Latin America (MNN)–In 2002, the Evangelical Free Church of America launched a school without borders for the Latin American church.
The theological training offered via the internet conquered the financial and geographic challenges church leaders faced. However, as the church grew, the pastors began to ask for more advanced training.
Once again, finances and location presented an obstacle, not to mention the availability of a curriculum. EFCA’s Keith Anderson found only one way around the puzzle: create your own.
As the Latin America Training Network has grown with the church, Anderson says more staff keep it running. He says they’re in the process of answering the need for a masters’ level course.
“There are a number of pastors who wanted more education, but were not able to continue their studies for a number of reasons. The Latin America Training Network has responded to the needs of those leaders in Latin America to allow them to overcome those obstacles and to train at the masters’ level.”
Anderson says they’re well on their way to having the advanced curriculum ready for launch in 2005. Their team is working furiously because: “This is a tremendous need that we’re seeing. The number we use is about eight thousand new believers every day in Latin America. This creates a huge leadership vacuum that LATN is addressing.”
