On October 23-26, the Alianza Evangélica Latina (AEL, or Latin American Evangelical Alliance) marked its 10th anniversary with a General Assembly in Brasilia, Brazil. A major highlight of the assembly was a special session hosted by the Brazilian Federal
Senate at its Petronio Portela Auditorium.
WEA Secretary General Thomas Schirrmacher joined the AEL and the presidents of its 20 national alliances for the celebration. His participation was received with much gratitude by the AEL representatives, who engaged in an emotional time of prayer for him.
Three of the main presentations during the General Assembly focused on legal issues for churches and Christian organizations, including regulatory compliance, risk management, and preventing financial crimes. Speakers included Edna Vasconcelos of Brazil’s National Association of Evangelical Jurists; attorney Luigi Braga; Carolina Bueno, executive secretary of the Spanish Federation of Evangelical Religious Organizations (FEREDE); and Mariano Blázquez, AEL secretary.
At the General Assembly’s anniversary dinner, AEL president Juan Cruz Cellammare (Paraguay) honored his Honduran colleague Alberto Solorzano, the organization’s founding president, and introduced a video summarizing the AEL’s 10 years of service. Cellammare pointed out that whereas in the past Latin America was a destination for missionaries, now it is sending missionaries all over the world.
Schirrmacher thanked the AEL for its success in spreading the gospel effectively, especially in settings where the people’s needs are often extensive due to high poverty rates.
Evelyn Ayarza of Lectura Pública de la Biblia (Public Bible Reading), an entity affiliated with the AEL, reported that her organization’s Bible reading app had surpassed one million downloads, demonstrating the great success of that resource. Jorge Scopazzo, the main promoter of an audio Bible program in Portuguese, described the status of his project, which should be ready for its premiere in the near future.
The AEL has also enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the Organization of American States, which included co-hosting a forum on August 15 of this year on “Democracy in the Americas and the Role of Evangelical Alliances in the Latin American Church.”
Click here for the Spanish-language report from which this article contains translated portions.
