In Inter-America, thousands of active members get trained to better serve the church

Seventh-day Adventist crowded the Israel Leito Development and Integral Center in Willemstad, Curacao, on Oct. 25, 2014, during Inter-America’s year of Non-Formal Education live celebration program. Nearly 200,000 active church members received certifications on how to better serve the church and the community across the vast territory. Image by Libna Stevens/IAD

October 27, 204 | Willemstad, Curacao | Libna Stevens/IAD

Dr. Myrna Costa, IAD vice president overseeing education said the territory-wide Year of Non-Formal Education program represented Inter-America’s decades-long emphasis of educating and instructing the membership to grow in Christ and share that knowledge with others in their communities.  Image by Libna Stevens

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America celebrated its Year of Non-Formal Education with a special live program from Willemstad, Curacao, on Oct. 25, 2014. Nearly 200,000 active church members, pastors and administrators were awarded certifications for completing specialized training to better serve the church and the community throughout the territory.

The three-hour online transmission highlighted the culmination of certification programs held throughout the Inter-American Division (IAD) this year by all of the church’s departments setting the tone for the start of the church’s year-end annual executive committee meetings, said Myrna Costa, vice president overseeing education for the church in Inter-America and main organizer of the event.

The program represented the decades-long emphasis of educating and instructing the membership, preparing disciples to help their congregations grow in Christ and share their knowledge with others in their communities, explained Costa.

IAD President Israel Leito reminded trained church members to consider their service to the church a privilege and high calling. Image by Libna Stevens/IAD

IAD President Pastor Israel Leito, a native of Curacao, addressed the more than 500 being certified in the church’s Development and Integral Center bearing his name, while more than 1,500 congregated for the event.

“The preparation you have received will help you understand the expectations of the Lord for He is ready for you to give everything of yourself,” said Pastor Leito.

“What you will receive is not just a certificate, it is a moment of dedication, it is a moment when you tell the Lord, ‘I want to use it for your honor and glory,’” said Pastor Leito. “This will facilitate service, facilitate the mission of the church.”

“Understand that this is a privilege, a high calling, we certify you and thank you for being totally dedicated to the Lord, to be useful in whatever God leads you,” added Pastor Leito.

The Adventist leader challenged certified members not to stop there but to continue learning different ministries work in the church and not specialize in only one ministry. “Today you can be an elder, and next year you can be a Sabbath School teacher, or a year from now a youth director,” he added. “Be all-around servants of the Lord, wherever the Lord leads, wherever the church needs.”

Dressed in academic regalia to receive non formal education certificates, a group of children ministries leaders stand waiting their turn to receive their certificates, during the live event in Curacao. Image by Magda Salinas/IAD

Pastor Leito invited every church member warming pews to get active in the church. “There’s a place of service for you, there’s a need for everyone of us.”

The call came as top church leaders want to continue the steady growth that has characterized the church in Inter-America for decades now thanks to the committed efforts of hundreds of thousands of active members spreading the gospel in their communities.

Myriam Guerrero, 60, was among the 500 dressed in academic regalia to receive non-formal education certificates during the event. She is a native of Colombia but moved to Curacao 33 years ago and has been active in the Adventist Hispanic Church for over 25 years. Guerrero was very happy to receive certificates for completing 40-hour courses on how to prepare an evangelistic campaign, and how to lead a Sabbath School class.

“This type of event motivates our church members to be more interested in serving the church,” said Guerrero. “Our members sometimes feel inadequately trained to teach a Sabbath School, to serve in any other ministry in our church, so the training provides the tools for us to lead others to fall in love with Christ.”

A church member smiles after receiving her health promoter certificate from the health ministries department during the live event. Image by Magda Salinas/IAD

Guerrero said serving the church continues to be her passion as she doubles her efforts alongside other laypersons to spread the gospel as the church has divided and grown into two churches just recently.

A retired nurse who spends her time leading a small group twice a week and giving Bible studies and providing free transportation to visitors to Sabbath and Wednesday services at the church, Guerrero is among some 25,000 laypeople from across the IAD who enrolled in this year’s special personal ministries certification program.

Melrose Cornelia, 39, was happy to cling to her children’s ministries certificate during the live event. For 23 years she has been working with children and adolescent ministries and this year the certification included a special training on how to minister to children from infancy to seven years old, and how to help parents in dealing with their children.

A group from the Purcell and Tortoal Advneits Churches in British Virgin Islands pose for a picture before they received their Sabbath School teacher certificate on Oct. 25. Image by Aldrin Rabsatt/IAD

Cornelia represents some 32,690 active members who were certified in this year’s special 32-hour certification program throughout the territory, according to Dinorah Rivera, children’s ministries director for the church in Inter-America.

“Children face a lot challenges as well as their parents, so this training provided some tools to aid parents in the spiritual, mental and physical health of their children,” said Cornelia. “Many parents leave the Bible teaching to Sabbath School and church once a week and we need to help them understand that it is a partnership to raise children for the kingdom.”

Already busy training children on how to preach, be part of a praise team, study their Bible, distribute literature, how improve your studying habits for school, and participate in sporting events at the Jandoret Adventist Church in Curacao, Cornelia is eager to begin a certification program for children on Adventist history and the fundamental beliefs in the coming weeks and months.

Dedicated active members like Guerrero and Cornelia is what Pastor Charlton Bruno is striving to have at the three church districts he ministers to every week in Curacao.

“We have an individualistic and materialistic culture in this world today and getting our members involved in serving the church and reaching out to others with the message of salvation is a must if we want to be a successful, growing church,” said Bruno. “Our members need to be put into action, as they study the Bible,” he added, “It’s key to retaining our members and challenging them to spread the gospel.”

More than 1,000 active church members pose with their certificates at El Progreso Adventist School Auditorium in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Oct. 25. Image by Gustavo Menendez

Pastor Bruno, 36, was among the hundreds of the 2,300 ministers who partook in the certification training with special emphasis on church administration, winning and retaining members, evangelism pastoral leadership and more this year.

Elsewhere in Inter-America, thousands watched and were awarded diplomas for completing certification programs this year. In Southeast Mexico, the church had seven major sites viewing the program and thousands received certificates, some 31,000 in Chiapas Mexican region, in Guatemala City, more than 1,000 church members received certificates, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, the Caribbean islands, Colombia, Venezuela also as well.

To view the recorded video of Inter-America’s Year of Non-Formal Education celebration in Willemstad, Curacao, click HERE

To view a photo gallery of the live event, click HERE