Latin America Multiplication Center

Executive Summary

International Teams/Sonlife Latin America Multiplication Center is based in San Isidro de Heredia, Costa Rica, and is currently influencing ministry in the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela.  International Teams (I.T.) missionaries are located in six of these countries.  Other countries have Sonlife Latin American staff on the ground who are part of other missions agencies or nationals.  Over the last 11 years we have trained some 5,000 young people, 2000 Latin leaders and have just begun sending out Latin missionaries into the 10/40 window.

There are nearly 270 million youth in Latin America.  Most have some type of belief in God but are disenfranchised by the religiosity of the Roman Catholic Church.  They are looking for answers that are found in a personal relationship with God.  It is the Multiplication Center’s vision to reach and disciple these young people.  For those young people with the skills and commitment we will train them to go into the 10/40 window in the Islamic world and make disciples there. 

Our Vision: To mobilize and train Latin Americans who will in turn invest their lives in others, so that disciples of Jesus Christ are multiplied both in Latin America and across the world.

Our Strategy: We believe the way to accomplish this vision is through the training and mobilizing of three different people groups:

• We train and equip Latin young people to be true disciples of Jesus Christ and to make disciples like Jesus commanded us, within the context of the local church. Our goal is over the next 10 years to train and mobilize 10,000 Latin young people who reflect both the character and priorities of Jesus Christ.

• We train and mobilize young Latin leaders who can equip and train young people to be true disciples and make disciples within their local church setting. Our goal is over the next 10 years to train and mobilize 5000 Latin leaders who can effectively make disciple who can make disciples. Stimulating the movement of multiplication in Latin America, which is already under way.

• We train and mobilize Latin leaders who feel called to make disciples in other parts of the world.  Our goal is over the next 10 years to train and mobilize 250 Latin missionaries to make disciples cross-culturally.

I.  Who We Are

Our team has been formed by a strategic alliance between Sonlife and International Teams.  Sonlife training provides the philosophical basis and strategy for our ministry.   International Teams is the mission agency which both employs and cares for the missionaries we mobilize.  Today our team in Costa Rica includes 10 U.S. missionaries, 6 Costa Rican missionaries, 1 Ecuadorian missionary and 1 British missionary. 

International Teams began working in Latin America in 1963 and now has 92 adult missionaries from 7 nationalities living and working there, making disciples in six different countries.  Each of these ministries is seeking to disciple and raise up believers who can in turn disciple others.  Our emphasis is on reaching young people and developing them into leaders.  Not only are Latins incredibly effective as missionaries serving in other parts of Latin America, but they are often well suited to ministry in many difficult parts of the world.

Sonlife is a non-profit Christian ministry which began in 1979 in Chicago, Illinois.  Sonlife serves local churches by training leaders in youth ministry.  The priorities of those committed to Sonlife’s values are to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to make disciples. Sonlife teams in Latin America are focused on church-based ministries that result in movements of multiplication.

II.  The Location

Costa Rica was originally chosen for the location of our team because of its long-term political stability, its central location between ministry sites (Argentina to Mexico), the ease of travel to and from Costa Rica, and the presence of the Spanish Language Institute—the premier institution dedicated to teaching missionaries Spanish.  All of these factors are still relevant.  Costa Rica will remain the ideal location for Multiplication Center for the foreseeable future.

San Isidro is 20 minutes north of the center of San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica).  Located at 4700 feet above sea level and 1700 feet above San Jose, year-round temperatures are never lower than 57F or higher than 86F.  The property has extraordinary views of the Central Valley, Irazu Volcano, and the Braulio Carrillo National Park.

III.  The Opportunity

The composition of Christ’s church around the world is quite different today than it was just fifty years ago.  Today nearly two-thirds of the evangelical church is non-western.  Largely as a result of western missions the world has seen tremendous growth of Christianity in places like Asia, Africa, and Latin America.  A key to reaching the world for Christ and seeing it transformed by His power has now become the mobilization of believers from the non-western world.

Now is the time to invest in next-generation leaders in Latin America and prepare them for cross-cultural ministry.

We are actively looking for partners to invest in this strategic opportunity to impact the world for the cause of Christ.

IV.  Current Challenge — Training Facility

A new facility is needed that can accommodate larger numbers for training over an extended period of time.  Improving our residential training program will make it possible for individuals from several Latin American countries to participate together, thereby making the training itself a multi-cultural event.  Increasing the number of trainees will help us achieve some economy of scale, maximizing the use of financial and human resources in the training process.

The building will be used as follows:

•Mobilize and train Latin youth pastors, leaders and missionaries

•Prepare missionaries entering the Latin America culture

•Provide International Teams’ ACCESS training for Latin missionaries

•Host various Sonlife conferences and seminars (SEMP, Strategy, EQUIP, Growing a Healthy Church series, missions preview etc.)

•Offer intensive courses and apprenticeship programs

Challenge: Our most urgent need is $40,000, which will allow us to continue working on the training center.  This will cover the cost of building materials and salaries for the Costa Rican workers as we move forward in construction over the coming months.  We will have the help of work teams; and the resources that they bring should allow us to continue working on the next stages of the building.