Inter-America to engage in strengthening pastoral families

Image by Inter-American Division

January 12, 2017 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens/IAD

Spiritually strong pastoral families equal spiritually strong congregations. That is the urgent message the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America has been driving home to its 3,700 pastors in the territory.

Pastors and their families will have the chance to worship and pray together every day with other thousands of other pastoral families during a special week of prayer program online from January 22-27, 2017.

Themed “In His Hands,” the week of prayer seeks to inspire pastoral couples and their children to pray and study God’s Word and focus on placing their lives in God’s hands in order to grow spiritually together, and serve the church and the community in sharing the good news of salvation.

“We want to start the year reminding our pastoral families that they are not alone, that the Lord guides and provides us with tools and the necessary protection to keep us ready and standing firm for His soon coming,” says Pastor Héctor Sánchez, ministerial secretary for the church in Inter-America.

Sánchez says the online week of prayer is a joint effort between Family Ministries and Ministerial Association and one that has proven to be a blessing for three years in a row to the pastoral families that minister to the more than 20,000 churches and congregations across the Inter-American Division (IAD).

“Our pastors are so busy taking care of so many congregations that we want to make sure they pause to join us from Sunday to Friday to delight together in the Word of God,” says Sánchez.

With a membership of over 3.7 million, a pastor in Inter-America has an average of five or six congregations. In one region in Colombia, one pastor can oversee 15 churches, in other places it’s more, explains Sánchez.

“The pastoral family is the spearhead in our church to motivate and guide the church in the fulfillment of the mission so it is of utmost importance that they take time to pray for each other and other pastoral families across the territory during the week,” he says.

Pastors and their families can pick the time that best fits their schedule to view the daily online worship program, which includes 25 minutes of music, prayer, spiritual message and testimonies from across the territory. The programs will be available in English, Spanish and French.

To view the IAD’s Pastoral Family Week of Prayer, Jan. 22-27, 2017, click on the special banner at interamerica.org