Santa Marta, Colombia…[Abraham Guerrero/IAD Staff]
Over 200 church elders gathered March 19-22 for a special congress in Santa Marta, Colombia, to receive training in better assisting and supporting ministers with their congregations. The elders represented over 180 churches and a church membership of over 40,000 from the Atlantic Mission and the Caribbean Mission in Colombia.
The congress was planned to acknowledge the importance of the work of the church elders in Colombia. Other ministries such as Dorcas, women, youth, master guides have gatherings every year, but not for elders.
“In this region, there are more laypeople standing behind the pulpits than pastors, and the churches owes a lot to their work,” says Pastor Edgar Redondo, director of Personal Ministries for the church in Colombia. “We the pastors feel much gratitude for the work that the church elders do.”
Among the highlights of the congress were several seminars on Church management, strategic planning and the characteristics of a healthy church, which were done by Mario NiZo, Stewardship director for the church in Inter-America. NiZo explained how church elders are called to manage the local church and how they need to know their Biblical history, and their mission to perform their task.
Additional seminars taught included Characteristics of a Healthy Church by Edgar Redondo, and Church and Rituals, by Mario Villegas, Evangelist for the church in Colombia.
