Colombia

Field Office Information

C&MA Field Entry in 1923

Field Director:

Mailing Address:

Apartado Aero 5969
Cali Valle, COLOMBIA

Phone:

011-57-2-892-2673

Email:

[email protected]

Website:

National Church

Colombian Christian and Missionary Alliance: 157 organized churches, 236 unorganized groups, 66 ordained ministers, 32,530 baptized members, and 40,458 inclusive members

Team Initiatives

• Raise up a strong, committed leadership in the Cali West church plant among the upper class.
• Move the U.S. C&MA mission toward transitioning out of Colombia. The exact date depends on when the national church will be strong enough to support itself. Pray for wisdom as our workers press toward this goal.

Retired Colombia Missionary Dies

2009-02-04 13:03:49

Rev. Oscar W. Jacobson, retired missionary to Colombia, entered into the presence of the Lord on Sunday, February 1, 2009.  He was 94.  Oscar and his wife, Mina, served with The Christian and Missionary Alliance more than 35 years.

 Oscar, the youngest of eleven children, was born in South Dakota and grew up in northern Minnesota.  At age eighteen he came face to face with Christ. The Lord spoke to Oscar through a challenging missionary message, and he responded to the call to the mission field. In 1935 he attended St. Paul Bible College (now Crown College) and there met Mina Kellenberg. They were married in August 1937 and then transferred to Nyack College, graduating in 1938. For four years,  they served in pastorates in southern Minnesota and in Wisconsin. In 1942, they were appointed as Alliance missionaries and sailed to Colombia, South America, with their three children: Sherrill, David, and Alvin. 

 The early years of the Jacobson’s ministry were spent working in the Central Andes among the Guambiano Indians. In 1943 they led the first Guambianos to Christ. They then ministered in the port city of Buenaventura and along the heavily populated river areas (Oscar was trained to fly four-engine planes and to navigate large boats). 

 The Jacobsons also taught in the Bible Institute in Armenia, Caldas. While ministering in Buenaventura, a miracle took place during a church service one evening. A police officer came in and fired six shots at Oscar while he was preaching. The Lord allowed all six bullets to miss him.  Oscar dug the bullets out of the wood walls and kept them in a film canister as a reminder of God’s faithfulness. 

 In 1958, Oscar suffered a severe heart attack that forced the family to leave Colombia for three years. God marvelously healed Oscar while serving in a pastorate at a church in Worchester, Massachusetts. He and Mina returned to Colombia in 1961. In 1966, they began church planting ministries in Cali. Home Bible studies were begun with families that started bringing others to Christ. A leadership training program was established with extension courses at the Bethel Bible Institute.  The Jacobsons’ last 12 years on the field were spent in nationwide evangelism, serving various Alliance churches. Oscar and Mina retired from missionary service in 1980. 

Visitation will be held February 3 from 6-8 p.m., with the memorial service to be held Wednesday, February 4 at 3:30 p.m. at Moore Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, 1219 N. Davis, Arlington, Texas.  Rev. Mark R. Searing, Southwestern District Superintendant, will represent International Ministries and The Christian and Missionary Alliance at the service.

Oscar is predeceased by his wife, Mina.

Demographics

Population

Population--42,954,279 Infant mortality rate--21.0/1,000 Life expectancy--71.7

Capital City

Santafé de Bogotá (6,837,800) pop.

Geography

A little less than three times the size of Montana, Colombia (439,733 sq. mi.) has three Andean ranges running north and south in the western half of the country. The eastern half is a low, jungle-covered plain.

Languages

Spanish

Ethnicity/Race

Mestizo--58%; White--20%; Mulatto--14%; Black--4%; mixed Black-Amerindian--3%; Amerindian--1%

Economy

Per capita income--$6,600 Inflation--5.9% Unemployment--13.6% Literacy rate--93% (2003 est.)

Government/Political Climate

Republic; executive branch dominates government structure. A 40-year insurgent campaign to overthrow the Colombian government escalated during the 1990s, undergirded in part by funds from the drug trade. Although the violence is deadly, the movement lacks the military strength or popular support necessary to overthrow the government.

Religion

Roman Catholic--90%; other--10%