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  (Photo: Reuters/Paulo Whitaker)
  Thousands of people march during the Jesus Parade in downtown Sao Paulo July 14, 2012. The parade unites Christians and Evangelical churches in a public expression of faith, praising and worshipping Jesus Christ.

Christian leaders in various Latin American countries have called for unity in order to make a larger impact in the region. The call came during a meeting of Evangelical Alliances that took place in Panama city, Panama, between October 17 and 20.

National leaders of Evangelical Alliances from at least 16 countries shared ideas and major concerns in each of their regions in the event called "Ibero-American Forum of Evangelical Dialogue" (FIDE).

The leaders prepared and released a statement in which they shared their strategic plans and solutions to implement until they meet again in November 2013.

In the text they pointed to a number of major concerns in Latin America, which included violence, the displacing of Gospel values for others against the Kingdom of God, the growth and the "capacity to impact" of the evangelical church, the need of sowing unity, poverty, opportunities for education, health and the need of operational and strategic capacity to fulfill the vision of God given to the region.

The alliances committed to continue to work for unity in order to empower their actions and improve the impact of the Evangelical churches in Latin America.

"We reaffirm our common spirit of unity, dialogue, solidarity and evangelical effective action in the region, and we intend to grow our operating capacity seeking to deeply reinforce these values to the development of the Church," the evangelical leaders said in the document.

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A work agenda will be prepared to "guide," "inspire" and "allow" them to be more relevant to the needs of the Evangelical Church in the different countries.

As they work together the alliances have said they will be in constant communication to share their activities and reflections until the next meeting.

The evangelical leaders also promised to prepare proposals to send to the General Assembly of the World Evangelical Alliance to be held in 2014 in Seoul, South Korea.

Furthermore the leaders manifested their support to the work offered by the National Evangelical Alliances for its members and countries in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"We demand the respect of the States and society to the integrity, freedom and religious equality," they added. "We will not allow the Alliances, Boards and Fellowships, and its members to be threatened or attacked in any way because it will be considered an offense to the Gospel and to all alliances and members of the evangelical church in the region."

The next Assembly is expected to take place in November in 2013, in Asuncion city, Paraguay.