Toward a Continental Vision
By Cristian Zanetti (Córdoba, Argentina)
Many of us have dreamed of the integration of our churches in Latin America, and this is especially true when it comes to missionary work and planting new churches.
In that dream, we envision mixed teams—comprising Brazilians, Chileans, Uruguayans, Mexicans, Guatemalans, and Argentines—serving together, in diversity and unity, reaching unchurched areas to plant new Alliance churches there.
But as someone once said: “Turn your dreams into goals, and your goals into reality.” And it is not until we transform our dreams into goals and concrete actions that they become reality. And that is how E-MI came into existence. But what is E-MI?
E-MI in Spanish stands for “Entrenamiento Misionero Integral” (Integral Missionary Training). And why this name?
Training, because it is more than just something theoretical and conceptual; we want it to permeate the lives and realities of our workers. It is like a muscle we want to develop.
Missionary, because at the heart of this training is the vision of reaching the world with the gospel, regardless of location, culture, or need.
And Integral, because we need to equip our workers for success, and the only way to do that is by addressing all the needs of the worker and the field.
E-MI began in 2025 with an initial training cycle in which 18 students from four of our Alliance countries in Latin America successfully completed the program.
It is a ten-month diploma program that includes 60 Zoom sessions with more than 30 speakers from our Charis Global Alliance.
These speakers are men and women from Europe, the USA, Africa, and Latin America who offer their time and knowledge so that our Latin American workers can be trained for missionary work anywhere. Men and women who have experienced the local church and the mission field, who have lived through marriage, children, ministry, and all the tensions
that come with it. They have experienced contextualizing the message while working in new cultures and contexts.
These men and women have blessed our Latin America churches in 2025 through E-MI, and we hope they can do so again in 2026. Yes, for we already have 19 new students who will soon begin a new cycle.
I now want to delve deeper into the need for and benefits of E-MI. Based on their experiences, Latin American missionaries and missionary families who have gone out into the field from the 1990s to the present have suffered from a lack of preparation, both on their part and on the part of their sending churches. And those experiences point to a need we must address. If we want to continue being countries that send out missionaries—and not just receive them—we need to train ourselves better.
A second reason is that our workers generally have access to sound theological training, but they need complementary and practical training in mission and the mission field, evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. We find that more specific preparation is necessary in areas that are frequently a challenge both in the cross-cultural field and in the local church.
A third reason is to build a missionary vision. Young people and adults who come to E-MI are strengthened in their missionary vision and have increased potential for local and/or cross-cultural service.
We could say that these are sufficient reasons, yet there are still others. It encourages integration of Charis’ Latin American churches on a regional level. Having students from various countries with Alliance churches allows us to connect workers in a powerful and highly beneficial way. Furthermore, by 2026 we are building a Latin American staff, with the presence of Argentines, Mexicans, and Uruguayans. All of this is integration. Bonds are formed, we get to know one another, and God begins to weave together new projects and teams among us. And that’s not all. There is also global integration because we have more than 30 speakers from various continents and nations. And this strengthens bonds with the students, and even among the speakers. It all ends up being a vast web of interdependence among speakers, students, churches, and organizations.
But there’s still a little more… When the academic cycle ends, as the culmination of this certificate program, we organize a one-week mission trip with the entire staff and students.
For the 2025 cycle, the destination was El Pinar, Uruguay. And here the degree of integration and interdependence was even greater, as dozens of workers and churches decided to give generously to see a team serve in El Pinar. And all expenses for travel, lodging, food, and ministry were more than covered. What more could we ask for! E-MI is a tool not only for training, but for regional and global integration.
For all these reasons, we ask for your prayers for 2026, for the19 students, and for all the speakers who will lead our sessions. Please pray for the destination of our end-of-course mission trip, which will take place in early 2027. And would you pray for the staff, for their selfless service, for their unity, and for all that is to come? E-MI does not aim to be merely a 10-month diploma program, but a platform for educational opportunities in the years ahead. We want to design new training options, new plans, and new possibilities. And remember, E-MI is not a ministry of a local church, nor of a national fellowship. E-MI is a regional, Latin American ministry that relies on the support of Charis Global Alliance for its existence. And it was established to continue providing our leaders and churches with training tailored to their needs, to the needs of our mission fields, and to the challenges ahead.
Please pray for us. Pray for E-MI 2026.
If you’d like to learn more or get additional information, don’t hesitate to contact us. charislatamemi@gmail.com / WhatsApp +54 351 305 4491
Ephesians 3:10 – NIV
“The purpose of all this is that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”
