Why is LATN needed?

The evangelical church of Jesus Christ in Latin America has experienced an exciting phase of explosive growth. In the last 25 years, the church has grown from less than 20 million believers to over 60 million. Most recently, the number of people accepting Jesus as their Lord and personal Savior has been estimated at 8,000 per day.

Clearly, we are witnessing an extraordinary blessing and movement of God in Latin America! 

As wonderful as this blessing of growth has been, it also presents immediate burdens to those responsible for these burgeoning churches:

Latin America needs:

More workers for the harvest
Strictly from a numerical standpoint, the Latin American Church needs more workers to tend to this teeming harvest. As God raises these workers, existing church leaders, already straining to care for their growing congregations, have the added burden of ensuring that their new workers are sound in doctrine and effective in ministry.  
Knowledgeable servants of God
  Since the new Latin American believers are not yet able to discern the difference between Biblical and unbiblical teachings, they are falling prey to deficient theologies, heresies, and cults that are spreading quickly among the new believers. There is a pressing need in Latin America for the leaders of evangelical churches to be knowledgeable about their Lord Jesus Christ and the spiritual issues facing the Latin American church.
Well-equipped church leaders
New Latin American believers often have experienced strong emotional feelings in their conversions, and the Latin American church needs to have leaders properly equipped to firmly plant foundational truths into the lives of those with experiential conversions. Without church leaders equipped to properly minister to and disciple them, the new believers quickly become disillusioned and desert the church because solid discipleship was never implemented.

 

The Latin America Training Network has been called by God to address these serious problems.

Latin American leaders, aware first-hand of these needs, are seeking ways to meet these challenges. But many are frustrated and discouraged because of seemingly insurmountable obstacles between them and the training needed by their churches. These obstacles, such as the high cost of education, the need to abandon ministry and family in order to relocate for study in another country, and the very few options where these leaders are able to study, are all obstacles that LATN solves. By making quality theological education accessible to willing pastors and church leaders using distance-education technology and formats, LATN brings the necessary training to the church leaders who most earnestly desire it, enthusiastically receive it, and effectively apply it.
 
LATN exists to strengthen the nationals, the Latin American leaders of church planting movements. By providing accessible theological education and resources and combining a Biblical worldview with culturally relevant ministry, LATN delivers the timeless message of God in a culturally relevant package using the most effective technologies and people in order to equip the equippers who are the leaders of Latin America's Evangelical church.