EXCITING 2025, LOOKING FOR 2026
- Iturras Missionary Ministry - Chile & Colombia
- Feb 24
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 26
We are already entering this year 2026, but we want to thank God for the year 2025 and also thank God for our ministry partners who have been fundamental in being able to move forward in our missionary ministry among the Hispanic community.
LatinoAmerican World Mission was born with the vision of a joint work between “Latino” brothers in Christ and “American” brothers in Christ, to reach the Spanish-speaking community with the Gospel where they are and where the Lord will take us in the world. All of this was during my time at Great Lakes Christian College, and that is where the name “LatinoAmerican World Mission (LAWM)” was born.
In 2012, when I arrived to study at Great Lakes Christian College in Lansing, MI, with Adriana my wife, we tried to work with Hispanics in outreach programs and in sharing the Gospel with them. We were able to have contact with several during our five years in Michigan. During the six months before finishing my studies at GLCC, we were praying for the Lord’s direction about where to go to reach Hispanics. We had some contacts with Christian Churches in the United States to start churches with services in Spanish, but the Lord guided us to return to South America.
In South America we have been able to develop three churches, two in Chile and one in Colombia. In Chile we have also started a Bible Institute with in-person classes and, after the Covid pandemic, only with live online and recorded classes. Thanks to the Lord we were also able to host several Short-Term Mission Trips (STMT), currently paused, but with the hope of resuming them in 2026 and 2027.
Today we continue praying to keep growing, seeking the Lord to guide us and remaining open to being challenged by our wonderful Lord and God.
CHILE
City of Santiago.- In the capital city of Santiago we have our first church planted with the Lord’s help before I traveled to Great Lakes Christian College in 2012. We started this church with mostly teenagers and elderly people, a little more than 30 people.
After 2 very hard years because of the Covid pandemic in which we lost several brothers and sisters who stopped attending, some internal problems as a consequence of the effects of having 1 year and about 9 months without being able to meet in person, and not having adequate facilities to continue growing, we have kept moving forward.
Today, thanks to God, our congregation has doubled its attendance from its beginning, having about 70 people on average attending each month.
It is a church that is self-supporting thanks to its offerings and tithes.
It has a second pastor working full time who came from the teenagers who attended at the beginning; Matías Molina is today associate pastor.
The congregation has been improving the salary of Pastor Matías Molina.
City of Melipilla.- We started the congregation before the Covid pandemic, but because of the no-meeting restrictions we had to stop the work, so we resumed at the end of 2021. We began with our family and two more families, about 14 people.
Today, thanks to the Lord, we have a little more than 80 people attending on average each month.
The church is self-supporting thanks to its own offerings and tithes.We have people of different nationalities from South America who live in Melipilla and attend.
Thanks to God, we have three deacons in training and serving.
A good group of about 20 volunteers who work each week in the ministry of the church.
Our church in Melipilla, Chile - 2025-2026
COLOMBIA
City of Barranquilla.– We began the congregation in the north of Colombia, only a couple of weeks after leaving Great Lakes Christian College. We had about ten people at our initial meeting in June 2017. After working for 3 months in Barranquilla, we moved to Chile to live and work. The congregation in Barranquilla continued with the work of a national whom we left leading the congregation. The church in Barranquilla also had to go through a halt in its in-person meetings due to the pandemic. Then in 2024, the national pastor we left in charge decided to leave the congregation in order to go live in another country, so we had to begin a new process. Thanks to God, today the congregation continues moving forward.
Today our church in Barranquilla has a new leader who in the month of April will begin the process of being a pastor in training.
The congregation has a variable attendance but close to 40 people per month.
The church has the assistance of LAWM to pay the rent of a meeting hall for a couple of hours each Sunday, but soon the church, which has been improving its finances, will begin to participate in the payment of the monthly rent.
I travel between 3 to 4 times per year to spend a few days with the congregation in training seminars, preach on Sundays, visit the members, teach in discipleship groups, and participate in evangelism.
Our church in Barranquilla, Colombia - 2026
LAWM BIBLE INSTITUTE
At our LAWM Bible Institute I have been able to share much of what I received in my training at Great Lakes Christian College, with different classes and topics related to the life of the Church, with the sole purpose of preparing servant-leaders for the Church and the World. Thank God the institute continues to be an option for brothers from different congregations in different countries.
We have two teaching programs: Certificate Program (Basic) and Diploma Program (Intermediate). Each of the programs has 6 classes and lasts 1 year.
We have had Spanish-speaking students taking live and recorded online classes who live in different countries such as: Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Australia, Equatorial Guinea, and the United States of America.
Today we begin a new cycle of courses and we have 14 students thanks to the Lord.
Future Goal for 2026
In 2026 we dream, pray to the Lord to see these advances:
Santiago, Chile with 90 people actively participating
Melipilla, Chile with 100 people actively participating.
Barranquilla, Colombia with 50 people actively participating.
Start our 4th new church among Hispanics in North America.
In our LAWM Bible Institute have new classes, students and professors.
New groups of Short Term Mission Trips to Chile and Colombia.
Increase our monthly support, since it dropped some in 2025.
Prayer Request
God’s direction for our LAWM board as they help lead this ministry.
God’s direction for Darío Iturra and his family as our missionaries.
For more people and churches that would like to financially partner with us at LAWM.
For open doors from God to start new churches in new countries.
For God's glory always!
Comments