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        <title>Christian Daily International | Latin America</title>
        <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/latin-america</link>
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            <title>Christian Daily International | Latin America</title>
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        <copyright>Christian Daily International © 2026</copyright>
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        <lastBuildDate>Sat, 07 Nov 2026 03:15:54 -0500</lastBuildDate>
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                                                        <item>
                <title><![CDATA[Creativoz 2026 brings together Christian communicators in Mexico to address digital challenges]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/creativoz-2026-brings-together-christian-communicators-in-mexico-to-address-digital-challenges</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/creativoz-2026-brings-together-christian-communicators-in-mexico-to-address-digital-challenges</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ommar Ayala]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/55/5533.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Creativoz 2026, a conference for Christian communicators, focused on creativity, excellence and commitment to biblical values. The event was held Oct. 30-31 at the Bible Society of Mexico in Mexico City.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ DibArt-all & the All-Studios ]]>
                                </media:credit>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Creativoz 2026, a conference for Christian communicators, focused on creativity, excellence and commitment to biblical values. The event was held Oct. 30-31 at the Bible Society of Mexico in Mexico City. ]]>
                                </media:description>
                                                    </media:content>
                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2026 07:20:00 -0500</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Christian communicators gathered Oct. 30-31 for Creativoz 2026, a conference on how churches, ministries and faith-based organizations can respond to the opportunities and challenges of digital media, social media and new technologies, including artificial intelligence.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Christian communicators gathered Oct. 30-31 for Creativoz 2026, a conference on how churches, ministries and faith-based organizations can respond to the opportunities and challenges of digital media, social media and new technologies, including artificial intelligence.
The conference was organized by the Alianza de Comunicadores Cristianos (Alliance of Christian Communicators, ACC) and hosted at the Bible Society of Mexico (Sociedad Bíblica de México, SBM). Its central themes were creativity, excellence and commitment to biblical values.
For organizers, the event raised the need to strengthen the training of Christian communicators, promote collaboration among professionals and develop content that can engage in dialogue with new generations.
Plenary sessions and workshops covered digital content creation and tools for telling stories with impact in the Christian community.
This year’s speakers included Pastor Sixto Vicente and Azel Hernández, along with communicators Pablo Vargas, Dany De los Reyes, Raúl Pérez, Roberto Arroyo and Armando Contreras.
At the opening ceremony, Jaime López, director of the Bible Society of Mexico, spoke about the importance of joining forces to take the message of the Gospel to all of Mexico.
Neyra Moncayo, a veteran Mexican journalist and content director of ADN40 at TV Azteca, said work and projects must be carried out with excellence to achieve better results.
Moncayo shared principles and experiences from her work on the program “La espuma de los días.” She challenged attendees to become more professional across the different fields of communication.
Colombian digital strategist and journalist Fabio Criales, who also took part in Creativoz, told Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition, that new technological tools can be used in the Christian media space and, he said, can help expand the Kingdom of God.
“We should not see new technologies as an enemy of what we are doing in terms of content; we need to learn from these advances so that we know how to handle them according to what God establishes,” Criales said.
Christians can use AI as a tool to optimize work in digital evangelism and in various ministries, Criales said. It can also support churches, he added, as long as it is used with responsibility and discernment.
“When it comes to technology, Mexico is always at the cutting edge in every sense, and the new generations are indispensable because they know much more than we do. We need to create that synergy with them; we should let ourselves be guided by the knowledge they bring,” Criales said.
Christian communication facing new challenges
Participants concluded that communicators today work in an era marked by disinformation, immediacy and the spread of AI. In that setting, they said, communicators are responsible for using the resources available to them with sound judgment, transparency and a commitment to the truth.
In one working session, participants noted that the growth of digital platforms has opened new ways for churches, ministries, organizations and Christian media to reach different sectors of the population.
They also raised concerns about the credibility of information, the quality of content and the responsible use of new technologies.
Participants said gatherings like Creativoz, built around training and collaboration among communicators, are becoming more important for developing technical knowledge, strategic vision and social commitment.
With so many ways to tell stories of faith, report on events of interest to the Christian community and create spaces for dialogue, they said, projects of this kind should continue.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[COALA4.0: Global South churches urged to receive and host one another's missionaries]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/global-south-churches-urged-to-receive-and-host-one-another-s-missionaries</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/global-south-churches-urged-to-receive-and-host-one-another-s-missionaries</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/55/5529.jpg">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[The Rev. Jonas Kang, chairman of COALA and general secretary of the Korea World Missions Association, gives the opening address at COALA 4.0 in Singapore, held Oct. 5-7, 2026.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Courtesy of COALA ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The Rev. Jonas Kang, chairman of COALA and general secretary of the Korea World Missions Association, gives the opening address at COALA 4.0 in Singapore, held Oct. 5-7, 2026. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:50:00 -0500</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Churches in Asia, Africa and Latin America should welcome and oversee missionaries sent by one another, the chairman of the COALA mission network has said, arguing that the Global South now sends most of the world's cross-cultural missionaries.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Churches in Asia, Africa and Latin America should welcome and oversee missionaries sent by one another, the chairman of the COALA mission network has said, arguing that the Global South now sends most of the world's cross-cultural missionaries.
The Rev. Jonas Kang, who also serves as general secretary of the Korea World Missions Association, made the proposal in his opening address to COALA 4.0, held Oct. 5-7 in Singapore.
The gathering of Majority World mission leaders ended with the release of the Singapore Statement, as previously reported by Christian Daily International. This report is part of CDI's post-event coverage of selected presentations from the meeting.
Kang told participants that because the economies of the West and the Global South cannot be compared on equal terms, churches in the South need to shape their own way of carrying mission forward.
Global South now sending majority of missionaries
According to figures Kang presented, missionaries from the Global South numbered about 31,000 in 1970, or 12% of those sent worldwide. By 2026, he said, that number had grown to about 277,000, or 61%, while the Global North sent about 178,000.
Most countries represented at COALA are now "both mission fields and mission force nations," Kang said. He added that churches in the non-Western world more closely resemble the church described in the Book of Acts than Western churches do.
Kang recalled that participants at COALA 2.0 in Bangkok, Thailand, where the movement was launched in 2024, agreed on several principles. Mission must depend on the power of the Holy Spirit and be centered on the local church, he said. Missionaries should be sent only at the request of a local church or organization, made through networks.
Finances are necessary, but they "must not occupy the most central place in mission," Kang said.
Using childbirth as an image to describe the missionary's role, he said, "Missionaries must remember that they themselves are not the mother giving birth to the child, but the midwife who assists the mother in giving birth."
Focus on unreached peoples
Kang said Global South mission movements are increasingly directing their efforts toward unreached and unengaged people groups, citing Matthew 24:14. He said the Latin American movement COMIBAM and the Movement for African National Initiatives (MANI) both prioritize such groups, and that MANI has committed to send its future missionaries only to them.
He pointed to a memorandum signed at COALA 3.5 between COMIBAM and a leading evangelical church in the Middle East and North Africa. COMIBAM has recently begun sending missionaries to the region, and the church has agreed to care for them, Kang said.
"I believe this represents mission that is biblically sound," he said.
Kang distinguished between "open access" nations, where churches exist and Christian workers can identify themselves publicly, and "creative access" nations, where Christians make up less than 2% of the population and sharing the gospel is restricted.
Noting that many COALA countries are economically weaker than those in the West, he asked churches in member nations to adopt a policy of receiving and overseeing missionaries sent from other member nations. He proposed that pastors and missionaries serve under a local denomination, and that lay missionaries belong to a local church and "give their best effort toward helping that church grow."
Kang also asked churches in each country to make their needs known, so that churches able to send missionaries can respond.
He acknowledged that churches in the Global South face growing hostility toward Christians in many parts of the world, including religious nationalism, state restrictions on religion and attacks by extremist groups.
A reshaped world Christianity
Citing the late missiologist Andrew Walls, Kang said the Southern form of Christianity is becoming the dominant expression of the faith. He identified three trends among non-Western Christians: reading Scripture within their own frameworks of thought, developing contextual theologies and sustaining a lively spirituality, much of it within the Pentecostal-charismatic stream.
These developments, Kang said, are only "a prelude to the reshaping of Christianity." He said the church worldwide must return to the gospel and give attention to what Scripture says.
Future church leaders, he said, will need to recover four features of Christian tradition: intimacy with God from the monastic tradition, immersion in the Word drawn from modern biblical scholarship, the self-denial and self-mastery of Puritan spirituality and the gifts of the Holy Spirit emphasized by the Pentecostal-charismatic movement.
"As the world church embodies these four features, Christianity will be able to express Christlikeness in both word and deed," Kang said.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Latin Evangelical Alliance adopts transparency commitment for national alliances]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/latin-evangelical-alliance-adopts-transparency-commitment-for-national-alliances</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/latin-evangelical-alliance-adopts-transparency-commitment-for-national-alliances</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Lizzie Sotola]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/55/5524.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Members of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL) during a meeting.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano ]]>
                                </media:credit>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Members of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL) during a meeting. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 07:10:00 -0500</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The Costa Rica Commitment sets five principles for good governance, financial accountability and abuse prevention across 22 countries.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The Costa Rica Commitment sets five principles for good governance, financial accountability and abuse prevention across 22 countries.
The Latin Evangelical Alliance, known by its Spanish initials AEL, has adopted the Costa Rica Commitment, a set of five principles on transparency and good governance for the alliance and its national members. The commitment was approved at AEL's 13th General Assembly, held Oct. 12-16 in San José, Costa Rica.
AEL, the World Evangelical Alliance's regional body for Latin America, brings together 25 evangelical organizations from 22 countries in Latin America, Spain and the United States.
"Transparency is not just an administrative requirement. It is part of our Christian witness," AEL President Juan Cruz Cellammare said in a statement.
Five principles
Under the Costa Rica Commitment, AEL and its member alliances commit to:

Up-to-date governing documents. Keeping their bylaws, regulations, statements of faith and leadership information current.
Clear decision-making. Running meetings in an orderly way and recording decisions through clear procedures and minutes.
Financial transparency. Working with Christian organizations that specialize in certifying financial transparency.
Ethics and safeguarding. Adopting codes of ethics and prevention policies that address sexual abuse, reporting channels, personal data protection and the prevention of money laundering.
Ongoing improvement. Building these standards into strategic planning, with regular evaluation.

The commitment ties leaders' accountability to practices that can be documented and evaluated, both within each organization and toward members, donors and the wider public.
Protecting people as well as resources
The fourth principle places the protection of people alongside responsibility for finances. By committing to codes of ethics on sexual abuse prevention and to clear reporting channels, AEL's member alliances are taking steps to ensure that concerns can be raised and addressed.
Cellammare said the commitment does not suggest that the alliances currently lack transparency. Instead, it reflects a desire to keep improving how they are managed and how they serve.
Support for national alliances
AEL expects each member body to move forward from where it currently stands. To support the process, AEL will provide a digital document registry, free advice from technical experts and document templates adapted to each country.
The commitment has already been sent to the presidents of all member alliances so they can begin implementing it. AEL also encourages denominations, independent churches and partner organizations to adopt the principles as a model.
AEL's next General Assembly is scheduled for Oct. 11-15, 2027, in Lima, Peru. By then the progress on the Costa Rica Commitment is expected to be reviewed.
Original reporting by Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Singapore Statement calls Majority World missions to greater self-reliance and South-South partnership]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/singapore-statement-calls-majority-world-missions-to-greater-self-reliance-and-south-south-partnership</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/singapore-statement-calls-majority-world-missions-to-greater-self-reliance-and-south-south-partnership</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/55/5508.jpg">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Mission leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America gathered in Singapore Oct. 5-7 for COALA 4.0 to discuss sustainability, missionary training and South-South collaboration.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Courtesy of COALA ]]>
                                </media:credit>
                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Mission leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America gathered in Singapore Oct. 5-7 for COALA 4.0 to discuss sustainability, missionary training and South-South collaboration. ]]>
                                </media:description>
                                                    </media:content>
                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2026 12:28:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Mission leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America have called on churches and mission movements in the Majority World to build locally sustained mission and reduce their reliance on foreign funding, approval and training models.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Mission leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America have called on churches and mission movements in the Majority World to build locally sustained mission and reduce their reliance on foreign funding, approval and training models. The call came in a statement released after COALA 4.0, the network's fourth major gathering, held in Singapore.
The Singapore Statement, issued by COALA (Christ Over Asia, Latin America and Africa) following its Oct. 5-7 meeting, sets out definitions and principles for three areas: sustainability, missionary training and South-South collaboration.
The gathering also produced four memorandums of understanding between mission bodies, the launch of four focus groups and a decision to hold regional rather than global meetings in 2027.
According to a communique released with the statement, 76 participants from 25 Majority World countries attended, along with 24 local leaders from Singapore. The Singapore Centre for Global Missions (SCGM) hosted the event under the theme "Sustainability and Training of Majority World missions."
Statement addresses reliance on outside support
The statement's preamble says many Majority World mission leaders were trained in the West or still rely on regular Western financial and institutional support. While expressing gratitude for past contributions, it says this legacy, unless changed beyond "token acts and words," sustains "unequal influence and power" by Western organizations over churches and mission movements in the Majority World.
Its response is a call for what it terms polyphonic and polycentric mission, built on mutual resourcing and "horizontal accountability" among Majority World movements. The document also affirms partnerships between South and North, which it says call for mutual humility, reciprocity and careful attention.
On sustainability, the statement defines the goal as ministries that are locally led, resourced and multiplied, without critical dependency on foreign support. One of its seven principles calls on Majority World movements to move away from systemic reliance on regular foreign funding, structural approval and control, while remaining open to gifts from other regions. It lists local church support, bi-vocational work and business-based models among possible paths, and calls for younger leaders to be freed from "stifling scarcity mindsets" and traditional power structures.
The training section places missional obedience, spiritual formation and discernment above academic achievement. It encourages training programs to move away from seeking Western validation in certification and branding, while also building credible platforms marked by "excellence, integrity and faithfulness to the Scriptures."
On South-South collaboration, the document cautions Majority World networks against reproducing patron-client patterns in their own relationships. It says participants hope to see joint field projects grow out of COALA relationships.
Four agreements signed on final day
Four memorandums of understanding were signed on Oct. 7, the last day of the gathering. SCGM signed agreements with ALUSIA, the Indonesian Alliance for World Mission, and with another mission organization. The Korea World Missions Association (KWMA) also signed with ALUSIA.
A fourth, multilateral agreement brought together SCGM, KWMA, ALUSIA, the Movement for African National Initiatives (MANI) and another mission organization. Paul Noh, COALA's international secretary, told participants that practical projects under the agreements would begin. He said KWMA had offered to introduce missionaries coming to South Korea to local churches and organizations, and that SCGM planned to hold annual meetings with regional mission leaders in Southeast Asia.
The agreements follow the first COALA-linked memorandum, signed in 2025 between the Latin American mission movement COMIBAM and an Asian mission group, which Christian Daily International reported after the Panama gathering.
In comments following the Singapore meeting, Jonas Kang, COALA's chairman and general secretary of KWMA, described the approach behind such agreements as "local-led partnership mission." Under the model, a member organization in the receiving country hosts missionaries sent by another member, helping with ministry placement and care. Kang said the missionary's task is to work with the local church rather than for a personal ministry or the sending church.
He said the model also answers a financial problem facing churches in the Global South, which often cannot fund schools, hospitals or development projects abroad. Mission needs money, Kang said, but money "is not the center of world mission."
Regional gatherings and focus groups
Noh announced that COALA will not hold a global gathering in 2027 and will instead move to regional and national meetings to widen participation by church and mission leaders. The communique lists three for next year: Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sept. 23-24, hosted by ALUSIA; Fiji on Nov. 10-12, hosted by Mission Interlink New Zealand; and Taipei, Taiwan, on Nov. 17-19, hosted by the Global Chinese Missions Association.
The four focus groups launched at the gathering will address South-South partnership, diaspora communities as agents of mission, local church ownership and cultural sensitivity, and the leadership of women and the next generation.
Manik Corea, who leads SCGM, described the network's purpose after the gathering. "We are learning how to work across the diversity of the Majority World to bring us together, to collaborate, to reflect, and to act in ways that we believe God is calling us to do together with him, to be under him, to be charged by him, filled by him, empowered by him to do global missions to the ends of the earth and to do it together," he said.
Peter Oyugi of MANI said COALA gives African mission leaders a place to build friendships with counterparts in Latin America and Asia. He expressed hope that it would mark the start of a movement of missionaries sent from Africa "not just within Africa, but even into the other continents."
Allan Matamoros, a Costa Rican who serves with COMIBAM from Spain, said Latin America once depended on the Western church to understand ministry among other religious groups. "In the past, we used to be a missions field, but then we began to pray to become a missions force," he said.
Speakers address training and partnership
Plenary sessions explored the gathering's themes in depth. Patrick Fung of OMF International, who gave the opening address, said missionary training over the past century had been shaped largely by Western philosophy, theology and missiology, even as the center of global Christianity has moved south.
"We must present a global Christ, not a Western Christ," Fung said in comments on the sidelines of the gathering. He proposed that trainers from the Majority World share ideas through regular online meetings, exchange trainers across regions and convene a consultation of trainers within the next one to two years.
In the plenary sessions, Oyugi spoke on sustainability and partnership, comparing mission work to scaffolding that should be removed once a building can stand. Corea argued for bringing churches, mission agencies and the marketplace together, saying the three have often worked in separate spheres and that mission should involve every believer rather than be left to missionaries alone.
Alongside the plenaries, the program featured case studies, a panel discussion and table discussions on sustainability, training and South-South collaboration.
From Bangkok to Singapore
COALA was formed in 2023 in South Korea as a network of national and regional Majority World mission movements. Its second gathering, in Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2024, produced recommendations for mission practice in the Majority World, which about 100 leaders reviewed at COALA 2.5 in Busan, South Korea, later that year.
At COALA 3.0 in Panama in April 2025, participants issued the Panama Partnership Statement and a Statement of Our Common Faith, defining COALA as "a network of regional and national majority world mission movements." A further session was held alongside the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Seoul in October 2025.
In his opening address in Singapore, Fung said COALA does not aim to set a Majority World Christianity apart from the rest of the Church, but to foster "a truly global Christianity" in which churches from every region work together. "Independence should never be the goal," he said. "The goal should be interdependence."
The full text of the COALA 4.0 Singapore Statement follows:
COALA 4.0 Singapore Statement
A. Preamble
We live in an era of great change with many challenges and disruption. At the same time, the gospel is going forth in the power of God’s Spirit with purpose, greater measure and speed in the nations of the Majority World (MW) like never before. Despite the rise of persecution in parts of the MW, and myriad other challenges including endemic poverty, corruption, poor leadership, the rise of geo-political conflict, environmental disasters and economic uncertainty amidst the rush of technological-driven changes, God continues to be on unstoppable mission to redeem a people for Himself, to His eternal glory.
In His sovereign grace and work, the COALA network was formed in 2023 in South Korea as a network of national and regional MW mission movements. COALA was founded on, and continues to thrive on friendship. Jesus called us His friends who do what He says (John 15:14-15). As brothers and sisters in Christ in a global family, we recognise that His gift of friendship includes each other, and calls us to value the insights and gifts that each brings to share at His table, across age, gender and ethnicity.
COALA then seeks to brings together MW mission leaders to reflect, listen, and act together — affirming that global missions today must move beyond Christendom and Western-centred paradigms toward truly global missions, where multiple regions share equal responsibility, voice, and leadership in God’s mission.
Furthermore, we recognize that historically—and continuing into the present—many MW mission leaders have received theological training in the West and/or remain reliant on regular financial and institutional support from Western sources. While acknowledging with gratitude past contributions, this legacy if not critically altered beyond token acts and words, maintains unequal influence and power of Western organisations and leadership over churches and mission movements in the MW. Rather, what is needed is the cultivating of deep, mutually transformative partnerships within the MW and beyond.
We affirm that true polyphonic and polycentric mission requires MW movements to break free from these patterns of dependency, intentionally nurturing robust South-South collaboration, mutual resourcing, and horizontal accountability across the MW. Furthermore, South-North partnerships require mutual humility, reciprocity and careful tending.
B. Declaration
Emboldened by the Word of God, strong fellowship in the Spirit, and a posture of humility, encouragement and expectation, 100 MW leaders met in Singapore from October 5-7, 2026 for COALA 4.0, the fourth dedicated annual gathering of MW leaders in the COALA network.
C. Resolutions
COALA 4.0 featured presentation in the form of plenaries, case-studies and table discussions around the key themes of Sustainability, Training, and South-South Collaboration in MW missions.
Definition for Sustainability:
The development of Christian missions, ministries and churches that are locally led, resourced and multiplied, ensuring long-term viability without critical dependency on foreign support, but reliant fundamentally on the provision of God through the gifts, stewardship, service, generousity and supernatural faith of God’s people as He leads them.
Principles for Creating long-term locally-sustainable MW missions:

Divine Initiative and Ownership: The Mission of God is initiated, sustained and directed by our all-sufficient triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who is actively on mission in the world. We are authorized by our Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord of heaven and earth to go to all places and all people to make disciples, accompanied by His presence and power (Matthew 28:18-20).
Stewardship of Creation: God is the ultimate owner of all things that he has created, and calls us to be stewards of our lives, times, possessions, and environment for His glory and purposes.
Sufficient Provision: God will richly provide all that is necessary for God’s people to participate and bring forward God’s mission in the world.
Sacrificial Local Leadership: We are called to participate sacrificially, wisely and creatively not only to support God’s mission, but to help build sustainable mission initiatives that are ultimately locally led and provided for.
Diverse Sustainable Models: There are many ways to build sustainable models for MW missions, whether through local church support, partnerships, collections, bi-vocational work, business-supporting models or at times, trusting God to provide supernaturally.
Next Generation: The encouragement and involvement of young, emerging leadership in developing new, sustainable forms of missions for a new day and age must be a priority in the MW, helping to move them beyond the constraints of stifling scarcity mindsets and traditional power structures that often render young people powerless. Jesus sets us free by His truth to participate in His expansive mission.
Autonomy from Foreign Dependency: MW movements must actively break away from systemic reliance on regular foreign financial funding, structural approval and control. Sustainability is realized when MW churches and agencies rely primarily on God's provision within their own regions while remaining open to gifts from other regions prompted by God’s direction in recognition of God’s sovereign work and greater Kingdom purposes in the world.

Definition for Training:
The intentional process of calling, equipping and maturing disciples of Jesus for local and cross-cultural missions, focusing on spiritual formation; biblical and missiological grounding; cross-cultural, interpersonal and intergenerational competency; and practical skill acquisition. These can occur in differing ways and modes, but priority must be given for more reflective, adaptive, practical-based contextual training and mentoring as the norm for MW missions.
Principles for effective training for MW missions:

Missional Obedience over Intellectual Acquisition: Knowledge acquisition and intellectual competence is not the goal of effective MW training. Worship, formation and discernment that fuels missional vision and obedience is.
Relational and Embodied Discipleship: Discipleship in the way of Jesus through contextual and reproducible training methods must be both caught and taught through relational communities and wise mentoring. Classroom learning must be coupled with embodied ministry.
Contextual Theological Grounding: Theological training must address the unique cultural, economic, and spiritual realities of the host context, rather than simply presenting the theological and historical perspectives and systems of Western theological thought and abstractions.
Spirit-Empowered Practice: It must exhibit a high view of Scripture alongside a robust, practical expectation and leaning on the work of the Holy Spirit.
Holistic Integration: Ultimately, MW training will be in favour of in-context, obedience-based training rather than abstracted, knowledge-centric teaching. It will aim for a holistic integration, with structured but flexible training based on outcome-based, contextual standards that unify knowing (grounding in the metanarrative, truth and wisdom of God’s Word), being (spiritual formation into godly character), and doing (missiological engagement and cultural adaptability).
Validated Locally: Training programs in the MW must consciously address and unlearn the subconscious inclination to ascribe greater value, seek validation, persists in patron-client relationships, or accept excessive oversight from Western institutions when it comes to training methods, programmes, certification and branding. At the same time, MW training institutions should aspire and work towards ensuring credible training platforms that function with excellence, integrity and faithfulness to the Scriptures.
Dynamic and Adaptive Learning: Mission training - both formal and informal - must be highly relational and relevant in form and substance. Whether long- or short-term, they should utilise multi-disciplinary approaches that are inductive and integrated, fit for understanding complex settings, for developing intercultural insights, mobilising grassroots assets and building resilient missional engagements.

Definition for South-South Collaboration:
The intentional, reciprocal, and strategic networking of MW churches, agencies, and leaders to share wisdom, personnel, technology, and financial resources across the MW—fostering interdependent partnerships that advance the gospel without requiring foreign mediation or endorsement.
Principles for South-South Collaboration:

Mutual Recognition and Validation: MW leaders and movements must intentionally honour, learn from, and celebrate the gifts, strategies, and theological reflections originating within other MW contexts, treating one another as primary co-workers in global mission.
Relational Reciprocity over Patronage: Collaboration within the MW must be built on trust, humility, and mutual accountability, resisting the replication of foreign patron-client dynamics within MW networks.
Collective Resourcing: MW movements commit to sharing knowledge, training platforms, cross-cultural experience, and indigenous financial support across regional borders, proving that the MW possesses sufficient grace and gifts given by God to participate fully in God’s mission.
Tangible On-field Outcomes: We aspire to see on field collaborative projects arising out of COALA partnerships and friendships.
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                <title><![CDATA[Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition, joins Latin Evangelical Alliance]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/diario-cristiano-christian-daily-international-s-spanish-edition-joins-latin-evangelical-alliance</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/diario-cristiano-christian-daily-international-s-spanish-edition-joins-latin-evangelical-alliance</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Diario Cristiano’s Latin America editor, Javier Bolaños (left), shakes hands with Latin Evangelical Alliance President Juan Cruz Cellamare following an interview on the sidelines of AEL’s 13th General Assembly in San José, Costa Rica, in October 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano / CDI ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano’s Latin America editor, Javier Bolaños (left), shakes hands with Latin Evangelical Alliance President Juan Cruz Cellamare following an interview on the sidelines of AEL’s 13th General Assembly in San José, Costa Rica, in October 2026. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2026 09:48:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Diario Cristiano, the Spanish-language edition of Christian Daily International, has become an associate member of the Latin Evangelical Alliance, a regional body that unites national evangelical alliances in 22 countries representing more than 465,200 local churches, CDI announced.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Diario Cristiano, the Spanish-language edition of Christian Daily International, has become an associate member of the Latin Evangelical Alliance, a regional body that unites national evangelical alliances in 22 countries representing more than 465,200 local churches, CDI announced.
The alliance, known by its Spanish name Alianza Evangélica Latina, or AEL, formally welcomed the outlet at its General Assembly, held Oct. 12-16 in San José, Costa Rica. Diario Cristiano presented its work to the presidents of the national alliances and was given full access to report from the gathering and conduct interviews.
Membership gives the newsroom direct contact with alliance leaders and church networks in every member country, according to CDI. The outlet's staff will also work with two of the alliance's commissions and offer training for church communicators.
AEL President Juan Cruz Cellamare and the alliance's executive board backed the application. CDI said alliance leaders pointed to the need for a professional, independent Christian news source, grounded in Scripture, to cover the work of churches in the region.
“Our partnership with professional media outlets like yours, which can help spread the word, is very important to us,” Cellamare said, addressing Diario Cristiano.
“The Church does so many things that often go unreported. You’re here to share them,” he said. “We’ll try to provide you with the content you need, and we’ll work together.”
Javier Bolaños, CDI's Latin America editor, described the membership as "both an honor and a profound responsibility" for his team.
"The church in Ibero-America is vibrant, resilient and actively transforming society, yet many of its most inspiring stories and critical challenges never reach the broader public," he said.
Working alongside local leaders, Bolaños said, would allow Diario Cristiano to offer "rigorous, biblical journalism" and carry the voice of Spanish-speaking churches to a global audience.
According to the announcement, Diario Cristiano applied in order to link its newsroom, which is supported by the wider CDI organization, with the main institutional body representing evangelicals in Ibero-America.
Under the arrangement, the outlet will cooperate with AEL's communications commission and its religious freedom commission. Its staff will lead workshops on ethical journalism, digital communication and the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
AEL is one of the regional member bodies of the World Evangelical Alliance. Its own members are national evangelical alliances in the Americas and Europe, among them Hispanic evangelical alliances in the United States and Spain. Other AEL commissions address family, children and social transformation.
Gordon Showell-Rogers, CDI's international director, linked the decision to the publication's emphasis on Christian unity.
"Given CDI's commitment to Christian unity, we are always happy to identify with platforms whose express aim is to promote and encourage that unity," he said.
Showell-Rogers called the membership "one visible way" of affirming that commitment among evangelical believers, churches and agencies worldwide.
"We welcome this development and pray that it might contribute helpfully to the extension of the Kingdom of God and the growth of the Church across Latin America," he said.
Christian Daily International publishes news and commentary from every region, with a focus on religious freedom and other issues facing the global church. It currently operates English, Spanish and French editions.
Editor's note: This article was produced by Christian Daily International and concerns the publication's own Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Christian Daily International’s Spanish edition, Diario Cristiano, joins Latin Evangelical Alliance]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/christian-daily-internationals-spanish-edition-diario-cristiano-joins-latin-evangelical-alliance</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/christian-daily-internationals-spanish-edition-diario-cristiano-joins-latin-evangelical-alliance</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Communications]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Diario Cristiano’s Latin America editor, Javier Bolaños (left), shakes hands with Latin Evangelical Alliance President Juan Cruz Cellamare following an interview on the sidelines of AEL’s 13th General Assembly in San José, Costa Rica, in October 2026.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano / CDI ]]>
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                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano’s Latin America editor, Javier Bolaños (left), shakes hands with Latin Evangelical Alliance President Juan Cruz Cellamare following an interview on the sidelines of AEL’s 13th General Assembly in San José, Costa Rica, in October 2026. ]]>
                                </media:description>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2026 06:31:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Diario Cristiano, the Spanish-language edition of Christian Daily International, has been accepted as an Associate Member of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (Alianza Evangélica Latina, AEL), the regional body representing evangelical Christians across Ibero-America.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Diario Cristiano, the Spanish-language edition of Christian Daily International, has been accepted as an Associate Member of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (Alianza Evangélica Latina, AEL), the regional body representing evangelical Christians across Ibero-America.
AEL President Juan Cruz Cellamare and the alliance’s Executive Board endorsed the application, citing the need for a professional, independent and biblically grounded Christian news outlet to report on the work of churches across the region.
Diario Cristiano was officially welcomed at AEL’s 13th General Assembly, held Oct. 12–16 in San José, Costa Rica, where it was given a presentation segment before the presidents of the national alliances and full access for on-site interviews and coverage.
“Our partnership with professional media outlets like yours, which can help spread the word, is very important to us,” Cellamare said, addressing Diario Cristiano. “The Church does so many things that often go unreported. You’re here to share them. We’ll try to provide you with the content you need, and we’ll work together. Welcome!”
AEL unites the national evangelical alliances of 22 nations in the Americas and Europe, including Hispanic evangelical alliances in the United States and Spain. Through its members, it represents more than 465,200 local churches. The alliance works through specialized commissions on communications, religious freedom, family, children and social transformation.
“For our editorial team across Latin America, joining the Latin Evangelical Alliance as an Associate Member is both an honor and a profound responsibility,” said Javier Bolaños, CDI’s Latin America editor. “The church in Ibero-America is vibrant, resilient, and actively transforming society, yet many of its most inspiring stories and critical challenges never reach the broader public. Partnering with AEL allows us to be on the ground alongside local leaders, providing rigorous, biblical journalism that informs, edifies, and amplifies the voice of the Spanish-speaking Church on a global scale.”
Diario Cristiano applied for membership to align its globally backed newsroom with the primary institutional voice of the evangelical church in Ibero-America, and to place its journalism at the service of the wider church with in-depth reporting rooted in truth, integrity and grace.
The membership gives Diario Cristiano direct lines of communication with alliance leaders and local church networks in all 22 countries, providing first-hand access to stories, official statements and regional developments. The outlet’s team will work with AEL’s Commission of Communications and Commission of Religious Freedom, and will lead workshops for church communicators on ethical journalism, digital communication and the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
Gordon Showell-Rogers, CDI’s international director, said the step reflects the publication’s wider commitment to Christian unity.
“Given CDI’s commitment to Christian unity, we are always happy to identify with platforms whose express aim is to promote and encourage that unity,” he said. “Our Spanish edition’s acceptance into membership of the Latin Evangelical Alliance is one visible way of affirming our commitment to the unity of evangelical believers, Churches and agencies around the world. We welcome this development and pray that it might contribute helpfully to the extension of the Kingdom of God and the growth of the Church across Latin America.”
About Christian Daily International
Christian Daily International provides biblical, factual and personal news, stories and perspectives from every region, focusing on religious freedom, integrated gospel and other issues that are relevant to the global Church today. Its current editions include English, Spanish (Diario Cristiano) and French.
About the Latin Evangelical Alliance
The Latin Evangelical Alliance (Alianza Evangélica Latina) is the regional representative body for evangelical Christians across Ibero-America, uniting national evangelical alliances in 22 nations and representing more than 465,200 local churches.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Brazilian Marine Corps recruits baptized in Brasília]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/brazilian-marine-corps-recruits-baptized-in-brasilia</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/brazilian-marine-corps-recruits-baptized-in-brasilia</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Diario Cristiano]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[At least 35 men were baptized at Brasília Air Base.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Screenshot from an Instagram video ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ At least 35 men were baptized at Brasília Air Base. ]]>
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                                                                                                                        <pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:54:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Thirty-five Brazilian Marine Corps recruits were baptized on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Brasília Air Base. According to an Instagram post, the ceremony took place in a swimming pool and was led by three military chaplains representing different branches of the armed forces.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Thirty-five Brazilian Marine Corps recruits were baptized on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Brasília Air Base. According to an Instagram post, the ceremony took place in a swimming pool and was led by three military chaplains representing different branches of the armed forces.
The ceremony was led by pastors Claudio Britto, of the Brazilian Air Force; Manassés, of the Army; and Sylmar, of the Navy. Britto shared a video of the event on Instagram, highlighting the joint participation of representatives from all three branches.
During the ceremony, the recruits publicly professed their Christian faith before being baptized by immersion. The event also included a time of worship and expressions of joy among the participants.
The young men are undergoing training to become members of Brazil’s Marine Corps, known as the Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais. According to official Navy information, the training lasts 17 weeks and is conducted on a residential basis. It takes place at the Admiral Milcíades Portela Alves Instruction Center in Rio de Janeiro and the Brasília Training and Instruction Center. The Marine Corps prepares for amphibious operations and also participates in peacekeeping missions and humanitarian assistance.
The Brazilian Air Force provides religious support to military personnel and their families. In a March 2026 publication, the service explained that its activities include religious services, pastoral counseling, baptisms and support for personnel and their families. The institution also noted that its Religious Assistance Service operates in 26 military garrisons across the country.

Original reporting by Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Lula wins fourth term in Brazil as Flávio Bolsonaro rejects runoff result]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/lula-wins-fourth-term-in-brazil-as-flavio-bolsonaro-rejects-runoff-result</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/lula-wins-fourth-term-in-brazil-as-flavio-bolsonaro-rejects-runoff-result</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, incumbent president of Brazil and presidential candidate for Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) waves a Brazil flag during a rally ahead of the presidential runoff at Avenida Paulista on October 24, 2026 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, incumbent president of Brazil and presidential candidate for Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) waves a Brazil flag during a rally ahead of the presidential runoff at Avenida Paulista on October 24, 2026 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Lula defeated Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro in the Oct. 25 runoff with 51.79% of the valid votes to win a fourth term. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2026 07:05:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, won a fourth term Sunday, defeating Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, in a runoff his opponent refused to accept.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, won a fourth term Sunday, defeating Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, 45, in a runoff his opponent refused to accept. Lula won 51.79% of the valid votes to 48.21%, according to the final count from Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
Flávio Bolsonaro said late Sunday in Brasília that he would not recognize the result and would seek to annul the runoff. "It is impossible to recognize the result," he said, criticizing the extension of voting hours at polling stations. His supporters say the extension benefited Lula, ABC+ reported.
Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Cristiano Zanin extended voting by two hours, to 7 p.m. Brasília time. Lula's coalition had asked for the extension, citing reduced bus service and failures in free public transportation in several states. Zanin later clarified that the extension applied only to polling stations still open when he issued the order, Mix Vale reported. Stations that had already closed did not reopen.
Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign had also asked the electoral court for a two-hour extension, citing heavy rain, flooding and power outages at polling places in Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul.
No Brazilian presidential election has been annulled since the country's return to democracy, The New York Times reported. In 2014, the losing party requested an audit, which found no evidence of fraud. In 2022, Flávio Bolsonaro's Liberal Party (PL) challenged his father's loss. The party was fined more than $4 million for failing to provide evidence for its allegations.
Lula received 64,256,232 votes to Flávio Bolsonaro's 59,826,041, a margin of about 4.4 million. Flávio Bolsonaro led the Oct. 4 first round with 47.03% to Lula's 45.16%. It is the first time in Brazil's history that a candidate who lost the first round has won the runoff, Infobae and The Times reported.
Turnout rose between rounds. More than 128 million Brazilians voted Sunday, compared with 125 million in the first round.
Evangelicals shaping both campaigns
Evangelical voters, who represent nearly a third of Brazil's population, were at the center of the contest. Both candidates reshaped their campaigns after the first round to reach faith communities.
The campaign was charged with moral and political tension, and both sides fervently rallied their bases.
Lula, leader of the Workers' Party, centered his message on protecting vulnerable groups. He insisted the contest represented "a defense of democracy" against a possible return of the family of former President Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio Bolsonaro's father.
Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula defeated in 2022, was sentenced last year to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup after that election.
Economic measures in the final stretch
In the weeks before the vote, the government expanded family assistance programs and cut taxes on fuel. Responding to opposition criticism over the cost of living and government spending, Lula said that "change is not depriving people of their rights."
Flávio Bolsonaro and his conservative allies warned that recent measures, such as the reduction of the working week, would drive inflation and hurt employment.
The result confirmed a narrowly divided electorate. Millions of families voiced concern about jobs as well as the ethical and material stability of society.
Security and international relations
Lula's new term promises closer state coordination on public security through a Ministry of Public Security, along with greater investment in intelligence.
For churches and faith communities in the region, pacifying low-income neighborhoods and protecting young people are priorities as crime advances.
Relations with Washington also present challenges following recent trade tensions. Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs and sanctions on Brazil in connection with Jair Bolsonaro's prosecution.
The contest for the faith vote
After the first round, both candidates retooled their message to faith communities. In the weeks before the runoff, they stepped up efforts to connect with the values, fears and aspirations of believers across the country.
Flávio Bolsonaro sought to shore up conservative support through his security plan, "Brasil sem medo" ("Brazil Without Fear"). It combined a tough-on-crime approach to organized crime with an explicit defense of religious freedom and traditional family values.
The pitch drew on churches' deep concern over violence in the urban outskirts. It presented itself as a moral bulwark against secularism and leaned on the long-standing bond between Bolsonarism and prominent pastors.
The PT, for its part, tried to overcome long-standing mistrust with letters and statements addressed directly to Christian congregations. Lula stressed commitments to freedom of worship, human dignity and the fight against extreme poverty. He said social justice and care for the most vulnerable are ethical mandates shared with the Gospel.
Significant sectors remained skeptical of the left on doctrinal grounds. But the approach reached grassroots voters who prioritize jobs and food assistance.
The result leaves Christian leaders with the task of healing rifts caused by partisan polarization. Pastors and theologians in Brazil say the church's mission goes beyond election cycles. They describe it as keeping a prophetic voice independent of whoever holds power, prioritizing reconciliation in communities and remaining a place of spiritual refuge and social service.
Includes reporting by Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Evangelical leader urges Honduran lawmakers to defend Constitution, avoid broken promises]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-leader-urges-honduran-lawmakers-to-defend-constitution-avoid-broken-promises</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-leader-urges-honduran-lawmakers-to-defend-constitution-avoid-broken-promises</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Lizzie Sotola]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Pastor Gerardo Irías, president of the Evangelical Confraternity of Honduras (CEH).]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Social media ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Pastor Gerardo Irías, president of the Evangelical Confraternity of Honduras (CEH). ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2026 18:54:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The president of the Evangelical Confraternity of Honduras (CEH), Pastor Gerardo Irías, urged lawmakers across party lines on Wednesday, Oct. 21, to defend the Constitution, acknowledge their mistakes and avoid promises they cannot keep.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The president of the Evangelical Confraternity of Honduras (CEH), Pastor Gerardo Irías, urged lawmakers across party lines on Wednesday, Oct. 21, to defend the Constitution, acknowledge their mistakes and avoid promises they cannot keep.
Irías spoke at the National Congress during the weekly meeting of the Legislative Prayer Group, attended by legislators, employees and staff, according to a report by La Tribuna.
His message is the latest call from Honduran evangelical leaders for integrity in public office. It comes as Congress has opened several channels of cooperation with churches, including regular prayer gatherings and free airtime on its television channel.
Defending the Constitution was central to his address, a point the National Congress’ official portal also stressed when announcing the gathering.
Irías pointed to the apostle Peter as an example of repentance and a willingness to change one’s conduct. He noted that Jesus’ disciple made mistakes but acknowledged his failings, and he applied that lesson to those who hold public office.
His main appeal was for lawmakers to examine their own conduct before pointing out the mistakes of others. He asked them to acknowledge what they need to correct and to avoid hasty commitments, given the public’s weariness with broken promises.
He said the same responsibility applies to fathers, mothers and employers, but he directed his warning especially at those who govern. He also urged legislators to act with authenticity and to keep their conduct consistent with what they claim to represent.
Irías said the evangelical church is willing to work alongside the legislature, but he tied that collaboration to respect for the laws and for the Word of God.
Those present included Congress President Tomás Zambrano; Yohana Estrada de Zambrano, director of Congress’ Office of Social Action and Hope; and lawmakers from the National, Liberal, Liberty and Refoundation (Libre), and Innovation and Unity–Social Democrat (PINU-SD) parties. Irías presented Bibles to the legislators during the event.
On Feb. 2, the Tegucigalpa Pastors Association issued a statement that also carried a call from the Evangelical Confraternity. It asked Congress to elect the solicitor general and deputy solicitor general with ethics, responsibility and commitment to the common good.
The statement said public trust requires decisions bound by the law and by ethical principles that hold regardless of the political context. “What was wrong yesterday is still wrong today,” it said. It also pledged that the church would pray for those who make decisions on behalf of Hondurans.
Congress and the churches
In August, Congress reported on a gathering where lawmakers from various caucuses asked for divine guidance and for parliamentary work focused on the well-being of the population.
In May, Zambrano signed agreements with representatives of the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Confraternity, the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International and organizations of Honduran migrants in the United States to offer free airtime on Congress’ television channel. According to official information, the airtime would allow the broadcast of religious programs, messages of faith and content aimed at strengthening values and social unity.
Original reporting by Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Veteran missions leader Daniel Bianchi to lead Arise Latin America]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/veteran-missions-leader-daniel-bianchi-to-lead-arise-latin-america</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/veteran-missions-leader-daniel-bianchi-to-lead-arise-latin-america</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Daniel Bianchi, left, and Rev. Dr. David Ro in a photo Ro shared Oct. 20 announcing Bianchi as director of Arise Latin America.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ David Ro / Facebook ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Daniel Bianchi, left, and Rev. Dr. David Ro in a photo Ro shared Oct. 20 announcing Bianchi as director of Arise Latin America. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:43:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Daniel Bianchi, who has served as the Lausanne Movement's regional director for Latin America since 2017, has been appointed director of Arise Latin America, carrying into the region a youth missions movement that held its largest congress to date in Manila, Philippines, in July.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Daniel Bianchi, who has served as the Lausanne Movement's regional director for Latin America since 2017, has been appointed director of Arise Latin America, carrying into the region a youth missions movement that held its largest congress to date in Manila, Philippines, in July.
Rev. Dr. David Ro, co-founder and executive director of Arise Asia, announced in a social media post on Oct. 20 that Bianchi had accepted the position. Bianchi will carry into Latin America the work Arise has done across Asia, where it has mobilized young Christians to serve as cross-cultural missionaries.
The appointment follows plans Ro outlined to Christian Daily International after the Arise Asia 2026 Congress.
At the time, he said the movement intended to expand into Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and Central Asia, and that talks with local leaders in those regions were already underway.
Decades in Latin American missions
Bianchi's background spans several of the region's main missions networks. He became a Christian in Buenos Aires in the late 1970s and later joined Operation Mobilization, known as OM International, serving with its ship Doulos in Europe. Ro's post says he went on to direct OM's work in Argentina.
He later led the missions department of the Argentine Baptist Convention and founded the Agencia Misionera Internacional, a mission sending agency. He also served as a vice president of COMIBAM International, a cooperative network of missions bodies across Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries.
In 2014, Bianchi founded Conexión Oriental, which Ro described as linking Latin American churches with persecuted Christians and mission partners in the Middle East and East Asia. He holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from a theological school in Londrina, Brazil.
Ro and Bianchi served at the same time as Lausanne regional directors for eight years, Ro for East Asia and Bianchi for Latin America. Both worked on preparations for the Fourth Lausanne Congress, held in South Korea in 2024.
From mission field to mission force
Bianchi takes up the role in a region that has spent decades building its own sending movement. At COMIBAM's first continental congress, held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1987, participants adopted the motto "from a mission field to a mission force," COMIBAM associate director Allan Matamoros told CDI in 2025.
The network now links training centers, mission agencies and local churches in 25 countries, CDI reported. An estimated 30,000 Ibero-American missionaries serve cross-culturally in more than 200 countries and territories.
Matamoros, a Costa Rican who served for more than two decades in the Muslim world, said Latin American missionaries often connect well in Muslim communities and in India, where extended family and close community carry weight. He said they may have less money than Western counterparts but "bring trust, joy, and a way of living" that fits many of the cultures they serve.
Focus on younger generations
Arise Latin America will focus on Generation Z and Generation Alpha, the age groups born from roughly the late 1990s onward, Ro wrote. He said he and Bianchi believe God can raise up a new generation of missionaries from among them.
Its mission, he said, is to challenge young people to "go where there is no gospel," a phrase drawn from Romans 15:20. Its motivation comes from Hebrews 12:1–2, the passage behind the "For the Joy" theme of the Manila congress, and its aim from Acts 20:24, in which the Apostle Paul speaks of finishing the task given to him.
Ro wrote that he hopes to see young people "willing to live sacrificially," crossing cultures so that people who have never heard of Jesus can hear the gospel.
Challenging places will bring forth future missionaries
The Arise Asia 2026 Congress met July 27–31 at Christ's Commission Fellowship Central in Manila. CDI reported that more than 4,000 young leaders from 64 countries attended and that 341 people came forward to commit to long-term cross-cultural mission.
Speaking to CDI after the closing session, Ro said he expects a growing share of future missionaries to come from places marked by conflict, poverty and persecution.
"Those challenging places will actually raise up people to go to challenging places," he said.
Ro also said the next Asia-wide Arise gathering is planned in three years. ]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Evangelical alliance leaders, Costa Rican lawmakers discuss Christian influence on public policy]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-alliance-leaders-costa-rican-lawmakers-discuss-christian-influence-on-public-policy</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelical-alliance-leaders-costa-rican-lawmakers-discuss-christian-influence-on-public-policy</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Javier Bolaños]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Evangelical alliance leaders meet Christian lawmakers at Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano / CDI ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Evangelical alliance leaders meet Christian lawmakers at Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2026 20:25:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Presidents of evangelical alliances from across Ibero-America met with Christian lawmakers at Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (Oct. 14) to discuss how evangelicals can shape public policy without bringing partisan politics into the pulpit.]]></description>
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Presidents of evangelical alliances from across Ibero-America met with Christian lawmakers at Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly on Wednesday (Oct. 14) to discuss how evangelicals can shape public policy without bringing partisan politics into the pulpit.
The forum, titled "Called to Govern," took place in the assembly's Hall of Former Presidents during the 13th General Assembly of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL), which concluded in San José on Friday. Leaders of the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance Federation (FAEC) and the organization Foro Mi País also took part.
Speakers discussed the history of evangelical political participation in the region, cases before electoral and constitutional courts, legislative reforms in defense of life and the need to train Christian professionals for public service. A Costa Rican pastor described written commitments to Christian values signed by the country's president, and recounted being sanctioned by the electoral tribunal over his political work.
The day began with a video address by evangelist and international speaker Alberto Mottesi, who offered a sociological and theological analysis of the growth of the evangelical church in the region and its limited impact on the structures of the nations.
Citing the work of political scientist Samuel Huntington on the factors of cultural transformation in Latin America, Mottesi pointed to the growth of the evangelical movement. He described it through three current theological concepts that he said are setting the course of the continent: revival, reformation and renaissance.
"When I began in ministry, we had the idea that many converted people in a nation were going to transform that nation. And there are countries in Latin America where 50%, without exaggeration, declare themselves evangelical Christians, but we have not seen that transformation. In fact, I firmly believe that we have the most numerous church in history worldwide — not only in Latin America — but at the same time the one with the least social, political and economic influence in all of history," Mottesi said.
A comprehensive vision beyond a single issue
Mottesi said the lack of impact stems from the absence of deep structural changes in society. Although the defense of life has been the main focus of new Christian politicians on the continent, he said, legislation must cover all areas of public life.
"Lately, the new politicians of Christian faith who burst onto the life of their nations raised the pro-life banner; but pro-life is not enough. It is extremely important, but it does not go far enough. We need to carry God's thoughts, God's plans, into every sphere of life. When we look at the Holy Scriptures through these lenses, we discover that God speaks about every detail of life, including politics and government," he said.
He also set out his position on secularism and the role of the state with regard to faith.
"I agree with the separation of church and state or nation, but it is impossible to separate a nation from the source of life, the eternal Creator. We can and must separate the church as it is, an institution, from the government of a nation; but we cannot, must not, and do not have permission to separate a nation from God."
Historical context and political agreements of the evangelical sector in Costa Rica
FAEC President Pastor Ronald Vargas welcomed the international delegations and described the national church's coordinated efforts to have influence beyond church buildings.
"A church cannot be totally isolated from what happens in its communities. The Word says that we are salt and that we are light, and as such we cannot be holding our events within four walls; rather, we have to be part of everything that has to do with the country," Vargas said.
He then gave the floor to Pastor Reinaldo Salazar, director of the Foro Mi País project and pastor of Templo Bíblico.
Salazar gave a broad overview of the Protestant presence in Costa Rica from independence in 1821 to the present. He divided it into stages, from religious intolerance and persecution in the 19th century to the founding of the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance in June 1950 and the emergence of Christian-inspired political parties from the 1980s onward.
"From 1980 until now, we have been forced to enter into politics not because we wanted to be politicians, but because of the whole historical background of persecution, of intolerance. They would not let us into hospitals to see our sheep who were sick; they would not let us into prisons — I am talking about pastors — to attend to particular cases; they would close churches for any reason. So the evangelical sector made the decision to enter politics, and the first evangelical parties emerged," Salazar said.
He noted that the country's first evangelical lawmaker was elected in 1998.
From legislative activism to commitments with the executive branch
Salazar said that in November 2001 he took part in the founding of the Ibero-American Forum for Evangelical Dialogue (FIDE), the predecessor of the AEL, in Caracas. There, he said, he identified a common gap in the region.
"At the lunches and breakfasts with the presidents, I came to discover a common element: that the evangelical sector wanted to make changes through politics. The problem is that we were brandishing an empty scabbard, because in no country was there any concrete project that had a vision of government for a nation," he said.
Salazar said that between 2006 and 2022, under governments of the National Liberation Party (PLN) and the Citizens' Action Party (PAC), the evangelical sector suffered setbacks on sex education policy, the implementation of the technical standard on abortion, and the approval of same-sex marriage following an advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Unable to reverse these measures through Congress alone or through appeals to the Constitutional Chamber, he said, pastoral leaders decided to seek policy agreements with presidential candidates in the 2022 elections.
According to Salazar, after meetings with the presidential hopefuls in 2022, then-candidate Rodrigo Chaves Robles signed a commitment to halt the gender ideology agenda in the education system and to oppose abortion and euthanasia initiatives. Chaves certified in writing in March 2025 that the agreement had been fulfilled, Salazar said.
For the 2026 election cycle, Salazar showed the Latin American delegates the original document signed by President Laura Fernández Delgado, her two vice presidents and the ruling Pueblo Soberano party’s 57 candidates for deputy.
"This letter of commitment, which you have in your booklet, is a letter of Christian values that came from us. The president signed it, the two vice presidents signed it, and the party's 57 candidates for deputy signed it, in which they committed that their entire government during these four years would be on the foundation of these Christian values," Salazar said.
He added that in August the party, which holds 31 seats in the assembly, formally incorporated those principles into its statutes.
Electoral restrictions and inter-American jurisprudence
Salazar also described the legal consequences he faced after he was reported to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) for distributing the booklet on those agreements among pastors.
Article 28 of Costa Rica's Constitution prohibits political propaganda that invokes religious motives. But Salazar said the TSE did not sanction him under that provision. Instead, it argued that his leadership among pastors "enhances his capacity to influence and persuade electoral behavior, which constitutes undue interference in free electoral self-determination."
The Constitutional Chamber, known as the Sala Cuarta, rejected four amparo appeals — petitions for the protection of constitutional rights — on the grounds that the matter fell under the TSE's exclusive jurisdiction. His lawyers proposed taking the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, but Salazar decided to stop the litigation there.
"That's where we stopped everything. That's where I stayed. Why? Because if the Court, which is woke, which is progressive, rules saying, 'Yes, the conviction of that pastor stands,' it's not affecting me: it is going to affect all the pastors on the continent. And so we said, 'No, we are not going to do that,'" Salazar said.
Leadership, character and service from parliamentary seats
Ruling-party lawmaker Gonzalo Ramírez then gave the keynote address, titled "Who decides the future when good leaders do not participate?" Ramírez is a lawyer, a former president of the Legislative Assembly and the author of the book Llamados a gobernar (Called to Govern).
Pointing to an empty chair in the hall, Ramírez reminded the alliance presidents that Costa Rica's parliament is unicameral and has only 57 seats.
"I ask: if Gonzalo had not participated in 2014, and the Christian sector had not participated by supporting Gonzalo, would the seat Gonzalo would have occupied have stayed empty? No! Someone was always going to fill it. Because whether or not you participate does not interest them; what interests them is that their people get in. And if there are no people reaching those places with a right heart, who is going to get there? People with perverse hearts," he said.
Preserving rights and training new generations
Ramírez warned that civil and religious liberties are lost gradually when Christian citizens stay out of decision-making spaces.
"Rights are gained little by little, but rights are also lost little by little," he said.
He said that during a course on civil and religious liberties at the University of Oxford, his own election as president of the Costa Rican Congress was presented as a case study of a public official challenged solely for coming from the evangelical Christian sector.
Ramírez presented a four-pillar framework for public engagement: character as the foundation, influence as the bridge, service as the method and transformation as the goal. He defined transformation as "lasting positive change."
"Leadership does not begin with the privileges of a position, but with the willingness to take on responsibilities that others prefer to avoid," said Ramírez, who urged pastors to prepare the next generation for public service.
"If God called you to be a pastor, blessed be God. But there are others around you whom God may well have called to be in positions of influence. What are you doing to prepare them, equip them, train them and send them? What are we doing so that they go and represent us and take these seats that are not going to stay empty?" he asked.
Constitutional reforms and defense of life in the plenary
Three other Costa Rican lawmakers from the legislative bloc aligned with Christian principles described the bills they are promoting in the Legislative Assembly.
Deputy Kattia Mora described entering public service without a previous political career. She said congregations should encourage their members' academic preparation so they can hold positions of national importance.
"We have already presented proposals for constitutional reform on the issues that matter to the sector: life, family, protection of life. In fact, we presented the reform to Article 21: 'Human life is inviolable.' The one we have now puts a period there; we put a comma, adding: 'from conception to natural death,'" Mora said.
"Politics is not of the devil; politics is an area where we can exert influence with responsibility, with wisdom and with the fear that comes from heaven," she added.
Cindy Murillo, a deputy for Guanacaste province and chair of the International Affairs Committee, spoke about her call to legislative service.
"Four years ago I walked in through those doors, and the first thing I did was look up to heaven and say to him: 'Lord, if it is for me, in four years, if you so will, help me to become a deputy of the Republic to serve you, the Scriptures and the people of Costa Rica.' And God spoke to me, and today I am a deputy of the Republic. That is why I fear God; I serve him, my family and this country," she said.
Deputy Gerald Bogantes, vice president of the National Front for Life (Frente Nacional por la Vida) and a former member of the youth commissions of the AEL and the FAEC, spoke about bills to protect life in the Penal Code and the group's role as a check within Congress.
"Something that really strikes me is that the other deputies who perhaps are not from the evangelical sector notice in us — perhaps a mini-caucus, a mini-group — and they know that here, in these four years, not a single anti-life, anti-family or anti-religious-freedom bill is going to pass, because our convictions give us that clarity," Bogantes said.
The position of the Latin Evangelical Alliance and the World Evangelical Alliance
Closing the presentations, AEL President Pastor Juan Cruz acknowledged the progress described by the Costa Rican delegation. He set out the position the region's evangelical alliances hold on political training and on keeping partisan politics out of churches.
"We always talk with the presidents about reading the times well, understanding the times. And yes, one thing we agree on is forming people, training them. What we are always careful about is not bringing partisan politics into our churches, because that is where we believe we could run a dangerous risk, as happens in some countries and we later regret it, because when the elections are over, the one who suffers is the people," Cruz said.
He said church members and pastors have different callings, and that representative bodies have a guiding role.
"Within the churches there are spectacular professionals who have the calling to serve the nation. Well, the pastor has a different calling: to preach the word, to form people... We, from the evangelical alliances, are going to take care of the alliances; we are going to motivate the people to go and vote according to their principles and values; but you are not going to find any alliance issuing a statement saying 'vote for such-and-such candidate or vote for the other one.' At least we don't get into that; that is very clear for us. But we are going to tell people: vote for people who defend life, the family, principles, values, religious freedom — and that is the path of the evangelical alliances."
World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Secretary General Botrus Mansour, a native of Nazareth, Israel, then spoke to the lawmakers and the national alliance presidents.
"I believe that being a Christian political believer is something very important. And if God is in it, and if you truly represent God, you can make a great difference not only in your country but for the whole continent. We have been called to be salt and light in our families and, of course, also in our churches, in small communities; but if God has also called you to make a difference in the country as a whole, that will be a great blessing for the whole country," Mansour said.
He said caring for the family and legislative work in Congress are both part of the same service to the kingdom of Christ.
Original reporting by Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Latin Evangelical Alliance examines challenges of credibility and pastoral care in Ibero-America]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/latin-american-evangelical-alliance-examines-challenges-of-credibility-and-pastoral-care-in-ibero-america</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/latin-american-evangelical-alliance-examines-challenges-of-credibility-and-pastoral-care-in-ibero-america</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Javier Bolaños]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Pastor Ronald Vargas Badilla, president of the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance Federation (FAEC).]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano / CDI ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Pastor Ronald Vargas Badilla, president of the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance Federation (FAEC). ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Pastor Lyda Arias, president of the Evangelical Confederation of Colombia (CEDECOL), speaks on the panel “The Mission of the Alliances: Challenges and Good Practices” at the Latin American Evangelical Alliance (AEL) general assembly in San José, Costa Ric]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano / CDI ]]>
                                </media:credit>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Pastor Lyda Arias, president of the Evangelical Confederation of Colombia (CEDECOL), speaks on the panel “The Mission of the Alliances: Challenges and Good Practices” at the Latin American Evangelical Alliance (AEL) general assembly in San José, Costa Rica, Oct. 15, 2026. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2026 09:06:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Evangelical leaders from Paraguay, Costa Rica, Spain, Colombia and Uruguay discussed missions, pastoral care, church credibility and child protection on Thursday (Oct. 15) at the general assembly of the Latin American Evangelical Alliance (AEL) in San José, Costa Rica.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Evangelical leaders from Paraguay, Costa Rica, Spain, Colombia and Uruguay discussed missions, pastoral care, church credibility and child protection on Thursday (Oct. 15) at the general assembly of the Latin American Evangelical Alliance (AEL) in San José, Costa Rica.
The panel, titled "The Mission of the Alliances: Challenges and Good Practices," brought together leaders and representatives of Ibero-American federations. It focused on five themes facing representative organizations in the region: missionary outreach to unevangelized ethnic groups, holistic care for pastors, the public and internal credibility of the church, strategic connection in response to real needs, and the training and support of Christian workers.
The panelists also agreed that churches must end institutional silence on abuse and turn to the civil and criminal courts.
The panel featured Alcides Román, president of the Association of Evangelical Churches of Paraguay (ASIEP); Pastor Ronald Vargas Badilla, president of the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance Federation (FAEC); Carolina Bueno, executive secretary of the Spanish Federation of Evangelical Religious Organizations (FEREDE); Pastor Lyda Arias, president of the Evangelical Confederation of Colombia (CEDECOL); and Pastor Louder Garabedian, president of the Evangelical Representative Council of Uruguay (CREU).
From mission field to mission force, and the challenge of generational succession
Román, a Paraguayan pastor, gave the first presentation. He focused on the growth of the Latin American missionary movement 39 years after the 1987 São Paulo declaration, when Luis Bush said Latin America was ceasing to be a mission field and becoming a mission force.
Citing records from the Alcance una Etnia (Reach an Ethnic Group) movement, Román said there are 15,128 unreached peoples in the world. Of those, 4,727 ethnic groups are considered completely unreached, and for 1,105 of them there is no information or they are entirely unknown.
He said Paraguay, despite historically being one of the least evangelized countries in the region, now has 129 missionaries serving in cross-cultural contexts around the world.
This work is coordinated through the National Missionary Cooperation (CONAMI), a missionary arm that works closely with ASIEP and the Pastors' Association (AP).
The three bodies have jointly committed to adopt 100 of the 4,727 completely unreached ethnic groups through daily prayer and mobilization. They also circulate profiles of missionary families daily to encourage intercession in local congregations.
New strategies amid the transition in missionary support
Román drew on 20 years of local pastoral ministry and 13 years of direct service among the Indigenous peoples of Paraguay, a period during which he directed a German mission focused on Indigenous communities.
He said he saw firsthand the decline in workers and resources sent from Europe. When he took on his role, there were 20 German missionary couples. Today only one German couple and one single German woman missionary remain, and most have been replaced by Latin American workers.
Román said the aging of European congregations reduced traditional offerings. That forced a rethinking of sustainability and mobilization under a new generation of leaders. His son now heads the mission.
Describing a recent tour in Germany, he cited the experience of the new leadership in presenting projects to businesses and youth groups.
"They accepted 100% the challenges we presented to them. The traditional way in which I had to work does not reach young people. Young people need to be reached with other challenges, other goals, so that they can respond. So I believe the church needs to learn new ways of reaching the new generation, so that all these peoples that still remain to be evangelized, we can reach them with the same gospel, with another generation, but with another strategy."
Dignifying the ministry and engaging with the state in Costa Rica
Vargas addressed pastoral care and the defense of ministerial rights.
He opened by recounting an interreligious meeting at the Presidential House, convened by the executive branch under then-President Rodrigo Chaves to address violence in the country, where he demanded equal treatment from government authorities.
"The minister of communication said this: 'Well, and here we have Bishop So-and-so, who is with us, and here we have little Pastor Ronald Vargas.' I said: 'Just a moment. I am not a little pastor; I am a spiritual authority, and I am to be respected.' And he was surprised and said: 'Well, the spiritual authority.' And every time I arrived, President Chaves would say to me: 'The spiritual authority has arrived.' Because we have learned that pastors have rights, and we work on the basis of those rights."
To put that support into practice, the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance four years ago reactivated the College of Pastors (Colegio Pastoral), which had been inactive for 25 years. Its aim is to give the spiritual leaders of communities identity, professional representation and legal backing, much as professional associations do for physicians, engineers or lawyers.
Extension theological training and protocols in hospitals and prisons
Through the College of Pastors, the alliance launched an Extension Training Plan for pastors and leaders who did not have access to secondary or university education.
Offered at sites across Costa Rica, the program provides two years of training leading to a diploma in Bible and pastoral ministry. So far 1,200 pastors and leaders have graduated.
The organization also introduced an official ID card that costs $35 and is valid for two years. The card generates income for the alliance and also serves as an ethical check: to renew it, ministers must submit a letter of endorsement from their denomination or church authority certifying that their pastorate is current and that they are in good standing. The card also offers discounts through agreements with opticians, restaurants and hardware stores.
In the public sphere, the College of Pastors negotiated agreements with the prison system, the Ministry of Health and the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS). Vargas said that when ministers faced obstacles visiting the sick in hospitals, he filed a complaint with the CCSS executive presidency over the obstruction of religious freedom. He also committed to correcting the bad practices of some pastors who tried to hold services with lecterns and tambourines inside medical facilities.
"We are going to train pastors in how they should behave in hospitals; we are going to train them in how they should behave in prisons. And so we give them a workshop on how to minister in prisons and how to minister in hospitals so that what they are doing can have credibility. These institutions have the names of all the pastors; when a pastor arrives and presents that card, they know he is a pastor backed by the Costa Rican Evangelical Alliance."
As a result of this dialogue, spiritual care in hospitals now has an official regulation known to medical directors. The Ministry of Health also expedites operating permits for church buildings, which are renewed every five years, for accredited ministers.
Holistic health and generational transition among older pastors
Vargas also warned about the physical, emotional and financial condition of aging pastoral leaders in Latin America. He named four common ailments among pastors: diabetes, hypertension, depression and obesity. For that reason, the alliance runs seminars on ministers' emotional and physical health.
He said churches urgently need to plan for retirement and generational succession with financial foresight, and the alliance advises them on pensions and life insurance.
"Now we are working a great deal on the transition to new generations, because in Costa Rica 70% of us are 65 or older, and we already have to start thinking that within 15 years the church in Costa Rica will have to transition. We help them look at where they stand regarding their pension; we help them if they have any life insurance. We are attentive so that the church can know how to make that change and support the pastor, so that they don't tell him: 'Well, brother, God bless you, don't call us, we'll call you,' and he is left with nothing and becomes a burden on his children."
The three dimensions for recovering and sustaining the church's credibility
Bueno, of Spain's FEREDE, gave the third presentation. She spoke about the need to strengthen credibility both within congregations, to build trust in and commitment to the alliances, and externally, with civil society, governments and donors.
Drawing on Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17 ("that they may be one so that the world may believe that you have sent me") and the call to self-examination in Psalm 139, she said Christian credibility is inseparable from the unity of the church and from ethical consistency.
"Credibility is not marketing; it is not having popularity or social prestige; it is not having wealth or enormous church buildings or many members. To have credibility we also don't have to be perfect — thankfully, because we are not. We need to be humble, to be able to acknowledge that we make mistakes, that we are sinners and are no better than others. Nor does Christian credibility consist in having everyone's approval or adapting the message of Jesus to social expectations; rather, it is offering reasons to trust through a faith lived out authentically, consistent ethical conduct and selfless service to one's neighbor."
Bueno distinguished between the rejection Christians suffer because of the gospel and the discredit that comes from their own sins, divisions and lack of integrity. She urged the alliances to evaluate themselves in three areas: spiritual, institutional-ethical and social-public.
Theological identity without political or economic instrumentalization
In the spiritual dimension, she said alliances must be recognizable by a clear theological identity grounded in the Scriptures, the centrality of Christ and salvation by grace through faith. That means firmness on essential doctrine, combined with generosity, respect and dialogue on secondary matters to make room for the diversity of evangelicals. She also warned about the risk of distorting the Christian message.
"An element that is very important for having spiritual credibility, from my point of view, is that we not instrumentalize the gospel for economic, partisan political or power purposes. The aforementioned linkage or instrumentalization distorts the message of Jesus and takes away, or will take away, our credibility in the future."
Good governance, financial transparency and verifiable social action
On institutional and ethical credibility, she cited Paul's principle in 2 Corinthians 8:20-21 of handling offerings honestly before the Lord and before people. She recommended effective bylaws, participatory rather than strongman-led governing bodies, compliance with tax obligations, clear budgets, accessible annual reports, reasonable pay and a strict separation between church and personal assets.
On the social and public dimension, she stressed concrete service to the common good without subordination to partisan interests.
"We need a voice that expresses visible unity, a voice that expresses cooperation by strengthening our common platforms, such as the AEL; we also need a public voice that is humble, truthful and open to dialogue, and a prophetic distance from political power."
During the question period, Pastor Christian Hooft, president of the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of the Argentine Republic (ACIERA), asked about handling media crises in Spain and making community work visible. Bueno described the impact of documenting evangelical work rigorously. In 2022, she said, FEREDE commissioned a specialized polling firm to carry out a national study on evangelical social action. It found that Protestant churches rank fifth in Spain in the volume of social assistance, behind only the Red Cross, Cáritas and two other large organizations. The finding changed how politicians and authorities saw evangelicals when it was presented to them.
Spiritual intelligence and interdisciplinary work in managing the alliances

Arias, president of CEDECOL in Colombia, addressed the connection between strategy and need. She began by distinguishing vision from strategy: vision defines "the what" one wants to achieve, while strategy determines "the how" and the choice of the right tool for each circumstance.
Drawing on biblical accounts, including the organization of groups to feed the 5,000, the taking of Jericho, Jesus' visit to the house of Zacchaeus, and David trading Saul's armor for a sling to face Goliath, she questioned the church's tendency to spiritualize problems that require technical or professional action.
"I want to start from a truth that sometimes hurts us: we have a lot of anointing and little strategy. David did not defeat Goliath only because he had faith; he had faith, yes, but he won because he changed strategy. To every giant its sling; to every need its strategy. Sometimes we are praying about something that requires a lawyer. And with pastors, sometimes cases come to us and we spiritualize everything, and it turns out the person needs to go to the doctor, to be treated by a specialist."
Arias added that "not every battle is won by praying: some are won by praying, others are won by making a phone call; others are won by sitting down to negotiate." She gave as an example the steps taken during the week of the assembly to secure entry into the country for Pastor Gabriel and his wife, which required directly contacting a person with immediate access to the presidency.
Unity in the face of polarization, and delegation to specialists
Arias said an alliance cannot expect its president to master every discipline or attend every forum just to appear in a photograph. Instead, it must rely on qualified Christian professionals so as not to expose evangelicals to discredit in the media. When the Colombian Senate summoned her to discuss strictly legal matters, and when she was invited to international environmental summits in Cali, she delegated CEDECOL's representation to a specialized lawyer and to an internationally awarded Christian environmental researcher, securing high-level representation.
She also described how she became president of CEDECOL, the first woman and native of Cartagena to hold a post held for 75 years by men from Bogotá. After winning the election by four votes over Pastor Eduardo Gómez, she reached out to him directly to stop attempts at internal polarization.
"If there is an election that belongs to the people of God, you will never see me telling anyone: vote for me, because that is not of God. I was praying and I felt very uneasy about the polarization, and I called him and said to him: 'Pastor Eduardo, if you win, count on me; and if I win, I am counting on you.' We cried together and we prayed too. Today he is an extraordinary teammate; he has gifts that I don't have."
She used a similar approach with church leaders in the Colombian capital when CEDECOL needed a physical headquarters. She called together the pastors of the main congregations, beginning with Pastor Ricardo Rodríguez of Centro Mundial de Avivamiento. The Bogotá megachurches agreed to pay the rent for CEDECOL's office and the salary of one of its secretaries.
Pastoral calling, theological training and the priority of the family
Garabedian, president of CREU in Uruguay, gave the final main presentation, on the ministerial call, the training of workers and support for the family. A third-generation pastor, he said God's call comes together when there is "availability and intentionality," as in the case of the prophet Elisha.
Garabedian recalled the early years of his ministry with his wife, Mercedes, in extreme financial hardship. He walked eight kilometers in the dead of winter to serve a congregation of four elderly women, without pay and without asking for financial help.
"For 25 years in the exercise of the pastorate we began and ended the ministry by inaugurating a church. I could have asked for money because I needed it, but I didn't ask; nor did they offer it to me. I am not a beggar; I am a child of the King, and my King knows my needs, and I have no reason to tell people what I am suffering or what we are in need of. It is not pride; it is dignity."
He warned of what he described as an alarming lack of biblical preparation in today's Protestantism, and of the risks of emotionalism, syncretism with Judaizing symbols that displace the centrality of the cross, and ecumenism without doctrinal foundations.
"There is a great danger in the calling: many times we are exposed to a lack of theological preparation. Seminary is not just for finding a husband or a wife, but for preparing ourselves so that we are not like a wind of doctrine blowing here and there. And the lack of theological training is alarming at this moment in the evangelical church. The opposing clergy are prepared from head to toe, from A to Z. We are not; we are guided many times by emotion and very few times by reason. That brings with it dangers of immorality, of spiritual heresy, of deviation."
Bivocational pastoring and the role of the home in the face of paternal absence
Garabedian's comments on pastors' children and bivocational work drew some of the most audience participation, including contributions from Gómez and from pastors from Chile and Brazil. He said his own father, though a Bible teacher and seminary professor, was "a perfect stranger" to him because he was so often away for ministry. When Garabedian noticed he was repeating the pattern of the traveling preacher as his two children reached adolescence, he made a radical decision.
"When my daughter and my son were teenagers, I realized I was doing the same thing as my dad. So I chose to be a perfect stranger to others and known by my children. The essential point is that God's call is solitary, it involves suffering, it is incomprehensible."
He credited Mercedes with the decisive role in their children's spiritual formation at home while he worked 10 to 15 hours a day at a lumber company they founded to make ends meet. He urged pastors to break with church structures that prevent secular work when the congregation cannot cover a family's basic needs.
"Children turn out rebellious because of paternal absence; they turn out rebellious because of need in a materialistic, calculating, cold society; they turn out rebellious because we cannot meet their needs. And I want to be very blunt about this: be like the apostle Paul — go and put in your eight hours and then serve the Lord. Go and put in your eight hours, brothers and sisters, feet on the ground. Because if the church cannot support you, that is called mediocrity, complacency. Go and put in your eight hours and be an example to your children."
Zero tolerance for child abuse
In the final question-and-answer segment, a representative of a mission organization asked the panelists what concrete steps the alliances are taking to protect children and vulnerable people from all forms of abuse in churches.
The leaders agreed unanimously on ending institutional silence and on the obligation to turn to the civil and criminal courts.
Paraguay: Román said that for years, out of fear of staining the testimony of the gospel, some congregations kept silent about internal cases. But he said "the gospel cannot be stained — evangelicals can," and urged participation in public protection policies and speaking up about specific incidents.
Costa Rica: Vargas said that through the Children's Commission, pastors are trained under strict protocols. These include installing cameras in churches, never leaving minors alone with Sunday school teachers, and having women minister to other women. He said that in any crime, "they have to report it; they cannot stay silent. We can offer them restoration, but they cannot shake off the consequences."
Spain: Bueno said FEREDE runs national awareness and prevention courses under a zero-tolerance policy. Because the federation officially accredits ministers of religion before the Spanish state, it also requires an official criminal record certificate and a specific certificate covering sexual offenses.
Colombia: Arias said CEDECOL created its children's commission a year ago. It has drafted prevention protocols and is promoting training to raise awareness across all denominations.
Uruguay: Garabedian said CREU brings together 1,400 churches and has no administrative authority over denominations, but it holds a non-negotiable position against cover-ups. He recalled the case of a 73-year-old pastor reported for inappropriately touching a girl. CREU demanded that he appear before the ordinary courts. After the courts found him guilty, his denomination complained that the alliance had not defended him and chose to leave it. "We simply put him in front of it: 'Take responsibility, and that's that.' They resigned and left the Alliance. Between a greater evil and a lesser evil, I will always stay with the lesser," he said.
Original reporting by Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Latin Evangelical Alliance renews board positions at general assembly]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/latin-evangelical-alliance-renews-board-positions-at-general-assembly</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/latin-evangelical-alliance-renews-board-positions-at-general-assembly</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Javier Bolaños]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Participants sit at tables marked with country placards during the Latin Evangelical Alliance’s 13th General Assembly in San José, Costa Rica.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano / CDI ]]>
                                </media:credit>
                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Participants sit at tables marked with country placards during the Latin Evangelical Alliance’s 13th General Assembly in San José, Costa Rica. ]]>
                                </media:description>
                                                    </media:content>
                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 17 Oct 2026 07:51:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[At its 13th General Assembly, the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL) held the vote required under its bylaws for the periodic renewal of several positions on its board of directors. The session covered the election and re-election of the positions of first vice president, secretary and two members at large.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
At its 13th General Assembly, the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL) held the vote required under its bylaws for the periodic renewal of several positions on its board of directors. The session covered the election and re-election of the positions of first vice president, secretary and two members at large.
AEL President Juan Cruz Cellammare explained the regulatory context of the elections at the start of the session and noted the importance of the time members must devote to the board, “because being on the board demands quite a lot of time.”
The procedure required an absolute majority, set at 9 votes out of a total of 17 accredited presidents, to decide the appointments. Before voting opened, Pastor César Ayala of Guatemala offered a prayer on behalf of the organization: “Give us wisdom to cast this vote according to your holy will.”
Election of first vice president and secretary
Four candidates stood for first vice president: Pastor Jorge Gómez (Costa Rica), Pastor Christian Hooft (Argentina), Pastor Enrique Alva (Peru) and Pastor José Gerardo Irías (Honduras).
In his remarks, Gómez said: “I have always said that one has to speak through actions, and you will judge what my work has been during these two years. I believe I have taken all the tasks assigned to me seriously and carried them out, as long as it is to honor the name of the Lord.” After the count, Gómez received 10 votes, securing his continuation in the post.
For the position of secretary, Pastor Mariano Blázquez (Spain) was confirmed with 13 votes.
Presenting his candidacy, Blázquez said: “I understood that God was giving me a vision of connecting Spain with Latin America to strengthen the evangelization of Europe and also the Latin position in it. I believe I have fulfilled a good part of the objectives I had, and I feel very much at ease.”
Vote for members at large and inclusion of a woman
Filling the positions of members at large 4 and 6 required two rounds of voting among five initial candidates. In the first round, Pastor Lyda Elena Arias (Colombia) was elected with 12 votes.
In her earlier presentation, Arias summed up her approach: “If we are ethical, whoever has stood as a candidate has done so because they are saying, ‘I am going to serve.’ So, 3A: Amor [love] and service, Aportar [to contribute], but also Aprender [to learn].”
Cellammare highlighted the result, saying: “It is the first time we have a woman on the board of directors representing a country.”
Because no other candidate reached the minimum threshold required by the rules in that round, a second round was held among the three candidates with the most votes.
In the final vote, Irías reached 9 votes and was elected to the remaining member-at-large position.
Irías had earlier told the assembly: “The passion I have for evangelism is one of the things that moves me to be here, and you do that: preach the gospel of Christ ... I believe it is a good platform to serve and to work as a team.”
A budget report was also presented during Thursday’s board of directors session.
The AEL General Assembly, which has brought together full members, commission members and associated entities in San José, Costa Rica, concluded Friday with a Communion service.
Original reporting by Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[WEA leaders tell Latin American alliance heads: Asking for money is not begging]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/wea-leaders-tell-latin-american-alliance-heads-asking-for-money-is-not-begging</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/wea-leaders-tell-latin-american-alliance-heads-asking-for-money-is-not-begging</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Javier Bolaños]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/54/5437.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Rev. Botrus Mansour, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), participates in the panel “The Role of the Leader in Fundraising” during the 13th General Assembly of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL) in San José, Costa Rica.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Diario Cristiano / CDI ]]>
                                </media:credit>
                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Rev. Botrus Mansour, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), participates in the panel “The Role of the Leader in Fundraising” during the 13th General Assembly of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL) in San José, Costa Rica. ]]>
                                </media:description>
                                                    </media:content>
                                                                                                <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/54/5434.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[the 13th General Assembly of the Latin Evangelical Alliance]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
                                </media:credit>
                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Participants in the panel “The Role of the Leader in Fundraising” during the 13th General Assembly of the Latin Evangelical Alliance (AEL). ]]>
                                </media:description>
                                                    </media:content>
                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2026 11:15:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Asking for money is not begging but an invitation to partner in God's kingdom, World Evangelical Alliance leaders told national alliance heads at the Latin Evangelical Alliance's 13th General Assembly, which runs Oct. 12-16 in Costa Rica's capital.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Asking for money is not begging but an invitation to partner in God's kingdom, World Evangelical Alliance leaders told national alliance heads at the Latin Evangelical Alliance's 13th General Assembly, which runs Oct. 12-16 in Costa Rica's capital.
The Rev. Botrus Mansour, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, and Brad Smith, global leader of the WEA's Global Leadership Institute, spoke on a panel titled "The Role of the Leader in Raising Money."
They talked about the responsibility of national leaders to put their organizations on solid financial footing and to build strategic partnerships that help them carry out their mission.
How evangelical leadership has changed
Smith began with a review of how church structures have developed over the centuries. He said today's evangelical movement is organized mainly through independent ministries and global networks.
The WEA, he said, is a family present in 164 countries. Its main goal is to promote unity and cooperation in ministry.
Smith said the role of national alliance presidents has changed in recent decades. Where they once organized annual conferences, they now advocate for evangelicals and work to advance the kingdom of God in their countries. That work requires sustainable funding, he said.
"To fulfill God's calling, you have to raise money," Smith said. "Unfortunately, some think raising money is begging. And that is not biblical. Fundraising is starting and building relationships of mutual trust, and eventually you are being discipled and discipling others in an area where discipleship is difficult, which is money."
He acknowledged that fundraising often brings fear or resistance among leaders, because of cultural perceptions or fear of failure. He said working in community and as a team helps leaders overcome those barriers.
Fundraising as friendship
Mansour spoke from his own experience as a Palestinian Arab leader. He said cultural barriers, such as a culture of shame, often lead leaders to see fundraising as begging. The task, he said, is to invite others to join in the work of the kingdom.
He said raising funds should not be seen as public charity or dependence. Instead, it is a spiritual opportunity to involve believers in mission.
"Asking for money is not begging — it is inviting people to partner in the kingdom of God," Mansour said.
He said that when leaders build genuine trust and friendship, they give donors the chance to take an active part in the vision God has given the organization. In this way, a financial gift becomes a blessing for both sides.
"You are going to people and asking them to partner in the kingdom of God. What could be better than that?" Mansour said. "You are giving these people a blessing. By asking them to give money, they are going to be part of it. They are going to be partners in what the Lord has put on your heart and in your mission."
Mansour added that donors and partners want a direct relationship with the head of the organization. They want to know that resources are managed with full transparency and excellence.

Practical steps and international cooperation
During the Q&A session, the speakers said building relationships with donors takes time, consistency and proper follow-up, much like growing a friendship.
They also shared practical tools used in different regions. These included identifying leaders who act as "champions" for the financial vision, using matching funds to spur growth and inviting key partners to take a direct part in ministry work.
The leaders also presented the global initiative Call 33. They urged national alliance representatives to fill out the forms for the program, which aims to strengthen cooperation, make the most of available resources and build collaboration among WEA member bodies worldwide.]]></content:encoded>
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