological Education.

For this, and much more, my heart is full of gratitude to FAP .

Reverend Berla Andrade

Pastor and teacher

Presbyterian Church of Venezuela.