December 6, 2019 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens/IAD
The leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America wants to provide in-depth training, for its leaders and active church members who are eager to fulfill the mission of reaching different people groups across the territory. The special online school of cross cultural mission training event will provide that on Jan. 11, 2020, as the church continues strong focus on reaching out to communities with their own particular languages, cultures, and customs within the Inter-American Division (IAD) and beyond.
“We have a growing unreached migrating population in Inter-America with lots of people moving for greater opportunities because of political crisis that exists in their country, so we must understand the barriers that exist for reaching these people and connect with them,” said Pastor Samuel Telemaque, Sabbath School director in charge of Adventist Mission and cross cultural mission for the church in Inter-America.
“At the heart of the training is church planting, practical methods to accomplish that,” said Telemaque. Already the Inter-American Division (IAD) has 1,200 global mission pioneers who leave their homes to dedicate months and years to share the hope of the gospel in unreached communities, he added.
The five-hour event will clarify the scope and challenges that exist with people groups specifically to global mission pioneers—persons dedicated to go impact a particular community to plant a new church.
Presentations that Adventist world church experts will include are guidance on the process of planting new churches, understanding the needs of refugees, how to assess the needs of different people groups, opportunities for volunteers, how to become career missionaries, how to develop and support a culture of cross-cultural mission, how to get your center of influence approved and more.
The online training event is not just for global mission pioneers but is also geared to pastors, church leaders, laypersons, center of influence workers, and anyone who wants to reach unreached people groups, said Telemaque.
“Our goal is to mobilize our church members in terms of mission awareness,” said Telemaque. The on-going cross-cultural mission training is aligned with the I Will Go focus that the Adventist world church will engage in starting in 2020. “If we want to send missionaries to within our territory and to foreign countries, we must have the skills internally within the context.”
To watch Inter-America’s Online School of Cross-Cultural Mission, tune into webcast.interamerica.org on Saturday, January 11, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Miami Time).
The program will be featured in English, Spanish and French.