Pastor Abner De los Santos, president of the Inter-American Division, introduces the Every Church, One Church  flagship initiative during an online launch on June 23, 2026. More than 450 union and local field administrators from across the Inter-American Division participated in the event, which outlined the church’s five-year strategy to strengthen congregations and establish new churches. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
Five-year flagship initiative challenges every healthy congregation to plant another church by 2030.

June 25, 2026 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division News

The future growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Inter-American Division (IAD) will depend not on a handful of leaders, but on thousands of church members embracing their role in God’s mission, said Pastor Abner De los Santos, president of the IAD, as he launched the division’s Every Church, One Church initiative before more than 450 union and conference administrators gathered online on June 23.

“The challenge before us as pastors and church leaders is to mobilize the majority of the church to become involved in the mission,” De los Santos said. “The church cannot focus only on preservation; it must focus on multiplication.”

Pastor Abner De los Santos calls church leaders across Inter-America to strengthen healthy congregations and multiply mission through the Every Church, One Church initiative.[Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
The five-year flagship initiative seeks to strengthen local congregations while equipping them to establish new congregations and engage more members in disciple-making throughout the territory.

“The objective is not simply to increase statistical numbers,” De los Santos said. “The objective is for every congregation to become spiritually healthy enough to give birth to another congregation.”

Building on Two Decades of Growth

Supporting the initiative with historical data, Executive Secretary Pierre Caporal reported that the IAD organized 2,009 new churches during the past five years—nearly half of the 4,241 churches established since 2008. The growth, he said, reflects an unprecedented emphasis on congregational expansion across the territory.

Caporal highlighted the Chiapas Mexican Union and the Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union as leading models of church multiplication, accounting for more than 40 percent of all new churches organized during the past quinquennium. He also identified Puerto Rico, parts of the Caribbean, and major urban centers as regions where renewed church planting efforts will be especially important.

Pastor Pierre Caporal, executive secretary of the IAD, presents historical church growth data during the launch of the Every Church, One Church initiative, highlighting the organization of more than 2,000 new churches across the territory during the past five years. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
“The reality we are facing requires intervention,” Caporal said, outlining strategies to strengthen church planting in underserved and high-density communities.

Reinforcing the administration’s commitment to the initiative, IAD Treasurer Ivelisse Herrera said church planting must be viewed as one of the division’s most strategic investments.

“The mission does not advance on its own,” Herrera said. “It advances because of intentional and well-planned decisions. Every resource invested in planting a church is not an expense; it is an investment in God’s kingdom.”

Herrera said each new congregation creates opportunities for evangelism and discipleship while strengthening the church’s long-term sustainability. She announced that the division treasury is already developing funding criteria to support the initiative and urged union and conference treasurers to include church planting in their long-term financial planning.

Ivelisse Herrera, treasurer of the IAD explains why church planting should be viewed as a strategic investment in God’s kingdom and outlines the division’s commitment to supporting the Every Church, One Church initiative through long-term financial planning. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
“This is a serious initiative that will require resources, not only during its initial phase, but well beyond this quinquennium,” Herrera said. “We are committed to assigning the resources needed to make Every Church, One Church a reality across Inter-America.”

A Biblical Call to Multiply

Providing the biblical foundation for the initiative, Adventist Mission Director Samuel Telemaque reminded leaders that church planting is not merely a strategy but part of God’s original design for His church.

Telemaque said the initiative rests on two biblical principles: multiplication and spiritual maturity. Healthy congregations, he explained, naturally reproduce by making disciples and establishing new churches.

“Every Church, One Church presupposes that every congregation comes to full maturity,” he said. “When a church comes to full maturity in Christ, she will naturally want to reproduce.”

Pastor Samuel Telemaque, Adventist Mission director for the IAD , shares the biblical foundation for church planting, reminding leaders that healthy congregations naturally reproduce by making disciples and establishing new churches. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
He challenged leaders to look beyond constructing buildings.

“‘Every Church, One Church’ is about making Christ known and establishing God’s presence in communities where He is not yet known,” Telemaque said. “It is not about erecting buildings. It is about establishing God’s presence in Satan’s strongholds.”

Turning Vision Into Action

Pastor Roberto Herrera, stewardship director of the IAD, outlined a five-year implementation roadmap, emphasizing that the initiative’s success will depend on intentional leadership at every level of the church.

“We’re here to share a vision,” Herrera said. “Every new church begins with a decision—with leaders planning, churches being well led, and a commitment to expand God’s kingdom.”

Pastor Roberto Herrera, stewardship director of the Inter-American Division, outlines the five-year implementation plan for the Every Church, One Church initiative. [Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
Herrera stressed that church planting is one of the division’s three flagship initiatives for the quinquennium and should be championed by union and conference administrations rather than a single department.

He presented a phased implementation plan beginning this year with sharing the vision throughout the territory.

  • During July and August, unions will introduce the initiative to conference leaders, departmental directors, and pastors.
  • Conferences will then engage pastors, church boards, and local leaders through September and October.
  • By Nov. 30, each union is expected to submit a list of participating churches and the communities where they plan to establish new congregations.

Herrera emphasized that the initiative is not intended to pressure every church to plant another congregation.

“We are not asking anyone to force a church to give birth if it isn’t ready,” he said. “The first step is understanding the health of the churches we already have and identifying those prepared to establish a new congregation.”

Pastor Abner De los Santos, president of the IAD, reviews the vision and year-by-year strategy for the Every Church, One Church initiative, which calls on healthy congregations to multiply and establish new churches throughout Inter-America by 2030.[Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
He also underscored the vital role of local pastors.

“We want to see new congregations emerge from existing congregations,” Herrera said. “Our pastors will be key to preparing churches to reproduce.”

To sustain momentum, Herrera announced that the first Sabbath of every August will be observed across Inter-America as a special day of prayer for church planting. The division will also establish a strategic fund to support qualifying projects and convene leadership gatherings in every union in 2029 before celebrating the initiative’s results in 2030.

Throughout the launch, administrators from across the Inter-American Division participated in live question-and-answer sessions, discussing how to strengthen existing congregations while planting new ones, identify communities ready for new churches, provide sustainable financial support, and reach unreached populations in increasingly diverse urban centers.

Pastor Hiram Ruiz, Chaplaincy Ministries director, and Pastor Álvaro Niño, undersecretary of the IAD, moderate a live question-and-answer session during the Every Church, One Church launch, addressing practical questions from union and local field administrators about implementing the new church planting initiative.[Photo: Libna Stevens/IAD]
A Shared Vision for the Future

The Every Church, One Church initiative, approved during the Inter-American Division’s 2026 Spring Executive Committee, will guide the division’s church planting strategy throughout the current quinquennium.

In his closing appeal, De los Santos urged administrators to embrace the initiative as a shared commitment rather than another denominational program.

“I hope we have received the vision and are inspired to move forward with Every Church, One Church,” he said. “God established His church to multiply.”

Using the image of a flourishing orchard, De los Santos invited leaders to envision healthy congregations reproducing healthy congregations throughout the territory.

“I want to imagine that orchard covering the entire territory of Inter-America—an orchard of churches, healthy churches reproducing for the honor and glory of God,” he said. “Let us share the vision: Every Church, One Church.”