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An introduction to Latin America Mission Canada.

Who are we?
LAM Canada is in its 101st year of Christian ministry. From humble beginnings in 1921, the earliest missionaries saw themselves as servants of Christ ministering in often neglected and impoverished surroundings.  In 2021 we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Latin America Evangelization Crusade in Costa Rica in 1921 by Rev. Harry and Susan Beamish Strachan. They had been working as missionaries with Regions Beyond Missionary Society in the Argentinean pampas. Latin America Mission became the official name of the Mission in 1938 and the Latin America Mission (Canada) was incorporated in 1961. As a Canadian registered charity, we are blessed to celebrate 60 years of ministry and partnership with LAM USA, currently a ministry of the United World Mission in the USA.

In 1925, Toronto native Rev. William Thompson and his wife Pearl May were commissioned to go to Costa Rica as missionaries. It wasn’t long before many others followed suit. From Canada, we were a sending base for evangelists, medical professionals, and technicians.  Our missionary family and ministries continued to grow. We continue to be devoted to equipping and empowering Canadians and Latin Americans to serve the church of Jesus Christ in Latin and in Anglo-America. Currently, 60 missionaries serve under LAM Canada in 11 countries: throughout North, Central and South America. In Latin America, our missionaries also reach indigenous or pre-Colombian era peoples. In Canada, we are engaged in evangelism, church planting, and bible training reaching out to Spanish and Portuguese speaking immigrants and temporary workers in the farming areas around the Greater Toronto Area. From Canada, we reach out to Portuguese speaking people in Europe and beyond through theological education online.

We remain faithful to the holistic understanding of the Christian mission as represented in the legacy and heritage of the Strachan family and of those who came after them. Their work is a powerful gospel testimony, a legacy we celebrate to this day! We run and support nearly 40 projects through our ministries in various community development initiatives.  We prayerfully reflect on our growth and seek discernment of the Holy Spirit and in the study of Scriptures. We cannot work without a God-given vision to our ministries. We want to continue to reach out to this vast continent with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serve the communities where He sends us in all their diversity, challenges, and beauty.

Our work is built on a holistic and biblical understanding of Mission. Partnerships are vital to the communities we serve.

What are our core values?
We are holistic, biblical, empowering, and involved in development.  LAM (Can) is an evangelical community that, motivated by our love for the Lord Jesus Christ and in obedience to His commands, partners with Latin and Canadian churches, organizations and projects to strengthen the body of Christ and advance His kingdom in Latin America and beyond.

How do we work?

  • Our missionary staff and our partners adhere to Biblical principles.
  • We minister to the whole person.
  • Servanthood means empowering national believers and then stepping down from positions when it becomes apparent that key persons have been raised up by the Lord.
  • We are innovative to the times, seeking to find better ways to communicate and form communities of faith and action.
  • We are partnership oriented, which means we seek commonality, working in ways that honor the Lord, recognizing the gifting each person brings to God’s work.
  • We are committed to excellence, seeking to bring out the best in each other.
  • And we are financially transparent, being recognized by the four C’s for the clarity of our financial reports.

Where do we work?
LAM Works in several countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Portugal.

Our Values:

  • Biblical
  • Ministering to the whole person
  • Empowering
  • Innovative to the times
  • Partnership oriented
  • Committed to Excellence
  • Financially transparent

Five distinctives of Latin America Mission.

1.Identification with the culture and the people.

Harry and Susan showed a deep sense of identification with the Latin American people and culture. The local newspaper was as important to them as their morning coffee, and they followed local politics avidly. They embraced local customs and concerns with genuine involvement and appreciation.  At one point, early in his career, Harry came under the conviction that as a highland Scot, he was perceived by the Argentines to be aloof and disinterested in them. He made it a matter of earnest prayer, and the Lord gave him a warmth and empathy that changed the quality of his relationships.  More important, this sense of Latin American identity re-quired them to know and understand thoroughly the local situation before embarking on any project-even an evangelistic campaign. Harry and Susan spent twelve full months, from January 1920to January 1921 (leaving their children with Christian friends in Kansas City), and traveled by ship, train, riverboat, bus, and frequently on horseback, getting to know intimately most of the countries of the continent before they felt free to establish their new mission.

This same characteristic caused them to place the headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, rather than in some city like Philadelphia or New York (both major areas of their economic support). In the campaigns he planned and conducted, Harry always insisted on securing an outstanding Latin American orator to be the crusade preacher and evangelist. His own role, he felt, should be backstage. In the next generation it was Kenneth Strachan who carried this principle to its fullest development in LAM, but it was the incarnational identification of his parents with the Latin American people and their culture that inspired him.

2. The priority of evangelization.

The mission was born in the heyday of Protestant liberalism in America.  But Kenneth Strachan emphasized the evangelistic campaign ministry after his father's death by initiating the Evangelism-in-Depth movement, thereby giving maximum expression to his parents' priorities.

Grace, in whom so many of her father's genes were evident, who became the visionary of human development, emulating her mother, working among marginalized women but discovering that true and complete development must seek first to bring those in need to the feet of the Savior.

3. Compassionate response to human need.

Nothing illustrates this quality better than the reaction of the Strachan’s to the miserable street urchins they encountered in San Jose. Ragged, dirty, and sickly, the street children begged, occasionally worked at selling newspapers or shining shoes, and more frequently resorted to theft and violence to secure a living. Susan wanted to do something about it immediately. Harry reminded her-and she agreed with him-that God had led them to Costa Rica to start a ministry of campaign evangelism, and until the Lord should lead them explicitly in other directions, they must not allow themselves to get diverted from this purpose.

So they carried the burden in their hearts and frequently made it a matter of prayer until finally, after leading them through the experience of starting a hospital and understanding better the needs of the Costa Rican waifs, God opened the way to establish a Bible home for children.

This led to the present-day Roblealto Program of Child Welfare, which has become a model ministry of wide and varied outreach and an important part of Costa Rica's social structure.

It is not hard to find other illustrations of this readiness to respond to obvious needs. The bold inauguration of an urban hospital when there were yet no evangelical doctors available.

4. Willingness to break new ground is an essential characteristic of LAM since its earliest days.

"Is there a better way of doing it?" This is a question Harry Strachan must have asked himself frequently. He was certainly quick to experiment with different methods and venues, traveling local trains back and forth to give out tracts and a word of witness, converting a horse-drawn coach a bookmobile, using tents and theaters instead of church auditoriums for campaigns, promoting them with marimba concerts and musical bands.

Before the Bible institute that Harry dreamed about could get started, Susan was already asking herself, "Where are the young men who come as students going to find missionary-minded wives to share their ministry?" And so she began a simple training school for Christian girls that eventually became the Bible institute of evangelists and pastors Harry had envisioned. Their Christian peers credited them with being" one step ahead," and this is indeed apt for these missionary innovators.

5. Personal passion for Christ.

The goal in life for Harry and Susan was to love, obey, and exhibit the person and gospel message of their Lord. In the long run, nothing else mattered.

Harry's early participation in and identification with the American Keswick movement demonstrated this focus. The Keswick movement was a summer-conference outgrowth in Great Britain of the Moody-Sankey campaigns of 1875. It appealed especially to evangelicals of Reformed theological persuasion and had come to be characterized by disciplined piety and missionary zeal. It quickly spread to America and other parts of the world.

This summary of the principles seen in the lives of Harry and Susan Strachan are taken from an article published in International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 1998, “The Legacy of Harry and Susan Strachan,” W Dayton Roberts

Our Staff

David Phillips
David Phillips
Executive Director
Sue Vissers
Sue Vissers
Member Care Coordinator
Andrés Rincón
Andrés Rincón
Communications Director
Stephanie Obando
Stephanie Obando
Office Administrator

Our Board

Hannah Francois
Secretary
Kathy Bousquet
Director
Allan Holt
Director
John R. Steinmann
Chair
Bruce Thompson
Vice Chair
Robert A. Wormald
Treasurer

Our Statement of Faith

  • We believe in one God, creator, and sustainer of the universe, who eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  • We believe in the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, redemptive death, bodily resurrection, present exaltation at God's right hand, and the blessed hope of His personal return.
  • We believe in the Deity and Personality of the Holy Spirit, who works in all people to bring them salvation through Christ and who dwells in believers, equipping them for lives of holiness and fruitful service.
  • We believe the Bible to be the divinely inspired, and authoritative written Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
  • We believe that all have sinned and therefore are guilty before God and are under his condemnation.
  • We believe that through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, God in love provided an atonement for sin, so that, through repentance and saving faith in Christ, man is delivered from the judgment of God and is born again into life eternal.
  • We believe that the Church is composed of all true believers and that the mission of the Church, with Christ as its Head, is to communicate the Gospel of Christ to all the World.
  • We believe in the resurrection of the body, the eternal punishment of unbelievers and the everlasting blessedness of believers in the presence of Christ.

Our Formation

In 2021 we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Latin America Evangelization Crusade in Costa Rica in 1921 by Rev. Harry and Susan Beamish Strachan. They had been working as missionaries with Regions Beyond Missionary Society in the Argentinean pampas. Latin America Mission became the official name of the Mission in 1938 and the Latin America Mission (Canada) was incorporated in 1961. As a Canadian registered charity, we are blessed to celebrate 60 years of ministry and partnership with LAM USA, currently a ministry of the United World Mission in the USA.

In 1925, Toronto native Rev. William Thompson and his wife Pearl May were commissioned to go to Costa Rica as missionaries. It wasn’t long before many others followed suit: Dr. Marie Cameron, Don and Jean Longworth, Margaret Acheson, Nancy Koop, Eve Fowler, Hugh and Olive Worsfold, Gloria Amritt, Vicki Ricketts, Jim and Pat McInnes, and Esther Rowe. From Canada, we were a sending base for evangelists, medical professionals, and technicians.

Our missionary family and ministries continued to grow. We continue to be devoted to equipping and empowering Canadians and Latin Americans to serve the church of Jesus Christ in Latin and in Anglo-America. Currently, 60 missionaries serve under LAM Canada in 11 countries: throughout North, Central and South America. In Latin America, our missionaries also reach indigenous or pre-Colombian era peoples. In Canada, we are engaged in evangelism, church planting, and bible training reaching out to Spanish and Portuguese speaking immigrants and temporary workers in the farming areas around the Greater Toronto Area. From Canada, we reach out to Portuguese speaking people in Europe and beyond through theological education online.

We remain faithful to the holistic understanding of the Christian mission as represented in the legacy and heritage of the Strachan family and of those who came after them. Their work is a powerful gospel testimony, a legacy we celebrate to this day! We run and support nearly 40 projects through our ministries in various community development initiatives.

We prayerfully reflect on our growth and seek discernment of the Holy Spirit and in the study of Scriptures. We cannot work without a God-given vision to our ministries. We want to continue to reach out to this vast continent with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serve the communities where He sends us in all their diversity, challenges, and beauty.

Our work is built on a holistic and biblical understanding of Mission. Partnerships are vital to the communities we serve.

Thank you for your continued financial and prayer support.

The historical records of the Latin America Mission are found at the Billy Graham Center Archives, https://www2.wheaton.edu/ under the heading, “Records of Latin America Mission - Collection 236”

Affiliations

Mission Agency Partners

DMG

FEDEMEC

Latin Link

United World Mission

 

Associate Ministries/Direct Agreements

AMCA for Camp La Cumbre

Comunidad Educativa Evangelica (CEE)

Fundación Comunidad P.A.S.

Roblealto Child Care Association

UNELA

ZonaJ

 

Ministries we support through Mission Agency Partners or missionary Work Funds

ESEPA Seminary

Camp Roblealto

Fundación Doulos

Fundación Glorioso Día

Fundación Totaí

Los Pinos Seminary

Seminario Bíblico de Colombia

Unión Bíblica de Honduras

Walpayamni

The Latin America Mission (Canada) Code of Ethics: A Call to Excellence

As a spiritual leader in the Church and serving through the Latin America Mission (Canada), I am called to Kingdom excellence in my life and ministry. I recognize that this is not possible in my own strength but must be a by-product of the indwelling Spirit of the living God. It is in union with Christ that I am sanctified thoroughly; thereby, being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to God, receiving power for holy living and sacrificial and effective service toward the completion of Christ’s commission. This is accomplished through being filled with the Holy Spirit, which is both a distinct event and a progressive experience in the life of the believer (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Acts 1:8; Romans 12:1, 2; Galatians 5:16-25).

Believing this to be true, I dedicate myself to conduct my ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit according to the biblical principles and ethical guidelines set forth in this code of ethics, in order that my ministry be acceptable to God, my service beneficial to the Christian community, and my life a witness to the world. I recognize that the following standards are designed to preserve the dignity, maintain the discipline, and promote the integrity of my calling as a missionary and to be a sign of the coming Kingdom of God.

Code of Ethics for All Latin America Mission (Canada) Members

Biblical principles and ethical guidelines that are pertinent to the life and ministry of our LAM family include:

1. Christlikeness principle: As representatives of Jesus Christ, LAM (Canada) members are to demonstrate a commitment and lifestyle that models the servant-like attitude exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ in our relationship and the rendering of service to others. We commit to pursue in all areas of our lives a life of holiness, of grace and compassion towards others, and to live in the liberty of the perfect law (1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Peter 2:19-21, James 1:25).

2. Relationship principle: Our Father in heaven is intensely relational. He invites His followers to walk with Him and know Him as “sons and daughters”. He also calls them to the highest of standards in their personal relationships with self, others, and the rest of Creation. Their identity in Christ is defined by the reality and visibility of their love. (Genesis 1:26; 2:18; Matthew 5:23-24; John 13:35, Philemon 8-9)

Therefore:
a. Knowing and walking with God will be the principal appetite of my life.
b. So far as it depends on me, I will be at peace with all people and will seek both purity and health in all my relationships. (Romans 12:18)
c. I will seek to be Christ-like in attitude and action toward all persons regardless of race, social class, religious beliefs, or position of influence within the church and community.
d. I will place the needs of my family above those of my broader ministry family and exhibit that priority by gladly dedicating my time, love, and attention to every member of my family.
e. If married, I will be sexually and emotionally faithful to my spouse and family.
f. If married or not, I will adhere to the highest biblical standards of moral purity to guide my sexual life.
g. I will seek to lead my family in such a way that it honours the Lord and is a witness in my ministry.
h. I will actively resist any inclination to form improper physical or emotional relationships.
i. I will seek to regard all persons to whom I minister with equal love and concern, undertake to minister impartially to their needs, and refrain from behaviour that will be divisive.
j. I will endeavour to relate to all ministers, especially those with whom I serve, as partners in the work of God, by respecting their ministry, cooperating with them, and seeking to maintain
supportive and caring relationships with them.
k. Whenever a situation of potential conflict arises, I will practice the principle of Matthew 18:15- 20. I will first go to person in question and speak with them directly about the problem before
talking to others. I understand that talking to others before talking to the actual person involved can be damaging and divisive. This is not reflective of the teachings and the Spirit of Christ.

 

3. Modelling principle: A member’s private life is not exclusively his/her own. The Bible exhorts leaders to live lives that are above reproach (1 Timothy 3:2). A worker’s witness requires that both the local church and the watching world see the life of Christ, which they proclaim first manifest in the worker’s life.

Therefore:
a. I will limit my freedoms rather than weaken ministry (1 Corinthians 9:27).
b. Although Christians may hold different views on certain behaviours, I will avoid situations that are likely to have a negative spiritual impact on self or others (1 Corinthians 8:9).
c. I will always seek to conduct myself in a way that will not discredit or diminish the public’s trust in Christian leadership.
d. I will responsibly perform my ministry, seeking to lead persons to salvation and to church membership without manipulation and respecting the ministries of other churches and organizations.
e. I will refrain from the use of illegal substances, the recreational use of drugs, all kinds of addictive or dependent behaviour, and other self-destructive habits (1 Corinthians 3:16).
f. I will adhere to the biblical teaching with respect to the use of alcohol. The Bible does not condemn the use of alcohol. It condemns its abuse and elevates the principle of abstinence.
(Prov. 20:1, 23:29-31, 31:4; Rom. 12:8, 14:1-19, esp. v12, 17; 1 Corinthians 3:16).

4. Wellness principle: Godly leaders recognize the integrated nature of body, soul, and spirit and stay attuned to the balance required for effective service. They are to care for their bodies, souls, and spirits in a disciplined and God-honouring way (Psalm 139:13-16; Proverbs 3:1-2; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19- 20; 9:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Therefore:
a. I will endeavour to lead a life of prayer, study, and meditation upon God's Word, and to maintain extended times of contemplation in order to daily seek God’s face.
b. I will seek to keep physically fit through the proper care of my body.
c. I will manage my time well by properly balancing personal obligations, ministry duties, and family responsibilities, and by observing a weekly day off and annual vacation.
d. I will seek to keep myself emotionally healthy.
 

5. Servant principle: Scripture contrasts the acts of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19- 25). The flesh is characterized by taking and consuming. The work of the Spirit is characterized by giving and producing. Lifestyle choices and attitudes are to reflect the heart of a servant, not an attitude of entitlement (Phil. 2:5-8).

Therefore:
a. I will seek to conduct myself consistently with my calling and commitment as a servant of God, maintaining a life of purity, integrity, and truthfulness.
b. I will give full service to my ministry and will only accept added responsibilities if they do not interfere with the overall effectiveness of my ministry.
c. I will listen to the needs of those I serve and keep in confidence information shared with me unless it will result in harm to self or harm to others, or as required by law.
d. I will exercise confidence in lay leaders by inviting their meaningful participation, enabling their training, and stimulating their creativity.
e. I will seek to lead the ministry for which I am responsible to achieve agreed-upon goals. I will remain open to constructive criticism and to suggestions intended to strengthen ministry.
f. I will exercise my teaching/preaching responsibilities, giving adequate time to prayer and preparation, so that my presentation will be biblically based, theologically correct, and clearly
communicated, speaking the truth of God's Word with conviction in love, and will acknowledge any extensive use of material prepared by someone else.

6. Stewardship principle: All Christians are entrusted with God’s gifts, resources, and Creation. Leaders are to set an example in the stewardship of such a trust (1 Peter 4:10; 1 Corinthians 9:17)

Therefore:
a. I will strive to grow through comprehensive reading and through participation in professional educational opportunities.
b. I will be honest and responsible in my finances by paying all debts on time, never seeking special gratuities or privileges, giving generously to worthwhile causes, and living a Christian lifestyle.
c. I will give tithes and offerings as a good steward and example to the church.
d. I will not engage in any business where I would actively solicit funds from the people to whom I minister. I will report to the LAM office all funds received in the capacity of an LAM worker.

7. Submission to authority principle: Submission to those in authority over believers is a clear biblical mandate. (Hebrews 13:17). Workers are to walk with humility and willingly submit to those in authority over them. An LAM missionary also accepts to work under the leadership and authority of the local church or ministry which he or she serves (Phil. 2:3)

Therefore:
a. Having chosen to minister under the authority of The Latin America Mission (Canada), I will submit to constituted authority as identified in the LAM Handbook, including the leadership of
agency or partnering agency in the country or community within which I serve, and abide by the policies, official statements, and guidelines of such ministry in the manner prescribed by these categories. I believe and will faithfully teach all the doctrines contained in the statement of faith of the Latin America Mission (Canada).
b. As a worker of LAM (Canada), I will unreservedly advance the vision and ministry of the Mission, including raising support for other Ministry Funds other than my own and agreed upon Mission priorities.
c. Where appropriate, I will offer responsible criticism to those in authority and I will follow due processes to bring change to programs and policies of the Mission.
d. I will not use my influence to alienate the ministry to which I have been appointed from LAM (Canada) or the partnering agency, and I will not use my influence to cause division in the ministry, lack of unity or loss of trust.
e. I will encourage the ministry of a successor at the conclusion (resignation, termination, retirement) of any ministry position and will refrain from interfering in his/her ministry or with the people he/she serves. I will entirely remove myself from that ministry unless otherwise directed or permitted by the leadership of the Mission.
f. When serving in a pastoral staff role, I will offer my support and loyalty to the lead pastor or, if unable to do so, seek another place of service.
g. I will only carry out my ministry in the area of responsibility assigned to me and agreed upon in my service covenant.
 

8. Mediation principle: Disputes between members are to be settled within the context of the Mission, not the secular courts (Matthew 18:15-17, 1 Corinthians 6:1-7).

Therefore:
a. If I believe that I have been wrongly treated by a fellow LAM missionary, a local colleague, the Mission itself or a local partnering ministry and choose to seek redress, I will do so first by seeking mediation for resolving the dispute as outlined in Matthew, and, if it is not resolved I will follow the Process for Mediation as outlined in the Mission’s Handbook.

(Policy in process of development)

Source: Adapted with permission from the Christian Missionary Alliance, Canada.

1921

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60

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10

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