IMPACTO Year in Review

2020 has been a year full of challenges and opportunities.  We are grateful for God's grace that has gotten us through such an unprecedented year.  Your financial partnership and prayers have also allowed us to plant churches and support church planters during a pandemic!  Let's look back over what God has done in 2020. 

In January, El Ancla lead church planter Andrés García went with Héctor Rodríguez to Mexico City to pick up Bibles.  International Emergency Disaster Service (IDES) has been a partner with IMPACTOLatino for many years and donated funds to purchase Bibles for the El Ancla church plant and Iglesia Cristiana La Viña.  We were able to purchase almost 900 Bibles!  The partnership with IDES helps us to get Bibles into the hands of people who may never have read one before!  Thanks, IDES!

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AVANZA, IMPACTOnetwork's church planter assessment took place at the beginning of February 2020.  This year there were five couples participating.  Some were candidates for IMPACTOnetwork church plants while the others were invited by other ministries.  AVANZA is meeting a large need in Mexico and Latin America as we know of no other organizations doing church planter assessments here.  

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On March 22, Iglesia Cristiana La Viña held its first online Sunday celebration.  The week leading up to that first online service was full of planning, learning new software, recording and editing.  The IMPACTOnetwork media team came together with La Viña staff to make sure quality services were produced each week. Little could we imagine back in March that digital production for Sunday services would last for five months!

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In April, the whole IMPACTOnetwork church planting team started creating resources to help churches and pastors during the pandemic.  Videos and training were produced on different topics such as technology resources, social networking sites, government regulations, working from home, and others.   We continue to make resources to help churches navigate the transition to a more digital time.

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Iglesia Cristiana La Viña had a non traditional anniversary celebration in May.  Since we continued to meet digitally, the church encouraged people to celebrate at home.  Many church members shared photos of their family watching the online Sunday service with balloons and cupcakes.  Though it was a different way to observe the two year anniversary, we took time to praise God for what He has done at La Viña. 

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Iglesia Cristiana La Viña didn't want to leave its children without Biblical instruction while they are unable to meet together.  In June, IMPACTOnetwork's media department taught the children's ministry team how to film and edit videos. Over the summer El Ancla's children's ministry team was also participating in the weekly filming.  The class which includes songs, a Bible story and a craft is made available on Facebook on Sunday mornings.  Friends on Facebook have shared these high quality children's classes in many different places in Mexico. 

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The federal government implemented a reopening scale which allowed Iglesia Cristiana La Viña to begin meeting in person in July.  Life Groups started gathering at La Viña's building rather than in homes following social distancing and cleaning protocols.  The church was encouraged to see one another in person after many months of only seeing each other thru screens! 

​Life Group facilitators did a great job during the spring and early summer continuing to meet with their Life Groups, conduct discipleship studies and check on members.  We credit the Life Groups for helping the church remain stable during this time.

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The Moreno family was getting settled back into life in Queretaro in the month of August.  They are IMPACTOnetwork's Church Planting Residents for 2020-2021 preparing to plant a church in Mérida, Yucatán.  They are participating in the online church planting residency courses and serving on staff at El Ancla Iglesia Cristiana. 

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In September, IMPACTOnetwork started offering two different church planting residency programs.  One is the traditional church planting residency program that we teach to our Residents and senior year students at Mexico Christian University.  The first semester was conducted all online and our IMPACTOnetwork staff and church planters modified the curriculum to be able to hold the classes over Zoom.  

The online church planting training, másIMPACTO, saw a new group of 27  participants begin in September.  They are from different states around Mexico and work independently on modules during the week and then meet digitally on Saturdays to review.  We are excited to see how God uses this new digital platform to train more church planters. 

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El Ancla Iglesia Cristiana held its first Sunday services on October 4th. This new congregation launched during a pandemic has consistently been having over 40 people on Sunday mornings.  Their Life Groups multiplied from two to three and continue to meet during the week. They have had new families from the community start attending with them because of the signage. 

INVEST IN EL ANCLA CHURCH

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In November, New International CEO Jeff Metzger and his wife Teresa visited our IMPACTOLatino team for a retreat.  They spent a few days with the team encouraging and challenging us.  We also had a time set aside for looking ahead to the next few years and the future of the team and ministry.  

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The year concludes with Advent celebrations at Iglesia Cristiana La Viña and El Ancla Iglesia Cristiana.  Both churches looked at four themes during the Sundays in December leading up to Christmas: hope, love, joy, and peace.  Iglesia Cristiana La Viña also had a candlelight Christmas Eve service to focus on Christ before family gatherings.  Everyone had uplifting comments of the beauty and solemnity of this time and how helpful it was to center on Jesus in the midst of so many uncertain things. 

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Throughout the craziest year any of us have ever experienced, God has still moved!  He has touched hearts and transformed lives though church plants and Life Groups.  Your prayers and financial giving help make it possible.  We are so grateful for your partnership in training and sending church planters.

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