Page 86 - tesis

The ICV church did not become a mega-church, but rather opted for developing medium sized congregations no more than one thousand members under the auspices of the Verbo ministry organization. They have thirty-five churches in Guatemala and fifty in other countries. The majority of the leaders and governing elders of these churches in South America, the United States and Canada are Guatemalans (P1ICV). Although these churches maintain links of cooperation with the Gospel Outreach of the USA, they are churches rooted in Guatemala soil, are in the hands of Guatemalan leadership, have their own identity, finance the expansion of the churches and the sending of missionaries outside of Guatemala themselves.\u000AThe Verbo churches assumed the formation of schools (primary, secondary and university level) as a vehicle to extend their objectives of evangelism and social vision from their Neo-Pentecostal perspective. As a national church they run an orphanage called Casa Bernab\u00E9. In his visits to these churches the researcher observed the strong work discipline, good organization, the presence of the laity in the entrepreneurial vision, and the maximization of the physical space both for liturgical as well as educative purposes. The ICV in Guatemala has become a sort of \u2018denomination\u2019 of churches with a vision, autonomy and national leadership, which has in some ways more power and influence than Gospel Outreach from the USA.\u000A2. The Christian Fraternity of Guatemala\u000AThe Christian Fraternity of Guatemala [FCG] started with a small group of families in 1978. The founding pastor came out of the Calvario Central church with the vision to start a new ministry. Accompanied by five families he started the church in the Guatemalan Fiesta Hotel in January 1979. Later he moved it to the Camino Real Hotel and afterwards to the installations of the Cinema Reforma until they were able to get their own property. Alongside their general meetings they started family groups.\u000A73\u000A