Latin America Mission, Inc.
Summary
Latin America Mission, Inc. ("LAM") encourages and assists Latin churches to evangelize the world and to spread the message of hope - that new life can be theirs in Jesus Christ. Founded in 1921 by Harry and Susan Strachan, LAM is a multi-national organization, committed to networking with all evangelical churches and organizations and open to innovative methods of sharing the Gospel. Almost 80 percent of Latin Americans are in cities. So most of LAM's workers minister in these Latin American cities. LAM combines evangelism and discipleship with practical expressions of God's love, meeting the needs of the whole person through medical attention, counseling, literacy education, job training, etc. This organization is a nonprofit. Contributions to it are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. It is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
Contact Information: [ Back to top ]
| Mailing Address: | PO Box 52-7900
Miami, FL
33152-7900 |
| Website: | www.lam.org |
| Phone: | (305) 884-8400, (800) 275-8410 |
| Email: | You need to enable javascript to see the email |
Organization Details [ Back to top ]
EIN: 226000757
| CEO/President: |
Dr. Janvier (Jack) Voelkel |
Tax Deductible: |
Yes |
| Chairman: |
|
Fiscal Year End: |
June 30 |
| Board Size: |
|
Financial info from: |
|
| Founder: |
Harry and Susan Strachan |
Member of ECFA: |
Yes |
| Year Founded: |
1921 |
Member of ECFA since: |
1980 |
Latin America Mission, Inc. ("LAM") encourages and assists Latin churches to evangelize the world and to spread the message of hope - that new life can be theirs in Jesus Christ. Founded in 1921 by Harry and Susan Strachan, LAM is a multi-national organization, committed to networking with all evangelical churches and organizations and open to innovative methods of sharing the Gospel. Almost 80 percent of Latin Americans are in cities. So most of LAM's workers minister in these Latin American cities. LAM combines evangelism and discipleship with practical expressions of God's love, meeting the needs of the whole person through medical attention, counseling, literacy education, job training, etc. This organization is a nonprofit. Contributions to it are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. It is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).
Latin American Mission uses the following to communicate its purpose:
The Latin America Mission is an international community of men and women, who motivated by their love for the Lord Jesus and in obedience to His commands, encourage, assist and participate with the Latin church in the task of building the church of Jesus Christ in the Latin world and beyond.
Program Accomplishments [ Back to top ]
Latin America Mission Project List - 2004
- Economic Development - micro-credit and job creation programs for poor families in Columbia, Venezuela, Honduras, Costa Rica and Argentina. Consulting assistance welcome through short or long-term commitments. Technical assistance needed in production and marketing. Revolving loan funds and start-up capital also necessary for new projects in Mexico and Peru.
- Children's Programs - children at risk are the focus of programs in Mexico, Columbia, and Costa Rica. Sponsoring funding is sought, and all programs have monthly support plans. Visitors are welcome, and short and long-term assignments exist for those willing to help.
- Camping Programs - evangelistic camping outreach in Honduras, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Scholarships are needed for participants. Construction crews are welcome.
- Missionary Orientation - June ten-day preparation for new missionaries held in Miami. Scholarships are needed for people who are called to missions, but who do not have resources to attend.
- Seminary Training - Biblical training for pastors in Venezuela, Columbia, and Costa Rica, with impact throughout the region. Scholarships are needed. Full-time professors are being sought for programs in Peru and Argentina.
- Leadership Training Conferences - held for Latin American leaders on critical topics such as development of boards, local funding sources, management, etc. Scholarships are needed.
- Administrative Costs - Oversight of ministry projects. The Mission assesses a low 13% service charge and requires approximately $250,000 per year additional to meet operational costs for services to missionaries.
Statement of Faith [ Back to top ]
Latin American Mission uses the following to communicate its values:
We believe in one God, creator and sustainer of the universe, who eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for the sins of the world, was raised bodily and exalted to God's right hand, where he makes intercession for His own. He will personally come again.
We believe that God created humankind, male and female, in His own image. However, everyone has sinned and is guilty before God. As a result, all creation suffers the consequences of the fall and is under God's judgment.
We believe that because of His love, God sent His Son Jesus Christ, who inaugurated His Kingdom, provided atonement for sin, disarmed the powers and authorities, triumphing over them by the cross, reconciling the world to Himself. He will consummate His Kingdom in righteousness, power, and glory.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who glorifies Jesus Christ, working in all peoples to bring them to believe and obey Christ. The Spirit dwells in those who believe, equipping and empowering them for lives of holiness and fruitful service.
We believe the Bible to be the divinely inspired Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
We believe that all who repent and believe in Christ are born into life eternal, delivered from condemnation, and as His Church are called to communicate the Gospel, proclaim the Kingdom, make disciples of all nations and seek to be instruments of righteousness, justice, and healing, all to the glory of God.
We believe in the resurrection of the body, the eternal blessedness of believers in the presence of Christ and the eternal separation of unbelievers from Him.
Since 1921, when Harry and Susan Strachan founded the Latin America Mission, LAM's goal has been to evangelize the Latin world. Over the past few decades in North America, the march has been away from the cities and into the suburbs. Precisely the opposite flow has occurred in Latin America. Across Latin America today, big, mind-boggling cities of 5 to 25 million are overwhelmed with masses of humanity. People are streaming to the cities from the countryside in search of jobs and a better way of life. But many of those living in Latin cities today exist in a quagmire of poverty, unemployment and loneliness. It is their pain, hopelessness, and especially their lost state without Christ that moves LAM missionaries to set aside comfortable lifestyles to share Christ's message of hope.
LAM has communicated the following needs:
There are many projects that are in need of funding. The following is the Latin America Mission Project List for 2004.
Economic Development - micro-credit and job creation programs for poor families in Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, Costa Rica and Argentina. Consulting assistance welcome through short or long-term commitments. Technical assistance needed in production and marketing. Revolving loan funds and start-up capital also necessary for new projects in Mexico and Peru.
Children's Programs - children at risk are the focus of programs in Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Sponsorship funding is sought, and all programs have monthly support plans. Visitors are welcome, and short and long-term assignments exist for those willing to help.
Camping Programs - evangelistic camping outreach in Honduras, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Scholarships are needed for participants. Construction crews are welcome.
Missionary Orientation - June ten-day preparation for new missionaries held in Miami. Scholarships are needed for people who are called to missions, but who do not have resources to attend.
Seminary Training - Biblical training for pastors in Venezuela, Colombia, and Costa Rica, with impact throughout the region. Scholarships are needed. Full-time professors are being sought for programs in Peru and Argentina.
Leadership Training Conferences - held for Latin American leaders on critical topics such as development of boards, local funding sources, management, etc. Scholarships are needed.
Administrative Costs - Oversight of ministry projects. The Mission assesses a low 13 % service charge, and requires approximately $250,000 per year additional to meet operational costs for services to missionaries.
Research Analysis
Transparency Grade [ Back to top ]
| Transparency Grade of : B |
| Criteria category | Grade | Other Comments |
| Timeliness: | 70 | 10/28/2011 1:31:55 PM: Organization made financial information available greater than 7 ½ months. |
| Financial Information: | 90 | |
| Foundational Clarity: | 100 | 10/28/2011 1:32:07 PM: Descriptive information was abundant and thorough. |
| Level of Cooperation: | | |
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MinistryWatch.com 5 Star Financial Efficiency Ratings [ Back to top ]
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MinistryWatch.com’sTake
LAM’s Evangelical Revolution
Latin America, we all know, is and has long been an area of the world marked by poverty, confusion, and conflict. The activities of Marxist ideologues such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and other radical revolutionaries bent upon “liberating” the peoples of Latin America come readily to mind when one thinks of this region of the world. What may not come readily to mind is a quiet, non-violent, spiritual “revolution” that has been taking place in Latin America: a Christian revolution. And in the midst of this Christian revolution is an evangelical missionary agency which has been bringing the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ to Latin America for over 80 years: Latin America Mission.
Latin America Mission, Inc. (LAM) is an evangelical Christian ministry whose purpose is to build the Church of Jesus Christ in Latin America. LAM does this by working under local, grassroots ministries as ministry partners. LAM facilitates connections with qualified American missionaries and Latin American ministries, trains those missionaries for service in Latin America, and sends them to work in a particular field with one of its Latin American ministry partners. LAM is primarily evangelistic in its purposes; however, over the course of its 80-year history, the ministry has grown to appreciate the need to minister “holistically.” LAM now supports and facilities a wide variety of ministry programs designed to help meet needs in all aspects of a person’s life.
In what follows, we will outline the broad structure of LAM’s ministry, list and briefly describe some of its ministry programs, and chart its missiological development as this relates to the ministry’s self-understanding and purpose. Our focus in all of this will be upon two things in particular: (1) the suitability of LAM’s structure and programs with respect to its goal of building the Church of Jesus Christ in Latin America, and (2) the importance of LAM’s evangelical identity as this relates to its partnerships and operations (particularly its evangelistic operations).
A Partnering and Facilitating Missionary Agency
There are two major parts to LAM’s structure, one as it relates to the ministry’s connections and operations in Latin America, and the other as it relates to LAM’s connections with and training of its missionaries.
LAM is a partnership ministry. Its operations in the field are conducted in conjunction with and under the authority of local, grassroots ministries. LAM has founded churches in Latin America, but its primary emphasis is on working with local ministries by connecting them with missionary workers who will work with that ministry in a needed capacity. There are three key aspects to this side of LAM’s structure:
- LAM does not have any field directors. LAM missionaries work directly with and under the leadership of local ministries. This makes LAM’s structure less complex- the missionary simply works under one ministry with its own structure, goals, and programs. The advantage of this arrangement lies in its simplicity: each of LAM’s partner ministries (there are some 50 in all) is (presumably) in the best position to identify needs and adopt strategies to meet those needs. The foreign missionary can fit in with a particular ministry better if he does not have to serve two masters: the field director and the leadership of the local ministry. Of course, it may be that a field director could enhance the effectiveness of the local ministries in a region by providing guidance for and helping to ensure a level of unanimity among the ministries in a particular region. The following questions might legitimately be raised: Does LAM conceive of individual ministries as relatively isolated, atomic units? How does LAM make sure that its core beliefs and definite goals are carried out in the field among these distinct ministries?
- LAM works with local ministries with a clear evangelical identity and qualified responsible structures. This second aspect of LAM’s structure (regarding the mission field) goes some way towards answering the questions raised by the first. LAM does not partner with just any ministry. In order to work with LAM, a ministry must be evangelical (i.e., share LAM’s core beliefs) and exhibit a qualified and responsible structure (i.e., share LAM’s goals and be organized in a such a way as to able to realistically work towards those goals). This stipulation, if carefully adhered to, does help to ensure unanimity of purpose among LAM partners. It also helps to ensure that LAM’s organizational identity does not get lost in the field.
- LAM believes that God has given the Latin American church an agenda. This assertion seems to form part of the basis for LAM’s partnership approach to ministry. LAM does not want to promote its agenda over God’s agenda in Latin America; hence, its missionaries work directly under local ministries, not an LAM field director. Unfortunately, LAM does not, in its mission statement, say just what God’s agenda in Latin America is, nor why it would be in conflict with some LAM agenda.
LAM is a
facilitating ministry. This is the second major part of the organization’s structure, and has to do with its methods of recruiting, training, and connecting missionaries to one of its ministry partners in Latin America. LAM does not consider itself a sending agency; rather, the ministry seeks to facilitate connections between individuals who desire to work as missionaries in Latin America and ministries in Latin America with specific needs. LAM prioritizes the role of the local church in sending missionaries by involving local pastors in the process of missionary applications and evaluations. Several key factors and steps are involved in the process of becoming an LAM missionary, including:
- LAM is an inter-denominational ministry. Churches of various denominational affiliations, provided that they are in agreement with LAM’s doctrinal statement and mission statement, are encouraged to send missionaries through LAM.
- Every prospective LAM missionary must express unqualified acceptance of LAM’s doctrinal statement, and every missionary is required to reaffirm that statement each year.
- Every prospective LAM missionary must complete an extensive application process. This includes recommendations from their local pastor, an evaluation of the candidate’s personality, training, experience, family/ financial situations, and an evaluation of the prospects for placement in a particular field.
- Once the application and placement process is completed, the LAM missionary is required to complete a full orientation program and is placed in language school (usually the Spanish Language Institute in Costa Rica).
- LAM missionaries are required to raise all of their own support. LAM encourages its missionaries to become involved in tent-making activities while in the field, if this is required to provide the requisite income. Missionaries whose level of support drops below what is judged to be a sufficient amount may be required to return to the U. S. for deputation or furlough (fund raising).
LAM’s application and training process appears to be thorough. Efforts are made to see that qualified missionaries are trained and placed in such a manner that the fullest benefit can accrue to the Latin American church. LAM also seeks to preserve its evangelical identity by requiring its missionaries to affirm and reaffirm their commitment to the ministry’s doctrinal statement.
In short, LAM links evangelical Latin American churches with evangelical American churches. The later send and support missionaries, the former employee those missionaries in the field towards the meeting of needs for the building of the Latin American church. LAM is structured so as to facilitate this service, but does not seek to micro-manage the work done in the field, nor help to provide the financial means by which the missionary gets to (stays in) the field. These aspects of the missionary endeavor are left in the hands of the local churches in Latin America and in the U. S., respectively.
Currently, LAM works with some 240 missionaries in 13 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Venezuela, and the U. S.). LAM partners with a total of 48 local ministries in these countries.
What Does an LAM Missionary Do?
LAM’s purpose is to build the church of Jesus Christ in Latin America. Its stated point of emphasis is evangelism, and every LAM missionary is said to promote evangelism. At the same time, LAM seeks to minister holistically, and this holistic form of ministry is viewed as an historical development within LAM. In our next section, we will discuss how LAM understands its current identity in relation to its past- including its “new style” of evangelism and its relation to the old. For now, we will gain some idea of the scope of LAM’s mission by looking at the kinds of ministry programs for which it seeks to supply workers. These opportunities for service include:
- Outreach/ evangelism ministries: e.g., church planting, evangelism directors and workers, and various social outreach programs to the disadvantaged and abused.
- Children’s ministries: work in children’s homes, social work, house-parenting, and tutoring.
- Education: teachers, journalists, curriculum developers, and school directors.
- Chaplaincy: reinforcement, ministry training, and hospitals.
- Camping ministries: directors and team members.
- Theological education: teachers, administrators, assistants, professors.
- Administration and general service: librarians, secretaries, communications, development.
- Economic/ agricultural development: workers, promoters, appraisers.
- Technology: computer specialists
- Construction workers
- Health: nurses, psychologists, dentists
- Social workers
(Note: this is not an exhastive list, and the examples given do not include all of the positions, which might fall under a particular category.)
LAM offers opportunities in both short-term and long-term missions. The ministry promotes its goals and informs people about its programs and accomplishments through the bi-monthly publication,
Latin American Evangelist and its website (which features a search engine for doing research in missions).
LAM’s Development
LAM began as a traditional, pulpit-style, evangelistic ministry, and continued in that vein until around 1971. At this point the ministry began to broaden in its scope, as can be seen from the programs listed above, most of which are not directly evangelistic in nature. Yet LAM continues to claim that its primary emphasis is evangelism. Is this claim genuine? There are several important factors to consider here, some of these being of an historical nature.
First, it is certain that LAM has historically been an evangelical and evangelistic missions agency. Four distinct periods of evangelistic activity have occurred in LAM’s history, these being:
- Founder Harry Strachan’s evangelistic crusades (1921- 1939)
- Strachan’s son Kenneth’s evangelistic campaigns (1950- 1958)
- The deployment and extensive use of the Evangelism-in-Depth program (1959- 1971)
- The adoption of a centrifugal approach to evangelism, where the shift was away from the pulpit-centered approach of traditional crusades to more organic, friendship-based, and layperson directed modes of evangelism (1971- present).
The development of the Evangelism-in-Depth (EID) program in the late 50’s coincided historically with the rise of revolutionary, communist-inspired activity in Latin America. EID was a conservative (theologically and politically) voice urging Christian leaders to promote their own revolution- a spiritual one, based on the biblical Gospel.
In the wake of the political revolutions shaking and shaping Latin America, a new approach to theology, commonly called “liberation theology,” began to take shape. According to liberation theology, true religion is primarily political and social in the transformations it engenders. Traditional Gospel terms are applied in non-traditional ways (usually guided by a Marxist framework of thought). LAM was caught in the midst of these developments, and to its credit took decisive steps to maintain its evangelical identity, including its commitment to the Gospel of personal redemption through the work of Jesus Christ. One of these decisive steps was the development and use of EID. Another was the official withdrawal of LAM from the seminary which its had founded (Latin American Bible Seminary), due to the seminary’s growing endorsement of liberation theology. This withdrawal occurred in 1979.
LAM has never ceased to officially be an evangelical ministry, and it is obvious from its current doctrinal statement and mission statement that it wishes to maintain this identity. The shift towards partnership and holistic ministry, with less top-down control and a broader base of operations may have been motivated by concerns rising out of the political and theological upheavals in the 60’s, but it does not indicate an abandonment of evangelicalism. The EID curriculum continues to inform much of LAM’s ministry. LAM sees its current direction in ministry as a reflection of its historical emphasis of being on the “cutting edge” of ministry. It is undeniable that there are great social needs in Latin America. LAM states that to meet those needs in a holistic way, as an expression of its continuing work in evangelism and discipleship, is an aspect of its mission to help build the Church of Jesus Christ in Latin America, and is in keeping with the ministry’s emphasis on evangelism.
Ministry Statement or Response [ Back to top ]
Financial Information:
| Balance Sheet |
| Assets | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
| Cash | $1,229,450 | $834,941 | $775,537 | $651,129 | $932,378 |
| Receivables, Inventories & Prepaids | $25,425 | $21,331 | $24,967 | $66,553 | $51,945 |
| Short-Term Investments | $0 | $0 | $635,211 | $452,317 | $497,264 |
| Other Current Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total Current Assets | $1,254,875 | $856,272 | $1,435,715 | $1,169,999 | $1,481,587 |
| Long-Term Investments | $838,179 | $774,513 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Fixed Assets | $626,253 | $651,258 | $783,803 | $860,837 | $922,138 |
| Other Long-Term Assets | $136,454 | $139,716 | $35,356 | $35,356 | $0 |
| Total Long-Term Assets | $1,600,886 | $1,565,487 | $819,159 | $896,193 | $922,138 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $2,855,761 | $2,421,759 | $2,254,874 | $2,066,192 | $2,403,725 |
| Liabilities | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
| Payables & Accrued Expenses | $238,800 | $241,524 | $245,330 | $214,919 | $327,172 |
| Other Current Liabilities | $151,002 | $131,279 | $52,353 | $61,668 | $68,337 |
| Total Current Liabilities | $389,802 | $372,803 | $297,683 | $276,587 | $395,509 |
| Debt | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Due To (From) Affiliates | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Other Long-Term Liabilities | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total Long-Term Liabilities | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | $389,802 | $372,803 | $297,683 | $276,587 | $395,509 |
| Assets | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
| Unrestricted | $431,612 | $411,935 | $880,188 | $418,714 | $884,099 |
| Temporarily Restricted | $1,841,885 | $1,456,260 | $975,539 | $1,230,538 | $989,770 |
| Permanently Restricted | $192,462 | $180,761 | $101,464 | $140,353 | $134,347 |
| NET ASSETS | $2,465,959 | $2,048,956 | $1,957,191 | $1,789,605 | $2,008,216 |
| Revenue and Expenses |
| Revenue | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
| Total Contributions | $6,974,255 | $6,669,298 | $6,933,047 | $6,553,905 | $6,654,712 |
| Program Service Revenue | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Membership Dues | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Investment Income | $71,402 | $47,365 | $71,733 | $18,174 | ($66,351) |
| Other Revenue | $224,899 | $141,621 | $145,767 | $190,448 | $32,454 |
| Total Other Revenue | $296,301 | $188,986 | $217,500 | $208,622 | ($33,897) |
| TOTAL REVENUE | $7,270,556 | $6,858,284 | $7,150,547 | $6,762,527 | $6,620,815 |
| Expenses | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
| Program Services | $5,757,030 | $5,761,706 | $5,764,304 | $5,652,035 | $5,963,878 |
| Management & General | $1,049,535 | $978,098 | $1,150,301 | $1,353,773 | $943,791 |
| Fundraising | $46,988 | $26,715 | $68,356 | $72,019 | $128,912 |
| TOTAL EXPENSES | $6,853,553 | $6,766,519 | $6,982,961 | $7,077,827 | $7,036,581 |
| Change in Net Assets | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
| SURPLUS (DEFICIT) | $417,003 | $91,765 | $167,586 | ($315,300) | ($415,766) |
| Other Changes in Net Assets | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| TOTAL CHANGE IN NET ASSETS | $417,003 | $91,765 | $167,586 | ($315,300) | ($415,766) |