Engaging National Partners in Latin America
By Chris Williams , Latin America / Caribbean Regional Director , OMS Global
Missiologists Ralph Winter and Bruce Koch stated , “ Even if all the members of every church in the world were to bring every one of their friends and relatives within their own culture to obedient faith in Christ , and they in turn were able to bring all their friends and relatives to Christ and so on … there would still be billions cut off from the Gospel .” Let that statement settle deep in your soul … billions cut off from the Gospel unless the GLOBAL church of Jesus sends cross-cultural missionaries to take the Gospel where there is critically low to no local testimony of Christ . At One Mission Society ( OMS ), we strive to be faithful to help our national partners engage in God ’ s global mission to reach those billions !
OMS missionaries have been working with the OMS-related Interamerican Church of Colombia to help them ignite a passion for missions . At the beginning of this process , one pastor advised , “ If we are going to move from being a mission field to a mission force , we must convince the pastors of our local churches to share this mission burden !” In that very meeting , one missionary , two Colombian pastors , and one evangelist committed to make this mission happen , with the help of the Holy Spirit .
After vision sharing in numerous churches and holding several pastors ’ seminars , mission conferences , and local outreach events , we are beginning to see the early signs of missional engagement . The Interamerican Bible Institute added a 7-month missions program ; we began an online school of missions ; and each of the
15 districts of the Interamerican Church formed mission teams to continue promoting prayer , giving , discipling , mission engagement in Colombia , and even going as cross-cultural missionaries .
We are seeing God raise up missionaries from Colombia . One powerful example is Oscar Jiménez . Oscar , a Colombian , pastors and trains leaders at a church plant in London , England . He came to know the Lord through the ministries of the Interamerican Church . He also attended the OMS-founded seminary in Colombia and served as the missions director for the denomination for several years . Oscar is passionate about discipling people to reach the next generation of believers across Europe .
God is calling missionaries from all over the world . Is he calling you to help mobilize the global church ? If so , we have a spot for you !
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