SPECIAL EDITION: What is FILA?
Family Institute of Latin America
Leadership Training and Mission Team Development
Jerry and Gail Heiderich
Directors
Jerry and Gail Heiderich have been taking the Gospel to Brazil for 31 years. Jerry has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Religion and 2 Master’s degrees from ACU: Missions, and Marriage and Family Therapy. Gail holds her Bachelor’s degree in Bible, and a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. They have been married for 35 years and have 2 children. Angela, a graduate of ACU, is married to Joel Garner. She teaches Spanish in a private school in Dallas while finishing a master’s degree in Languages, and is a member at Prestoncrest. Kris, also an ACU graduate, is returning to Kampala, Uganda to begin his second year teaching English, Drama and coaching basketball at a mission school. Jerry and Gail co-direct the Family Institute of Latin America, headquartered in Itu- a small city near São Paulo, Brazil.
The Heiderich’s ministry in Latin America has been divided into five phases, or stages. They were first sent to Brasilia as church planters. After several years they focused more on pastoral care of members and helping members mature and develop into leaders.
While still in Brasilia Jerry and Gail began to lead marriage and family seminars. From 1995-2005 they lead 85 seminars, throughout Brazil in which more than 1500 couples participated.
This overlapped with their third phase, which began in 1998; When the FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA (FILA) was founded. The focus on this ministry was leadership development and team conflict and crisis intervention. Jerry taught at all the 4 major preacher training centers and Jerry and Gail began to develop and host spiritual formation retreats and seminars. Since this chapter in our ministry began, more than 3,500 have attended at least one weeklong seminar, retreat or conference. After living in Brazil´s capital for 22 years we moved to a city with 3 million population in southern Brazil, Curitiba. During this chapter of the ministry we worked with Continent of Great Cities teams- often called in during stressful and conflictual situations.
After working with so many couples, families, mission teams, church staffs and leaderships in crisis situations, we decided we wanted to get to them earlier- in a more preventative and pro-active way, before relationships exploded. This fourth phase, as with the others, required re-tooling, which we obtained via seminars, research and interviewing experts in the field. We focus on key congregations, church leadership couples, and church planting mission teams to do on-going work, like regular check-ups with the doctors. Team and church leadership workshops usually are for three days; spiritual formation retreats are for 3-4 days.
Three years ago we moved to Itu- a small city about an hour away from the mega-city of São Paulo. Geographically it helps us with our travel-heavy schedule and hosting events for the dozens and dozens of leaders who work within driving distance of our home.
Our latest stage is a continuation of the fourth one- with an important caveat- we are focusing on training those who can replace us in each aspect of our ministries. We will also develop a training course for churches on “Church-Minister” relationships and specifically how churches can better care for their ministers, deacons and elders.
In the past 15 years we have worked, often multiple times, with more than 20 mission teams in Brazil and including the ones in Mexico City, Asuncion, and Santiago. At the same time we have worked with more than 30 churches and church staffs in Latin America, and also with Continent of Great Cities, La Mesa staff and elders, Prestoncrest staff, and the group Acappella in the US.
The FILA is a unique, continent-wide ministry dedicated to church planting and leadership care in Latin America. The key to Church growth is planting new congregations for spreading the Gospel and sustaining strong leadership for growing new churches. The mission of the FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA is to “TRAIN LEADERS AND FORM AND DEVELOP TEAMS”. Team development includes staff-deacon-elder relationships. The FILA has been at the forefront of many areas of ministry, introducing and innovating for the churches of Christ in Brazil.
1. Mentoring: FILA introduced the practice of mentoring to the churches in Brazil, specifically the need for ministers and leaders to have a support group and accountability to avoid the common error of neglecting their marriage, family, and even their personal relationship with God. In 2011 FILA is mentoring 15 influential couples from the region, one Saturday a month, in leadership development.
2. Spiritual Formation Retreats: We introduced a different type of retreat for American Missionaries and Brazilian leaders- retreats where spiritual disciplines were emphasized, a safe place to be authentic and be ministered to, and create on-going support groups for key leadership couples in each region of Brazil. Jerry and Gail participated in the first Renovaré (A spiritual formation organization) retreat in Brazil and will be utilizing the experience in it´s own retreats.
3. LeaderSource. Jerry spent three weeks in 2010 in an intensive course in Indiana that presented the most Biblical model of leadership development he has yet encountered. Since then FILA has sponsored 7 training events in which 200 leaders have been certified in this model. This model is more comprehensive in that it is not a strictly academic model, rather it involves dynamics and activities that prepare leaders for all areas of ministry: spiritual, experiential, interpersonal, and didactic.
4. Elderlink. FILA, along with Continent of Great Cities (CGC), brought the Elderlink team to Brazil. This was the first time they had given their seminar internationally. The seminar was designed to encourage and equip new elders and nourish those already serving. Thirty-five leadership couples from every corner of Brazil, including two from Santiago, Chile, participated. This year there will be five regional Elderlink meetings, with all Brazilian leadership.
5. Turn-Around Churches. That is the term for churches whose growth is either in decline or has stagnated for a significant time-period and who resolve to “turn things around”. FILA has partnered with CGC to work with those churches and specifically their leadership to evaluate and possibly recruit new ministers for those works. We are currently working with 4 churches in this on-going process.
6. Natural Church Development. This is a ministry that began in Brazil and has spread throughout the world. A questionnaire was developed after studying more than 1,000 churches in dozens of cultures and 8 qualities that growing churches have in common were discovered. FILA was the first to introduce this congregational evaluation to churches of Christ and it is a vital tool used for “Turn-Around churches”.
7. Acappella is more popular in Brazil and any other country. Two years ago the group decided to become “Musical Missionaries: Bring new people into the churches and help churches grow”. For the first time- they decided to perform in churches outside of the US- and Brazil was first. Keith Lancaster, the group´s founder, called on Jerry to serve as liaison and coordinator of the events. He accompanied the group and served as translator during the events. In 2009 three concerts were held and in 2010, seven, and more than 4,000 attended, nearly half of those visitors.
8. Family Life Ministries. The family life ministry in Curitiba was the first of its kind in churches of Christ. FILA has recruited a couple in ITU to partner with and train churches to establish like ministries in their local congregations. In 2010 FILA sponsored training for family life ministries with 13 couples from the region, one Saturday a month.
9. Missionary and Minister Screening: We are looking for those who are best suited to be full-time ministers, or church planters, or mission team members. Partnering with CGC, we have developed a screening process that involves psychological testing and interviews, phone interviews with current and past co-workers and which all culminates with Quest. This screening retreat has been adapted from the Christian churches- recently the fastest growing church in the US. This 4-day intensive event, for 5-7 screening couples, has been translated into Portuguese and adapted to Brazil. This is the best process currently available to prayerfully help those who wish to become part of a staff or mission team.
The FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA, in addition to generous support and sponsorship from the Prestoncrest family, counts on funding from more than 20 individuals and foundations and the following congregations:
Park Plaza, Tulsa OK
Central, Bloomington, IN
Richland Hills, Ft. Worth
Southern Hills, Abilene
La Mesa, CA
Continent of Great Cities, Dallas
Leadership Training and Mission Team Development
Jerry and Gail Heiderich
Directors
Jerry and Gail Heiderich have been taking the Gospel to Brazil for 31 years. Jerry has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Religion and 2 Master’s degrees from ACU: Missions, and Marriage and Family Therapy. Gail holds her Bachelor’s degree in Bible, and a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. They have been married for 35 years and have 2 children. Angela, a graduate of ACU, is married to Joel Garner. She teaches Spanish in a private school in Dallas while finishing a master’s degree in Languages, and is a member at Prestoncrest. Kris, also an ACU graduate, is returning to Kampala, Uganda to begin his second year teaching English, Drama and coaching basketball at a mission school. Jerry and Gail co-direct the Family Institute of Latin America, headquartered in Itu- a small city near São Paulo, Brazil.
The Heiderich’s ministry in Latin America has been divided into five phases, or stages. They were first sent to Brasilia as church planters. After several years they focused more on pastoral care of members and helping members mature and develop into leaders.
While still in Brasilia Jerry and Gail began to lead marriage and family seminars. From 1995-2005 they lead 85 seminars, throughout Brazil in which more than 1500 couples participated.
This overlapped with their third phase, which began in 1998; When the FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA (FILA) was founded. The focus on this ministry was leadership development and team conflict and crisis intervention. Jerry taught at all the 4 major preacher training centers and Jerry and Gail began to develop and host spiritual formation retreats and seminars. Since this chapter in our ministry began, more than 3,500 have attended at least one weeklong seminar, retreat or conference. After living in Brazil´s capital for 22 years we moved to a city with 3 million population in southern Brazil, Curitiba. During this chapter of the ministry we worked with Continent of Great Cities teams- often called in during stressful and conflictual situations.
After working with so many couples, families, mission teams, church staffs and leaderships in crisis situations, we decided we wanted to get to them earlier- in a more preventative and pro-active way, before relationships exploded. This fourth phase, as with the others, required re-tooling, which we obtained via seminars, research and interviewing experts in the field. We focus on key congregations, church leadership couples, and church planting mission teams to do on-going work, like regular check-ups with the doctors. Team and church leadership workshops usually are for three days; spiritual formation retreats are for 3-4 days.
Three years ago we moved to Itu- a small city about an hour away from the mega-city of São Paulo. Geographically it helps us with our travel-heavy schedule and hosting events for the dozens and dozens of leaders who work within driving distance of our home.
Our latest stage is a continuation of the fourth one- with an important caveat- we are focusing on training those who can replace us in each aspect of our ministries. We will also develop a training course for churches on “Church-Minister” relationships and specifically how churches can better care for their ministers, deacons and elders.
In the past 15 years we have worked, often multiple times, with more than 20 mission teams in Brazil and including the ones in Mexico City, Asuncion, and Santiago. At the same time we have worked with more than 30 churches and church staffs in Latin America, and also with Continent of Great Cities, La Mesa staff and elders, Prestoncrest staff, and the group Acappella in the US.
The FILA is a unique, continent-wide ministry dedicated to church planting and leadership care in Latin America. The key to Church growth is planting new congregations for spreading the Gospel and sustaining strong leadership for growing new churches. The mission of the FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA is to “TRAIN LEADERS AND FORM AND DEVELOP TEAMS”. Team development includes staff-deacon-elder relationships. The FILA has been at the forefront of many areas of ministry, introducing and innovating for the churches of Christ in Brazil.
1. Mentoring: FILA introduced the practice of mentoring to the churches in Brazil, specifically the need for ministers and leaders to have a support group and accountability to avoid the common error of neglecting their marriage, family, and even their personal relationship with God. In 2011 FILA is mentoring 15 influential couples from the region, one Saturday a month, in leadership development.
2. Spiritual Formation Retreats: We introduced a different type of retreat for American Missionaries and Brazilian leaders- retreats where spiritual disciplines were emphasized, a safe place to be authentic and be ministered to, and create on-going support groups for key leadership couples in each region of Brazil. Jerry and Gail participated in the first Renovaré (A spiritual formation organization) retreat in Brazil and will be utilizing the experience in it´s own retreats.
3. LeaderSource. Jerry spent three weeks in 2010 in an intensive course in Indiana that presented the most Biblical model of leadership development he has yet encountered. Since then FILA has sponsored 7 training events in which 200 leaders have been certified in this model. This model is more comprehensive in that it is not a strictly academic model, rather it involves dynamics and activities that prepare leaders for all areas of ministry: spiritual, experiential, interpersonal, and didactic.
4. Elderlink. FILA, along with Continent of Great Cities (CGC), brought the Elderlink team to Brazil. This was the first time they had given their seminar internationally. The seminar was designed to encourage and equip new elders and nourish those already serving. Thirty-five leadership couples from every corner of Brazil, including two from Santiago, Chile, participated. This year there will be five regional Elderlink meetings, with all Brazilian leadership.
5. Turn-Around Churches. That is the term for churches whose growth is either in decline or has stagnated for a significant time-period and who resolve to “turn things around”. FILA has partnered with CGC to work with those churches and specifically their leadership to evaluate and possibly recruit new ministers for those works. We are currently working with 4 churches in this on-going process.
6. Natural Church Development. This is a ministry that began in Brazil and has spread throughout the world. A questionnaire was developed after studying more than 1,000 churches in dozens of cultures and 8 qualities that growing churches have in common were discovered. FILA was the first to introduce this congregational evaluation to churches of Christ and it is a vital tool used for “Turn-Around churches”.
7. Acappella is more popular in Brazil and any other country. Two years ago the group decided to become “Musical Missionaries: Bring new people into the churches and help churches grow”. For the first time- they decided to perform in churches outside of the US- and Brazil was first. Keith Lancaster, the group´s founder, called on Jerry to serve as liaison and coordinator of the events. He accompanied the group and served as translator during the events. In 2009 three concerts were held and in 2010, seven, and more than 4,000 attended, nearly half of those visitors.
8. Family Life Ministries. The family life ministry in Curitiba was the first of its kind in churches of Christ. FILA has recruited a couple in ITU to partner with and train churches to establish like ministries in their local congregations. In 2010 FILA sponsored training for family life ministries with 13 couples from the region, one Saturday a month.
9. Missionary and Minister Screening: We are looking for those who are best suited to be full-time ministers, or church planters, or mission team members. Partnering with CGC, we have developed a screening process that involves psychological testing and interviews, phone interviews with current and past co-workers and which all culminates with Quest. This screening retreat has been adapted from the Christian churches- recently the fastest growing church in the US. This 4-day intensive event, for 5-7 screening couples, has been translated into Portuguese and adapted to Brazil. This is the best process currently available to prayerfully help those who wish to become part of a staff or mission team.
The FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA, in addition to generous support and sponsorship from the Prestoncrest family, counts on funding from more than 20 individuals and foundations and the following congregations:
Park Plaza, Tulsa OK
Central, Bloomington, IN
Richland Hills, Ft. Worth
Southern Hills, Abilene
La Mesa, CA
Continent of Great Cities, Dallas
posted by Family Institute of Latin America @ 5:59 PM
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