Latinscope 2020: ‘We arrived as four teams but slowly became one!’

Although they are spread out over three different countries, the CMF Globalscope campus ministers in Uruguay, Chile and Mexico share a common language and similar context and mission. The idea of getting together to share dreams and ideas that has been on the back burner for a couple of years finally gelled into the first-ever Latinscope in Lima, Peru, in early February.

“Claudia Ossa of La Ruta in Uruguay brought together Jon Sylvester, from El Pozo in Mexico, and Sarah Herrington, from El Oasis in Chile, to help her plan and organize the week,” said Santiago, Chile, team leader Philip Linkous. “Since we’ve been dreaming of combining our efforts to increase our impact in Latin America and launch new ministries in other countries, Lima seemed like a great location to scout out the possibility of a new ministry.”

“These three special guests invested in us in countless ways throughout the week,” said Philip. “Kip shared the importance of working on teams, Rick Harper encouraged us to dream big, and Chris Beirne led us on a powerful and creative prayer walk on two university campuses.”Twenty-two people were part of Latinscope, including three from Santiago; two from the new ministry plant in Viña del Mar, Chile; five from Uruguay and eight from Mexico. Special guests were Kip Lines, CMF Executive Director; Rick Harper, Georgia Tech Christian Campus Fellowship; and Chris Beirne, Bread Coffee House at Emory University.

“The trip was divided into two parts,” said Philip. “The first three days were in a mountain house outside of Lima for devotionals and workshops. Then we moved into the city of Lima to scout out two university campuses and see what doors God was opening to consider starting a ministry in Peru.”Preparation and vision

The general spirit of the group was excitement, laughter and expectancy, noted Philip.

“When we debriefed on the last day, several commented on how they came to Lima just not knowing what to expect, but that they were leaving excited about the vision of working together and multiplying in Latin America,” said Phillip. “We were able to reconnect with friends and build new relationships with people who have recently come to the field. One comment that summarized our general feelings was that ‘we arrived as four teams, but slowly over the week it felt like we became one.’ 

Looking forward

While the Latinscope attendees are still working on the details of their vision, they all feel called to continue with the momentum from this week to create multiplication of CMF Globalscope’s impact in Latin America for the Kingdom of God, starting from within their own ministries.

“We are committed to working together to make it happen,” said Philip. “We want to look forward and see how God may be stretching and calling us to trust the Spirit enough to step out in faith, which may mean sending teammates and students to start ministries in other parts of Latin America. We plan to promote short-term trips and intern exchanges between our ministries so that more students can see what it’s like to do ministry in another culture.”

The campus ministers are very committed to making more concrete plans to move forward with their vision.

“We are already planning to meet again at One Summit in Spain this summer to keep the vision moving forward and are making plans for a future Latinscope gathering,” said Philip. “The beauty of coming together is that this vision is not tied to any one ministry, but rather we are united, and committed to working together to make it happen.”

Our ministries flourish when we work together as teams! If you’d like to support team-building across our organization, please consider a gift to One Summit, CMF’s gathering of all our field teams in Spain this summer!