Revival and Mission Inform Lay-led Ministries Convention in South America

Under the theme “Faithful to the End,” more than 300 Seventh-day Adventist leaders of supporting ministries, pastors, and students from across most countries in South America and beyond met at Bolivia Adventist University in Cochabamba May 15-18. They met to worship, network, and get training and inspiration as members of Outpost Centers International (OCI), an organization that connects lay-led ministries that support the message and mission of the Adventist Church.

Across the region, OCI supports, mentors, and assists 45 ministries, which include schools, healthy life centers, outreach and evangelistic ministries, and aviation-based initiatives to reach as many people as possible with a message of hope, regional OCI leaders said. Many of those ministries’ leaders were present at the convention. Some of them traveled more than 40 hours by bus or car through challenging roads to reach the university campus in Cochabamba.

The event had two primary goals, said Dosung Kim, OCI field vice president for South America. “The first goal is revival, because without revival there’s no mission,” he said. “And the second goal is mission—how laypeople can work together with church leaders to focus on mission in order to finish the work.”

In the keynote message in the opening program May 15, Steve Dickman, OCI president, called participants to unite efforts with ministers and church officers, with the goal of moving mission forward. “It is when we learn to work together, when we see our part, and when we do our part with enthusiasm and with dedication to the work of God, working alongside the pastors, [that] God will do something amazing,” he emphasized. “God will show up with the Holy Spirit; our lives will be a testimony of what God wants to do.”

Reviving God’s Mission

Dickman also called participants to work to revive the Adventist mission to the world. According to him, Jesus could have already returned, but He is waiting for us. “Waiting for what?” he asked. “Waiting for us to get empowered by the Holy Spirit . . . to be faithful to the end . . . to be faithful to Christ . . . to be faithful to the mission, and to be faithful to the church.”

Against that background, Dickman asked what we need to do that will prepare us to witness that revival in mission. He mentioned getting ready to receive the blessings that God wants to pour down on His followers. “But this will happen only when we come together, when we get on our knees before God, when we are willing to confess our great need of the Holy Spirit, when we are willing to humble ourselves and repent through earnest prayer. Then God will do something,” he said.

According to Dickman, the convention was designed so that everyone could “engage with God and allow Him to do something.” “I think God wants to pour out the Holy Spirit; I believe He wants to do it now. And I believe He wants to do it right here.”

Why Not You? Why Not Now?

In the last part of his message, Dickman posed some questions to ponder during the weekend gathering. “The first one is ‘Why not? Why not you, why not me, and why not now?’ ” He added, “What further revelation we would need to see before we understand that God wants desperately to pour His Holy Spirit, that He wants desperately to use every one of us?”

Dickman emphasized that we often use excuses not to engage in mission. “I am too young, or I am too old, or I don’t have the money, or I don’t speak the language. I don’t have the time.” He then shared some stories of people who said yes to God, and the way God used them to move mission forward against all odds. “These stories show that God needs only one thing: our willingness to surrender and serve,” Dickman said. “It’s God’s plan to use every single one of us. Why not you? Why not now?”