Churches seem to be abandoning missions.
At the recent COMIBAM 2025 gathering, missions leaders from across the Ibero-American world reflected on the past and future of Latin American missions. One notable figure offering insights was David Ruiz, a veteran leader who once directed both COMIBAM and the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission. In an interview with Christian Daily International during the April 22–25 event, Ruiz shared his experiences over four decades of Latin American mission growth and his thoughts on future challenges and opportunities.
Ruiz recounted his unexpected start in missions in the early 1980s, when his church in Guatemala, under the leadership of William Taylor, began embracing the global call of the Great Commission. At that time, Latin America had little infrastructure to support missionary work. Nevertheless, his church helped spark the early planning of COMIBAM, a network that united mission efforts across Latin America, Spain, and the Latino diaspora. Later, as pastor of the same church, Ruiz witnessed how a congregation deeply committed to global outreach could become a model for others.
His leadership journey eventually led him to serve as COMIBAM’s executive director and later its president, where he was instrumental in strengthening the movement’s foundations. Ruiz emphasized three critical components that fueled COMIBAM’s growth: the primacy of the local church in missions, the supporting (not dominating) role of mission agencies, and the establishment of training centers to equip cross-cultural workers. These principles, he noted, helped the Latin American missions movement mature significantly over the years.
After completing his time at COMIBAM, Ruiz continued to share Latin America’s missions model internationally through his work with the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission. Later, with Avante Español, he refocused efforts on sending Latin American missionaries abroad. However, realizing that many churches lacked the vision or infrastructure for missions, he launched the Missional Church Network to directly assist pastors in awakening and mobilizing their congregations for global engagement.
Reflecting on COMIBAM 2025, Ruiz observed that the movement has diversified significantly, expanding into areas such as Bible translation and ministry among marginalized communities. While he finds hope in the generational transition of leadership and increased global recognition of Latin American contributions, he also voiced concern over lingering colonial attitudes and the tendency to exclude Latin American leaders from strategic decision-making. Most importantly, Ruiz warned of a troubling stagnation in church involvement in missions and called for a renewed emphasis on the church’s central role. He closed by expressing three hopes: that COMIBAM 2025 sparks an ongoing process of engagement, that Latin America gains a stronger voice globally, and that churches once again reclaim their vital place at the heart of missions.