The City That Cries for a Church
“There are cities in Latin America with millions of people, where you’re not going to find even one church that really preaches the Word of God.”
This is how Santiago Armel, vice president at The Expositors’ Seminary (SEMDEX) in Colombia, described the need of cities across Latin America—a region still dominated by Catholic influence and Pentecostal theology.
One of these cities sits in the Andes Mountains, just 30 miles from the Colombian border. In San Cristobal, Venezuela, a group of believers have been gathering, week after week, praying for a church to be established there.
A New Kind of Reformation
Venezuela was once one of the richest countries in South America. But after years of authoritarian rule, over 23% of the country’s population has fled its borders—and those who remain have few earthly resources to turn to (UNHCR).
“This longing has fueled a search for truth that Santiago and other leaders are describing as ‘a new kind of reformation in Latin America.’”
“The people in Venezuela came to a point where they have not much hope in the government or in the institutions of this world,” Santiago explained, “so I think that people start seeing that the only hope and real hope that we have is God.”
This longing has fueled a search for truth that Santiago and other leaders are describing as “a new kind of reformation in Latin America.”
Evangelicalism first found a footing on the continent in university campuses some 50 years ago, but new believers were left without clear direction, trained leaders, or theological resources. Spiritual fervor was easily subsumed by Charismatic theology. Cults proliferated.
Today, many Christians in South America still do not have access to a church where sound, faithful preaching can be heard.
The Life of a Church
TMAI candidate school SEMDEX has been training men in the Colombian cities of Cali and Bogota since 2017. But in 2022, SEMDEX received a formal letter from outside the country. A group of Venezuelan believers, many of whom had left Pentecostal churches, had discovered the seminary’s teaching online.
The letter's request was earnest: help us establish a church here.
SEMDEX's faculty were ready to support their neighbors. They offered leading men in the group the opportunity to study at SEMDEX's campus in Cali, a five-hour drive from San Cristobal. For the next four years, a handful of Venezuelans would travel to Cali every two months to join the seminary's preaching and Bible programs.
These trips had a purpose beyond academics. Santiago explained, “We don’t want to just give them theological knowledge. That is a key part of what we do, but we want them to have ecclesiological understanding, being part of the church.”
SEMDEX partner church, Iglesia Bíblica Cristiana de Cali (IBCC), was ready to welcome the Venezuelans during their stays. Santiago and fellow SEMDEX faculty member Michael Dennis founded IBCC five years ago to meet the spiritual need in Cali, while hoping to one day minister beyond their city.
“But I never thought that one of the first places that would happen would be in Venezuela,” Santiago shared.
Venezuelan believers in San Christobal
IBCC hosts over 700 attendees each week, and the church members are characterized by an eagerness to love and serve one another—and their guests. SEMDEX encouraged the Venezuelans to become part of the life of IBCC, not only to share in the fellowship, but to put their training in context.
“In theology class in seminary, you can get the idea of why you need to have a membership in the church,” Santiago said. “But there is a different thing: how to implement a membership in the church. And sometimes that does not come in seminary classes. You need to go and see how to do it.”
For the Venezuelans, witnessing these biblical practices—whether membership or church discipline—became real-life lessons for their own congregation.
“In the city of San Cristobal, God has prepared this group of almost 60 people with a desire to hear and follow His Word.”
In 2024, IBCC also began sending short term mission trips to San Cristobal to provide ministries the group lacked without a pastor, such as teaching, counseling, and baptism. During their visits, Santiago witnessed the growth that was taking place among the group because of what they had learned.
“Even with the small resources that they have and the small opportunities that they have, they want to do things excellently,” he said. “So when we go there trying to bless them, we are the ones who get blessings from their service, from their hospitality, and I saw that they are trying to duplicate many things that they saw here when they came to Cali.”
God’s Heart for the City
When we think of fulfilling the Great Commission, we often think of remote villages or jungle tribes. But in some of the most urbanized areas in South America, there are still thousands of men and women who have yet to hear the Word preached to them. Believers are longing for truth. Sheep are wandering without shepherds (Matt. 9:36).
Yet God’s heart is compassionate to them, just as He was to the masses in Nineveh who did not know their right hand from their left (Jonah 4:11).
In San Cristobal, almost 60 people are still meeting weekly to hear God’s Word through IBCC’s recorded sermons. Through their long-term relationship with SEMDEX, God is preparing these believers to plant a biblical church in Venezuela.
"The only way to have that kind of group and the only explanation is that the Lord is doing something among those people,” Santiago said.
We are praying with SEMDEX for the right leader: an experienced pastor committed to training elders and shepherding the flock. And through the ministry of our 19 training centers, we continue to invest in the raising of such leaders for every city, in every nation.
The Lord’s people are waiting.
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