Source: Mission Network News, October 7, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Approximately 80% of Christians are from the Global South. Yet [more than] 50% of the world\u2019s international missionaries still come from North America and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dave Matthews founded Reflejo<\/a> to mobilize more Latin American Christians in missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs the gospel has expanded to other nations\u2014in our case, Latin America\u2014we also have that duty to the Great Commission to obey and to go to all nations, bringing the gospel,\u201d Matthews says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re a missionary agency for Latin Americans\u2014Spanish and Portuguese speakers from Central and South America\u2014to go to the unreached, to go to the hard-to-reach places that don\u2019t yet fully have the gospel as they should.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthews says there are many advantages to sending Latinos to places such as the Middle East and Central Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, Latinos can often blend in more easily and are less likely to attract unsafe attention. People from Central or South America also have fewer stereotypes and biases that could create barriers for them in Muslim-majority countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Historically, early Arabic influences on the Iberian Peninsula contributed to the cultures and languages of Spain and Portugal. With Spanish and Portuguese colonization, those same influences shaped Central and South American worldviews, values, and more. Hundreds of years later, the similarities help Latino Christians to connect with unreached peoples on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflejo has also successfully placed Latino Christians in areas where others may not have access or be welcomed. They are met with curiosity and openness that allows them to quickly build relationships. For example, someone from the United States may not be able to safely travel to or work in certain countries that are open to South Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are seeing access in a few of these places, and we\u2019re well received. People are curious about where we\u2019re from, what we\u2019re doing, who we are, and we get to build relationships over time and share Jesus in a different way,\u201d Matthews says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Source: Mission Network News, October 7, 2024 Approximately 80% of Christians are from the Global South. Yet [more than] 50% of the world\u2019s international missionaries still come from North America and Europe. Dave Matthews founded Reflejo to mobilize more Latin American Christians in missions. \u201cAs the gospel has expanded to other nations\u2014in our case, Latin … Continue reading Latin America: Latino Christians Uniquely Positioned for the Great Commission<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-briefs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13325,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13324\/revisions\/13325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}