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The World Missions Summit - Latin America and the Caribbean
In The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (by Philip
Jenkins, distinguished professor of history and religious studies at Penn State University), the
author rocked the religious world by highlighting the most significant paradigm shift in Christianity,
one that has taken place over the past 100 years, a transition that has gone virtually unnoticed
by those who chronicle religious history:
We are currently living through one of the transforming moments in the history of
religion worldwide. Over the past five centuries or so, the story of Christianity has been inextricably
bound up with that of Europe and European-derived civilizations overseas, above all in North America.
Until recently, the overwhelming majority of Christians have lived in White nations . . . Over the
past century, however, the center of gravity in the Christian world has shifted inexorably southward,
to [Sub-Saharan] Africa, Asia, and Latin America. [Emphasis added.]
Jenkins declares that the growth of Christianity is no longer the domain of the
global north; now it is time for others to be included. This is Latin America's finest hour, our
time to accept our leadership role in history to help make Jesus known among the nations.
The significance of this transition for Latin America and the Caribbean and
for you can be encapsulated in these three axioms:
Unparalleled opportunities exist today to make great things happen in this region. More
than 10,000 people per day are coming to faith in Christ in Latin America. People are using "every
available means" to make it happen. Those who serve in our region are impacting
their world in a variety of ways.
In Peru, Rich runs soccer camps for unsaved kids, and almost all come to faith. Bob reaches cops in Nicaragua with leadership and marriage seminars. Matt, who is deaf, and his wife, Eva, have 60 deaf children and young adults in their deaf
school in Managua, Nicaragua. Karen has a team that teaches "values" to 20,000 schoolkids weekly in Honduras. Cindy and Diane have started a church for the homeless in Paraguay, teaching skills to street
people who become new believers. Donnie runs a vocational school teaching woodworking for the Mapuche Indians in southern Chile. Joil and Leah have targeted 110,000 Shuars, indigenous people of the Amazon jungle. Don, Mike and Martha, among many, are challenging tens of thousands of Latin youth to get
radical in winning the children and youth of their countries. Karla, Cynthia and Cilinia (who was once Miss Panama, later a newscaster in that country)
shared the love of Christ at the Miss Universe pageant in Panama. Mark and Pat take an ICE CREAM (an acronym) truck from neighborhood to neighborhood to tell
kids about Jesus in Argentina. Steve and Kim started a home for abandoned kids in Jamaica. Bill and Connie bought a secular TV station with two hours a day of religious programming;
they now have a viewing audience of 2 million. Dave and Carol, Gilbert and Virginia are reaching the university students of Argentina. Jason and Cindee average 9,000 people a night in their outdoor or stadium crusades in Costa Rica. Barbara and Vicki are holding seminars for abused women and seeing women's lives transformed. Phil and Rocco are planting churches everywhere they can. Ron and Michelle are reaching communities in El Salvador through microenterprise and a
variety of community development programs. Noemi, a health-care professional, runs a clinic and a feeding kitchen in Managua. Mike works with families in El Bordo, a massive, 30-blocks-long garbage dump in Mexico City,
where people can live their entire lives without ever going beyond the dump.
People are hurting everywhere, but these needs can be met.
An estimated 85 million indigenous people live throughout the region, most never having a
chance at new life in Christ. They are marginalized, uneducated and considered unworthy of
opportunity by society, governments and often by churches. We are changing that by increasing our
efforts to reach the Shuar, Colorado, Garifuna, Aymara, Quichua, Yanomamos and thousands of other
groups. Some Latin American universities have as many as 300,000 students. They must be reached. More than 250 million children and youth in the region need the love of Jesus in their lives. Millions have been abused, neglected or abandoned and need someone to care for them and show
them a new way. Even a neighboring country, Mexico, has six states ("The Heart of Darkness" we call it) with
less than 2 percent evangelical presence. In some areas, only 1 in 400 are believers. Mexico City
has 4,000 barrios, with believing churches in only 1,000 of them. Haiti's convoluted history of voodoo-dominated politics, a country with every kind of need
imaginable, is a challenge to those with a heart and who know how to do spiritual warfare!
You can help and we need you.
There are huge needs everywhere, but the great thing is that Latin and Caribbean
believers are being motivated to join us in telling the world about Jesus. As you come
and demonstrate a passion to reach those who have no hope and no life, you model for others what is
really important in life and a desire to go! A missions fervor is sweeping the
continent!
As you share your giftings, experience and learning with those who are needy and
at risk, you invite them to take this new spiritual journey with you. If you are a media-savvy
technician, a health-care professional, an academic type... or if you have a love for kids, abused
women, alcoholics or drug addicts... or if you love sports or are great at social work or community
development - whatever you can do, now is a great time not only to get involved in meeting the need
but also to model ministry for others and train them to do likewise.
Give a year - or a lifetime! As one young missionary candidate put it after taking
a short-term trip to help in a Latin America country: "It ruined me for the
ordinary!"
Why not come and be "ruined" for life?
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