On May 17-19, over 300 leaders representing 24 countries gathered in Quito, Ecuador for the 10th Annual Latin America Conference: Together for More and Stronger Churches. Before the event began on the evening of the 17th, leaders from our five largest partner denominations in Latin America participated together to provide MNM with an analysis of our tools and resources. The responses from Assemblies of God, Church of God, Fellowship of the Evangelical Covenant Church, Baptist Union of Latin America, and Church of God of Prophecy will help us evaluate and improve our work together for the good of the Church. This historic meeting culminated with the signing of a ministry agreement to continue working with each of these denominations.
The opening event on Tuesday night took place in the National Assembly of Ecuador and commemorated the ten years of conferences in Latin America. During the ceremony, they presented the inaugural Corrie Lenting award to leaders of the top five denominations in recognition of their work, dedication, and commitment to the vision of planting and strengthening churches. Corrie Lenting was committed to sharing MNM’s vision since its beginning. After a battle with cancer, Corrie received her heavenly reward and leaves a legacy of faith and strong confidence in MNM’s work.
Denominational leaders, supervisors, coordinators, missionaries, pastors, and church planters were present from 24 countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, England, Finland, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The overarching theme of the conference was proclamation, with the purpose of motivating and sharing the vision of planting and strengthening churches in the continent and the world through the proclamation of the gospel.
During one of the sessions, we experienced a tremor and the staff of the hotel evacuated everyone into the streets. After the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on April 16, Ecuadorians are still nervous about tremors. Thankfully, we heard no one was hurt and there was no damage.
On Thursday, each participant was given a USB containing biblical material including videos, audio Bibles, and some MNM’s tools and resources. That evening, we concluded the conference by traveling to a local church to praise God for His faithfulness. We are thankful to have more than 6,000 church planters in training and our vision is to train 10,000 church planters a year. The 11th annual conference will be in El Salvador, May 16-18, 2017.
For more pictures from Ecuador, see our Multiplication Network Ministries Facebook page.
