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them affect the Guatemalan mentality. In this fight they openly oppose certain values from the Iberian-Catholic heritage as well as the Mayan world which they say contributes to form pessimist and negative attitudes towards the world. Members from these churches say that their way of thinking changed positively after their conversion and after adopting a code of values that they learnt in church. The NPL say that both aspects have been key factors in the development of their personal, family and work situations.\u000AOn this basis, NPL affirm that changing the country must include paradigm shifts [changes in mentality]. The change proposed by NPCs is questioned and rejected alike by Catholics and Mayan groups, who consider NPCs as \u2018fundamentalist sects\u2019 that destroy national culture. The NPL do not always value the contributions of the Mayan peoples such as their positive traits seen in the sense of communality, respect for the elderly, skills in handicrafts or their disposition to cooperate for a cause which they share together. Also while the NPCs and other evangelical churches seek changes in some of the Guatemalan cultural values they have also have neglected discussing the great problems that afflict the country. Their voice is weak and occasional.\u000AThe analysis shows that most of the NPSs and NPLs give little importance to the discussion of the structural problems of the country. They focus their attention on the problems of personal micro-ethics. The NPCs cannot overlook the high index of social inequality, injustice, impunity, and poverty that affects most of the population. Some recent changes among Pentecostals pastors suggest that they might in the future tackle these issues more directly. For example, the pastor of the Elim church, their largest church in El Salvador surprised everyone by declaring in a public evangelistic activity, that the church must assume a more integrated mission, and must point to the deepest causes of the social problems (Vega \u2018Carta de Liderazgo Cristiano\u2019 World Vision 2003).\u000AA similar example in Charismatic churches of Africa can be seen throughout the case of the pastor Mensa Otabil of Ghana that pleads for change in the social structures that generate poverty (Gifford 1998: 236-243). In the context of NPCs in Guatemala,\u000A329\u000A


































































































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