Our vision is to see the Church of Jesus Christ established so that thousands of local, witnessing communities of believers are maturing in their own knowledge and faith, while working to ensure that everyone in South America has multiple opportunities to hear a clear, meaningful and persuasive presentation of the gospel from within their own ethnic or social group.
The South America Mission dates its origin from the departure of Dr. Joseph A. Davis and his family for South America in 1914. There the Davis' joined with the Paraguayan Evangelistic Mission, the Brazil Interior Mission, and the Northeast Argentine Mission to form the Inland South America Missionary Union, which was incorporated in New York in 1921.
The Mission moved to Florida in 1939 and incorporated under the new name of the South America Indian Mission. Due to the expansion of the South America ministry in the later years to include Latinos as well as Indians, the name of the organization was changed in 1970 to the South America Mission. An additional office was opened in 1982 upon the incorporation of the Canadian South America Mission in Guelph, Ontario.
South America Mission was formed by a group of Christians concerned about the spiritual needs of the Indians of South America. Later this purpose was broadened to include the Latinos and other residents of the South American countries in which our missionaries minister.
With this purpose in mind, South America Mission is committed to establish the church of Jesus Christ in South America by planting and nurturing churches, training church leaders and developing church associations.
The general nature and business of this corporation is to proclaim and teach the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in South America. None of the changes of name or location has altered the objective, character or purpose of the organization. All believers concerned for the evangelization of South America are welcome to fellowship with us in whatever manner the Lord indicates to be His will.
Characteristics of South America Mission
Evangelical
We are unapologetic in clinging to Christ as the only hope for the nations and to the Bible as the inerrant word of God as we work in Christian unity with like-minded believers.
Church-Centered
We minister with and through local believers in order to strengthen the witness and faithfulness of local expressions of the Body of Christ.
Relational
We embrace Christ’s incarnational and relational ministry as a model for our partnership with each other and interaction with the host cultures we serve.
Creative
We adopt creative, contextual approaches to communicate the gospel more effectively across a wide variety of ministry environments.
Accountable
We seek to maintain high standards of integrity in the use of the talents and resources that God has entrusted to us for ministry.
Dependent
We humbly acknowledge that apart from Christ we can do nothing and desire to be a corps of missionaries intimately familiar with our Savior
The ministry of South America Mission flows from what we believe about God and his creation. As an interdenominational mission, missionaries from many denominations and backgrounds serve together in biblical unity. All our missionaries must unreservedly affirm together the following ancient truths of the faith.
Holy Scriptures
We believe that the Bible, consisting only of the Old and New Testaments, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is inerrant in the original manuscripts. It alone is the infallible and authoritative Word of God for all matters of faith, conduct and doctrine.
God
We believe in the triune God, Creator and sovereign Lord of all that exists. He is infinite in His knowledge, presence, power and wisdom; perfect in love, holiness and justice. God is truly one, yet eternally self-existing in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each person of the Godhead is equal in being, nature and power.
The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary at the appointed time. He was fully God and fully man without sin. He was crucified, dead, buried and on the third day He rose bodily. The shedding of His blood is sufficient for the salvation of all mankind. Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for His people and one day He will return bodily in power and great glory.
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is Himself God, the third person of the Trinity. He was sent into the world to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. At the moment of conversion the Spirit regenerates believers, indwells them and baptizes them into the body of Christ. He is given as a guarantee of their full inheritance. He imparts gifts to each Christian, as He chooses, for the edification of the Church. He fills and empowers believers as they submit to Him.
Human Nature
We believe Adam and Eve were created by a direct act of God in His own image. When they disobeyed God, they were judged and punished with physical and spiritual death. As descendants of Adam, all human beings inherit this sinful condition and its consequences, are guilty before God and are totally unable to approach God or be reconciled to Him on their own merit.
Salvation
We believe that salvation, found in Christ alone, provides forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to God. It was purchased by the sufficient substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It is offered by grace to all people and must be personally received by repentance and faith as God's gift, apart from any human effort. In salvation, all believers receive the righteousness of Christ and eternal life. True believers are eternally secure and persevere. Their lives are to be characterized by spiritual growth.
The Church
We believe that the Church is divinely ordained of God to fulfill His mission in the world. This Church, under the headship of Christ, is expressed in local congregations of fellowshipping believers committed to worship, encouragement, instruction and the making of disciples. The Church is called by God to evangelize every nation and people and to be salt and light to this lost world.
Satan
We believe in the reality of Satan, a created being, the enemy of God and mankind. Although powerful in this age, he is doomed by the sacrificial death of Christ.
Future Events
We believe in the visible and personal return of Jesus Christ in order to culminate history. At the appointed time, the dead shall be raised and all mankind shall appear before the Lord to give an account. Believers in Christ will be transformed and enjoy everlasting life in the presence of their Lord. Unbelievers will be condemned to everlasting, conscious punishment, forever separated from God
The Strategy
We believe that South America must be won to Christ by South Americans and that the only way there will be enough witnessing believers to fulfull the vision is through the discipling and training of local Christians that God is placing in leadership in the churches.
We must focus most of our resources on the discipling and training of leaders from within those churches who will in turn repeat the process until growing, witnessing churches are multiplied across the continent. We believe that especially in the early stages, leaders are best developed in the context in which they will minister.
We emphasize smaller, highly contextualized, local training programs which provide theological education as an essential part of the larger process of leadership development. We believe that while Biblical leadership requires knowledge and skills, it is ultimately based on character. We believe that there is no substitute for relationships in developing character.
We are committed to structured discipleship models which faithfully and effectively impart knowledge of the Bible while facilitating teacher-disciple relationships in the context of life and ministry.
STRATGEIC MINISTRIES
Our vision and strategy are not just ideals, they have feet in specific ministry activities. (Follow links in the text descriptions to specific stories about the ministries described).
Church planting / developmentEnabling the church's witness to the unreached and seizing the opportunity for the gospel among the responsive.
Evangelism - Our missionaries believe the gospel is good news for all people and work to present a relevant and credible invitation to pass from death to life.
Cell Groups - Churches are strengthened as believers enter into godly communities that hold each other accountable and bear one another's burdens.
ESL - English is a commodity in much of South America . Teaching English provides a door to share our lives and the love of Christ.
Sports - Sports unites people across social classes and offers a wealth of metaphors for the gospel.
Discipleship Guiding believers to maturity so that their faith has a genuine impact on their families and communities as they are remade in the image of Christ.
Children’s ministry - Many core beliefs are established in the formative years. Our children's ministries include church programs, VBS and Christian schools.
Youth Ministry - Through life on life ministry, we seek to reach young people in a season when they are making life shaping decisions.
Bible teaching - Training believers to rely on Scripture is critical to building healthy churches and leaders.
Literature Development - We work with national churches to develop culturally relevant materials for discipleship.
Leadership Development Providing contextualized training to develop godly leaders of integrity for the thousands of local congregations currently without faithful shepherds.
Theological education - Our Bible Institutes and training programs seek to equip for ministry in the actual ministry environment, from tribal to urban contexts.
Mentoring - Jesus' model of investing in people through real life interaction serves as a paradigm for our efforts to shape leaders of character.
Missions - We seek to aid maturing churches in having a vision for the harvest and for sending out their own as missionaries.
Holistic ministries Partnering with local churches to help them respond to felt needs, seek justice and demonstrate God's heart for the poor in their local communities.
Health Care - Health concerns are among the biggest felt needs for many in Latin America. We seek to respond in a way that reflects God's concern for the broken.
Drug Rehabilitation - Lives are restored as addicts call out to God and find the answer to their longing in the person of Jesus.
Agriculture - Christian leaders and communities learn how to meet the most basic physical needs through sustainable farming.
SAMAIR Using aviation to empower the national church and mission agencies in efforts to minister to the remote corners of the continent.
Peru - Technical jungle aviation that provides a lifeline to isolated areas for spiritual and physical needs across the Peruvian Amazon Basin (find out more here).
Bolivia - Our pilots and mechanics combine a passion for aviation with a desire to make disciples and build the church.
MK Education and support Discipling the children of missionaries and meeting the logistical needs of dynamic ministries in 5 countries.
MK Education - From traditional classrooms to multi-grade education, teachers train up the next generation and free other missionaries
Computer technology - Critical technology skills make our ministries more effective and efficient and keep us linked to support teams.
Field Administration - Ministries and missionaries are sustained and directed through prayerful leadership.
Guest Home / Base Host - Hospitality and a servant attitude are needed to provide a center for activity, a safe place for traveling missionaries and a launching pad for work teams and other visitors.
Construction - Expertise is needed to provide for the infrastructure required by spiritual growth in our Bible Institutes and in the churches we serve.
This information was obtained from our mission website which is:
http://www.southamericamission.org/about/whatwedo.htm
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