World Of Witness - Colombia

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Ministry

Mennonite Church Canada partners with the Mennonite Church of Colombia (IMCOL), whose wide scope of ministries include evangelism, church planting, assisting people displaced by armed conflict, primary schools, a home for the elderly, a retreat centre, the Mennonite Biblical Seminary of Colombia, a relief and development agency (MENCOLDES), and a peace and justice centre (JUSTAPAZ). IMCOL embraces the challenge of teaching people to trust God and live peacefully in a society where the ugliness of political violence and armed conflict has become engrained in the culture over the past 50 years.

Unwilling to give up hope, the church calls people to trust, to faith, and indeed to hope – one day at a time. The church is blessed with visionary and untiring leadership and is at the forefront of an ecumenical peace movement. In a country with a population of 44 million, IMCOL (membership– 1200) is known to the government as a persistent voice for peace. Mennonite Church Canada Witness provides significant financial resources to the church for its ministries and to the seminary for leadership development.

Celebrations

• In 2007, IMCOL celebrated its 60th anniversary and launched a 10 year missional plan for its congregations.
• The Mennonite Biblical Seminary of Colombia, Justapaz, and MENCOLDES started a joint “School for Peace” program that gives church and community members the skills and tools to promote peace in their local contexts.
• New congregations emerging in northern and central Colombia.
• Two Churches, Two Struggles, One Vision of Faith

Challenges

• Church life and ministry in a country that has lived with armed conflict for 60 years.
• Maintaining normalcy and peacable witness in family, church, and community when there are 3 million internally displaced persons due to the spiral of violence. Half of these persons are under the age of 18.
• High level of poverty (45%), homelessness (17%), unequal wealth distribution, and the highest rate of unemployment in Latin America.

Partners

• Mennonite Mission Network (MMN)
• Iglesia Cristian Menonita de Colombia (Mennonite Church of Colombia)
• JUSTAPAZ (peace and justice arm of IMCOL)

Workers

• Falla, Amada & Gamaliel

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