West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference

West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference is a part of West Venezuela Union Mission in the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. Formerly West Los Llanos Venezuela Mission, West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference was organized 2009, reorganized 2015, reorganized and territory divided 2018. Its headquarters is in Barinas, Edo. Barinas, Venezuela.

Territory and Statistics

The territory of West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference comprises the state of Barinas and parts of the states of Apure and Mérida, namely the central portion of the state of Apure, after the dividing line of the town limits of El Saman de Apure, Medano Alto, Puerto Paez, Santo Rosa, and Yagual; the border towns of Elorza, La Trinidad, and Palmarito, up to the south of the stream of the Arauca River; part of the state of Merida from Transandina Road and to the town of Santo Domingo.

Barinas, Apure and Mérida are three of the 23 states that, together with the Capital District and its federal dependencies, form the country of Venezuela.

On June 30, 2019, West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference had 52 churches and 14,682 members in a local population of 1,074,503 inhabitants.¹ By 2021 there were 58 organized churches, 38 organized groups, and 10,933 members.² This means that there is one church member for every 98 persons in the general population. The conference began as West Los Llanos Venezuela Mission in 2009, and it was reorganized as West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference in 2015. In 2018 the territory of the conference was divided, giving origin to the Portuguesa Venezuela Mission.³

Origins of the Adventist Work in the Territory

An early pioneer of the work in this area was Rafael Simón Majano Torres, who started colporteuring in the state of Barinas in 1966. He worked there until his retirement in 1998.

He mainly worked in Altamira de Cáceres, Barinitas, and in the city of Barinas, where he still resides.⁴ Another colporteur who worked in this territory was Brother Lucas Parra, who passed to his rest in 2021.

The Barinas Central Church was started in 1967, and it was out of this church that the rest of the congregations in the territory originated. Among these congregations are the churches of El Oeste, Barinitas, Brisas de Alto Barinas, Obispo, Caimital, Barrancas, Pueblo Llano, Primero de Diciembre, Corocito, El Jardín, Los Pozones, La Paz, Alto Barinas, Mirí, Socopó Central, Socopó Este, and Torunos. Some of the original members of the Barinas Central Church include Luis González, Gertrudis de González, Luis Angel González, Jesús González, Jeremías González, Lulu González, Isabel González, Julieta González, Matilde González, Carmen González, Benito Graterol, Nardy Graterol, Alexis Graterol, Gregorio González, Catalino and Tereza Araujo, Omar Araujo, and Neo Levi Araujo. They met at first in the Caja de Agua sector behind the then International Hotel. They were led by Pastor Antonio Pereira. Later they moved their congregation to Vuelvan Caras Street to the home of brother Armando Navas, which was behind the Carolina market. At that time the district pastor was Saúl Yanes. They met in that home for about four years and then moved to the Olímpica Avenue between the Mérida and Cruz Paredes streets. This is where the current Barinas Central Church is located. The early membership grew to about twenty.⁵

There are other groups that should be mentioned here. Among these are the groups of Mantecal and Estado Apure, who were under the care of pioneer Pastor Antonio Pereira in 1975. He was able to baptize the first members: Petra Díaz, Trina Carvajal, Eulogía Díaz, Luis Díaz, Carmen Narcisa Pérez widow of Valero, María Leonarda Díaz, Belen Díaz, and Zoraida Díaz de Infante. The pastors who continued the work in that territory were Régulo Rivas, Otoniel González, Félix Rodríguez, Robinson Urdaneta, Pablo Torrealba, Daniel Hernández, Moisés Hernández, Elías Mora, Nelson Vega, and Jacobo Andara. All of these contributed to the efforts that gave origin to the churches Norte, Central, los Módulos, la Estacada, Bruzual, Elorza, Apurito, and Enmanuel.⁶

Conference Institutions

On July 22 of 1978, the church board of the Seventh-day Adventist Barinas Central Church voted to recommend to the church the establishing of a primary school. Pastor Héctor Sánchez was the church pastor, and he later became the first chairman of the school board. The church voted to start a primary school with only first and second grade at the beginning. School would be held in the new church, which was then under construction. The school board voted to ask teacher Ruth Tello and church member Juan Graterol to present the project to the board of the West Venezuela Mission. In the month of November of that same year, the church requested that the overflow from the Ingathering funds be dedicated to the construction of a school building. Church members Olga Mantilla, Carolina de Ávila, and Juan Graterol were responsible for registering the school as a legal entity.

On September 3, 1980, after following the directives of the Ministry of Education to provide adequate classrooms and teachers, the school year began. In 1982 third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades were added to the elementary school. The principal was Vilma Barrios. In 1985 a sports court was added, and the playgrounds were paved. In 1988 a pre-school was added, and by 1991, the school year ended with 96 students under the care of six teachers. The principal was Sonia de Rodríguez. This is how West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference began what became the Colegio Adventista Clímaco Girón.⁷

Events Leading to the Formation of the Conference

West Los Llanos Venezuela Mission was first organized on March 1, 2009. The constituency meeting was held in the Colegio de Médicos del Estado Barinas, with the presence of 96 regular delegates from the different organized churches. In addition, there were 14 general delegates. The meeting was led by Pastors Israel Leito, Julio Palacio, and Orlando Ramírez.⁸ The motto for the meeting was “Mission of Hope, the Work of All.”

Their quadrennial period should have been from 2009 to 2012,⁹ but the term was extended until 2015, by recommendation of West Venezuela Union Mission. On February 22 and 23 of that year, the second quadrennial session of West Los Llanos Venezuela Mission was held in the Alto Barinas Church in Barinas. At that session a vote was taken to change the status of this field from mission to conference, and it became the West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference. The motto of the session was “Revive, React, and Share.” The territory of the new conference was as follows: the states of Portuguesa, Barinas, and the central part of the state of Apure past a line formed by the towns of El Samán de Apure, Yagual, Médano Alto, Santa Rosa, Puerto Páez, and the line continued just prior to the towns of Palmarito, La Trinidad, Elorza, clear to the banks of the Arauca River. Also included was part of the state of Mérida that follows the Trans-Andean Highway until it reaches the town of Santo Domingo.

Statistics show that between 2007 and 2009 three groups and two churches were organized in the conference. However, between 2010 and 2015, 14 new churches were started. In 2016, two new churches, in 2017, four groups and three churches, and in 2018, five groups and six churches; in 2019, eight churches and ten groups were organized, and in 2020, two churches and six groups.¹⁰

In 2009 there were only two Adventist radio stations.¹¹ By 2015 there were seven radio stations.¹² After the reorganization of the territory, the conference retained only three radio stations, but after five years there are five Adventist radio stations in the conference.

The largest district at the time the change of status occurred was the district of Barinas Suroeste 1, with 13 congregations. The pastor at that time was Neftalí Chiquillo. For the rest of the conference there were nine credentialed pastors and 11 licensed pastors. The ratio of church members to local inhabitants was one to 80. Currently, the largest district is Barinas Este with eight congregations cared for by pastor Joel Benítez.

Future Challenges

Political events in the country have affected the church in this field. Among other things, there is the problem of a large emigration of members, mostly to Colombia. This emigration has also affected the pastoral staff, creating a loss of more than 20 percent of the ministers. Finances have also been affected, but thanks to God, we have a faithful group of members who have supported the church organization. There has also been a large monetary inflation in the country, which is using up almost all of the income to the treasury and all the personal income of the members. The political, social, and economic changes have strongly affected the membership in all of our territory.

In spite of everything, the leaders of the conference have decided to continue preaching. The conference expects shortly to organize a new mission in the southeast part of the territory. This is a goal that we hope to reach soon. We are committed to fulfilling the mission of preaching the gospel throughout all of our territory.

We believe that there is still a lesson we need to learn: to better prepare our lay members to win souls and to better prepare our ministerial group through seminaries and academic offerings. This will help retain our baptized members.

List of Presidents

West Los Llanos Venezuela Mission: Daniel A. González B. (2009-2015).

West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference: Daniel A. González B. (2015-2018), Edwin G. Latouche (2018 to 2019), Osmar J. González B. (2019-2021), Jesús Alexander Barrios Aular (2021-Present).

Sources

Agenda of the Second Quadrennial Session and Change of Status, West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference, November 17, 2021.

First and Second Quadrennial Administrative Sessions minutes, March 1, 2009, February 22-23, 2015. Office of the Secretariat, West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference.

Self-Evaluation Instrument, Unidad Educativa Adventista Profesor Clímaco Girón. Office of the Secretariat, West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference.

Statistics Report for the third trimester of 2021. Office of the Secretariat, West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Nampa: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2020.

Notes

1. “West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Nampa: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2020), 153. Accessed October 27, 2021.↩

2. Statistics Report for the third trimester of 2021, October 11, 2021. West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference. Accessed October 27, 2021.↩

3. West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Nampa: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2020), 153.↩

4. Olga de Majano, interview by the author, Barinas, Barinas, October 27, 2021.↩

5. Catalina Araujo, interview by the author, Barinas, Barinas, February 27, 2021.↩

6. Carmen Pérez, interview by the author, Barinas, Barinas, December 1, 2021.↩

7. Self-Evaluation Instrument, Unidad Educativa Adventista Profesor Clímaco Girón. Accessed November 16, 2021.↩

8. First Quadrennial Administrative Congress, March 1, 2009, West Los Llanos Venezuela Mission.↩

9. Ibid.↩

10. Antonio Montero, personal knowledge, information taken from the West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference secretariat for statistics, accessed December 1, 2021.↩

11. First Quadrennial Administrative Session, March 1, 2009, West Los Llanos Venezuela Mission.↩

12. Second Quadrennial Administrative Session, February 22-23, 2015, West Los Llanos Venezuela Conference.↩