Covenant News

Colombian Church President Says the Future Is Bright

CHICAGO, IL (June 30, 2005) - Jorge Julian Perez, president of the Federation of Colombian Covenant Churches, returned home Wednesday with expanded vision of training the country's first missionaries and increasing church planting.

Perez, the first full-time president of the Colombian church, had been teaching and preaching in the United States since April 1 as part of the Department of World Mission Leader in Residence program.

"For me, it's a new age for the Covenant Church in Colombia," Perez said in an interview earlier this week. "Now I have a clear idea about the mission work."

The Colombian churches, he said, have only recently become interested in outreach and have been too willing to depend on aid from others. Perez said that is changing, however, as people catch a vision for sharing the gospel.

At the recent Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado, Perez told delegates that in Colombia, "It's time to go serve others."

The denomination opened its first school for missions in Medellin in January, with 18 students participating. Covenant missionaries Gary and Mary Lou Sander as well as short-term missionary Katie O'Connor have been teaching at the school. In July, 16 of the students will participate in two-week mission trips to remote Covenant churches in Colombia as part of their practicum, Gary Sander said.

Perez plans to institute a new teaching and fundraising effort to further mission outreach. "Every Covenant home will have a piggy bank for mission," Perez said. He wants each family to contribute money into the banks each week. Twice a year that money would be brought to the churches as a missions offering. Families could do devotions once a week centering on missions.

"A new generation will grow up thinking about missions," he said.

As the church focuses on sharing the gospel outside Colombia, Perez said leaders also envision planting two churches each year over the next 14 years, leading up to the denomination's fiftieth anniversary in 2009. There currently are 35 churches in the 36-year-old denomination.

The methods of assessing and training church planters in the United States impressed Perez, he said. "In the Covenant Church in Colombia, we don't have a plan to plant churches and how to adopt churches," Perez said.

He quickly will begin working with the national and regional boards, as well as American and Norwegian Covenant missionaries to devise a strategy. Gary Sander will lead American participation in developing the strategy, and other missionaries in Colombia will assist. At the request of the Colombian Covenant Youth Board, O' Connor is helping structure a youth leader training curriculum at the Theological Training Center, CEMPEC.

"We see this as an important partnership since the future of the Colombia Covenant will certainly involve the youth of the Covenant," Gary Sander said.

Educating youth remains a passion for Perez, who is excited about six Christian elementary schools that the Covenant has started. Three others are planned to open soon.

The schools are opened to children within the community and can educate about 120 students each. "It is a way for evangelism and mission," Perez said, adding the goal is to reach, "not only the child but (their) family, too."

Perez began attending a Covenant mission church as a child when it was built down the street from his home. He later served a Medellin church as pastor for five years. He subsequently was a teacher and senior administrator for seven years prior to his election to the presidency.

"The Lord called me from behind the desk," he quips.

He now has little opportunity to spend time behind the desk. "I visit every church three times a year," he said. That's at least 105 visits.

As he travels Colombia, Perez hopes he is building a better road to the future.

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