JUST ONE LIFE

by Chris Conti

Thousands of young people have said ‘yes’ to God’s mission.

More than 2,000 young people in Latin America attended the CIMA International Missions Conference in February in Santiago, Chile.

During the six-day event, speakers challenged the youth with the theme: ‘We have just this one life. How are you going to live it?’ Matzi Vögelin, director of CIMA International 2020 said: “The radical life of Jesus makes us question the values and foundation of our lives and will lead us to ask ourselves what our role is in his Kingdom.”

More than 200 pastors and leaders also attended the event and had separate sessions to learn mission topics.

SIM International Director Joshua Bogunjoko, Director of SIM Latinoamérica Julieta Murillo, and SIM Peru mobiliser Chris Conti, each shared in several plenary sessions, workshops and forums. Their topics included: Using your profession in missions, Reaching Muslim women, How to disciple children and teens, Reaching the unreached, Self-care, Pastoral care for pastors, Spiritual warfare, and Mission mobilisation.

Six SIM staff were kept busy at the booth answering questions and explaining SIM’s resources. They encouraged participants to realise their specific role in God’s mission, through a mini-magazine, which included pages to fill in as people prayed through their calling.

As people entered the booth, they were challenged to write their name on a sticker and place it on a huge map banner, making a commitment to pray for that specific area in the world and to seek God’s will for their involvement in that area.

More than 50 props and frames for selfies provided even more interaction with participants. Uniquely, the CIMA conference offered more than 50 mission trips leaving directly from CIMA to 15 different countries.

The conference, which takes place every four years, challenged young people to live their lives for God’s glory, with Jesus as their example.

The last day, every hand was marked with henna as if pierced, a symbol of dying to themselves and living for God. This mark lasted about a week on participants’ hands, but we pray the impact of CIMA International willlast a lifetime.

PLEASE PRAY:

• For young peoplein Latin America to remain faithful to their call.

• For follow-up with contacts made at the SIM booth.

• For good partnerships with local agencies and churches in Latin America.

Joanna and Joshua Bogunjoko pose for a photo using one of the SIM booth selfie props.

ProVisión is a Chilean sending organisation founded in 2006 to send workers through partner missions, such as SIM. ProVisión has sent 32 adults as mid- or long-term (more than a year) and 23 adults as short-term missionaries. Three have served on SIM teams in Mozambique, China and Pakistan. They have 18 candidates now; two will serve on SIM teams.