During June 19-21 2015, at the Nazarene Seminary of the Americas (SENDAS) in Costa Rica, the conference “Be the church in your community” by Costa Rica Nazarene Compassionate Ministries was held. Thirty-six people from the Costa Rica North and Central districts attended the event.

The first night began in a traditional but very beautiful way. In order to show the importance that children have in the kingdom of God, the opening was led by teens, some of them leading worship while another one preached from the word of God. These were some words mentioned by this young 12 years old preacher “Children are important in the kingdom of God, I don’t have to be afraid because I am young, because God uses children … adults are the ones who have to teach us about Jesus because we cannot do it alone”

The participants had three specialized and experienced lecturers in the subjects.

Lic. Dhariana Balbuena, Costa Rica NCM Coordinator and organizer of the event shared the theme, Holistic Mission of the Church, social responsibility. Sister Dhariana has experience in the area of training and practice in the areas of childhood and youth, missiology and social responsibility. She studied in the area of Holistic Mission and Cross-cultural Ministries.

Dr. Carmen Alvarez, Director of Living Together for Children in Latin America and the Caribbean, shared the theme, solutions strategy, mobilizing the church. Dr. Alvarez has over 20 years of experience working for children and adolescents at social risk, for both the church and UNICEF, World Vision, Compassion International, among others.

Specialist Hector Chinchilla shared the theme Entrepreneurship with business vision, Mr. Chinchilla is an expert in defining business, providing consultations, advisory, planning and resource evaluation projects, among others.

Angie Carvajal, a participant from the North District NCM shared: “I was very pleased to see the pastors receive much blessing, we were very edified … I feel very motivated to continue participating and collaborating … and now working with the project for Pastor’s children. I learned a lot during these two days. On behalf of my district, thank you.

Information provided by: Dhariana Balbuena, Costa Rica NCM Coordinator.