Inter-America’s Public Campus Ministries congress set to take place in Cuba

Image by IAD Public Campus Ministries

December 8, 2015 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens/IAD

Inter-America’s Public Campus Ministries will officially launch its strategic plans for the next five years by gathering over 600 leaders and delegates across the territory in Cuba this month. The event will be the first of its kind to serve as a training congress to dozens of local field leaders, university students and professionals from across the Inter-American Division (IAD) in Havana, the island’s capital city on Dec. 17-22, 2015.

Delegates and leaders will take part in numerous seminars, presentations, workshops and community projects in Havana, as they network with peers during the four-day event.

“We want to equip our Adventist students studying in non-Adventist universities with leadership skills for the church, their campuses and the communities around them,” says Pastor Hiram Ruiz, public campus ministries for the church in IAD and main organizer of the event.

The event is expected to be a turning point for the new unified campus ministries in Inter-America, according to Ruiz. For years, unions across the IAD independently held activities for Adventist students on public campuses, but since the IAD voted to have the public campus ministries in late 2014, changes and improvements will take place across the territory, explains Ruiz.

“Our goal is to have a more intentional work so that our students studying on non-Adventist campuses can be overseen by our local church leaders and professionals, mobilize students to organize a center of influence in their university for further impact and service in the community,” he adds.

Cuba happens to be a perfect location to carry out the congress, adds Ruiz.
Besides the small Adventist Seminary, “Adventist students have no access to Adventist education on the island, so bringing support, networking and fellowship to hundreds of students in Cuba will be a real blessing.”

Public campus ministries directors from each of Inter-America’s 24 unions and from each of 125 conferences and missions will be attending the congress, according to Ruiz.

For more information on the upcoming Inter-America’s Public Campus Ministries Congress, visit us at interamerica.org