On Friday I returned from Toronto, Canada,
which has not been my usual direction of travel over the past 10 years with
Latin America Mission. However this was
a special trip addressing some significant changes
taking place at Latin America Mission. A few days ago a communication was
sent out announcing LAM’s merger into United World Mission. Having
served on LAM’s guidance team over the past few years, I can tell you that this
has been a difficult process, however one that we anticipate to bear much fruit
as we move forward. The new merged ministry will certainly result in greater
pathways for Kingdom service, not only within Latin America but for our Latin
partners into the rest of the world.
Interestingly my first interaction with UWM and current
president John Bernard was at a 2002 Cuba conference held at their US office in
Charlotte, NC. Actually, UWM’s origins were in in 1946 when they first began
work in Cuba, and they now have ministries Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin
America. The new combined organization will consist of more than 350 missionaries
(doubling the size of each individual organization) serving in 42 countries.
As a mission, UWM is committed to upholding the principal of partnership, and
to continue working alongside Latin
partners in both word and action as LAM has done for nearly a century. The merger will reduce overhead costs, allowing our missionaries,
sending churches and receiving ministries to be even better stewards of what the
Lord has entrusted.
For now, the name “Latin America Mission” will continue as ministry of
UWM, and donations can continue as usual until further notice.
So…what does this mean for the Abegg Family? We joined LAM as missionaries to Cuba in the year 2000, have had
extensive involvement in re-inventing and managing LAM’s international
partnerships over the years, and more recently worked to strengthen LAM’s North
American Partnerships with Sending and Supporting Churches. I would be lying if I said this change isn’t
significant, however we’ve see how the Lord moves through, and uses times of
change to guide and align us with His purposes. For now, we continue on our anticipated
trajectory of a 9 month “home assignment” in order to raise share with supporters,
visit churches and care for some significant needs my (Kevin’s) parents are
facing.
UWM has asked us to consider joining their
home office in Charlotte. Yet over the past few years we believe the Lord has
been opening doors and leading us toward further work between the N. American
and Latin Church in the area of Human Trafficking. Over the next couple of
months we ask for intercession as we will be discerning with UWM leadership where the Lord is leading us
all: The Abegg’s in terms of long term ministry assignment, UWM/LAM in terms of
transfer of specific partnerships, missionaries and next steps in Latin
America. We will keep you posted and updated to the best of our ability, and
ask that you keep us all in your prayers.
We will be arriving in CA sometime during the
first week of October, and began our journey West yesterday. Please follow us
on Facebook and know we will miss our friends and partners in Miami this year
but look forward to connecting with those on the West Coast in the near future.
For now donations and support will continue
as normal until the beginning of next year:
- Checks may continue to be mailed to: Latin America Mission P.O. Box 52-7900 Miami FL, 33152-7900. Please include a note indicating “For the Abeggs”.
- Online Donations may be made at: http://www.lam.org/missionaries/abegg
Thank
you for your continued support and encouragement. We look forward to continuing
this journey together and will keep you posted!
