The pastor of the Assemblies of God Church found in his faith a path to transform his life and his relationship with nature. From the pulpit, he advocates for the protection of the Amazon and promotes concrete actions within his community to protect the forest and educate children and adults in a new environmental culture.
“The planet is dying. There isn’t a single news program or media outlet that doesn’t mention it. As religious leaders, it is our responsibility to help protect it from the pulpit,” says Reverend Óscar Medina, pastor of the Vida en Abundancia congregation of the Assemblies of God Church.
Raising awareness and transforming people’s mindset regarding the care of the rainforest has been one of the main challenges he has faced during the more than seven years he has been part of IRI-San José del Guaviare.
However, he is convinced that change can be brought about even when the outlook is not the most favorable, just as it was in his own case.
“I grew up as an orphan,” he says, recalling his father’s death when he was just a year and a half old. Despite having the support of his mother, Eudosia Pérez, and the guidance of his ten older siblings, from a very young age he saw his life begin to ‘go off the rails.’ A moment of crisis led him to leave home, and it was during this self-imposed exile that he rediscovered his path through spirituality.
“It was something supernatural. After three months, the Lord had turned my life around 180 degrees. I was already thinking, acting, dressing, and living differently. Thirty-three years have passed since then,” says the religious leader, a native of Acacías (Meta).
A 180-degree turn toward the earth
Pastor Óscar Medina recognizes in spirituality the path to achieving a transformation of life and, in caring for creation, part of that journey.
“God gave us a home we call the planet, and we must manage it well,” he explains as he recalls a biblical passage. For him, spiritual life is linked to natural life; therefore, it is inconsistent to preach a message centered on Christ and the Bible if it does not include the protection of the planet.
Thanks to his mother, he had contact with nature from a very young age, as every year when vacation time came, she would ask her older children to take him to the farms where they worked. There he learned to ride horses, swim, fish, and grow rice and corn.
During these trips, he strengthened his ties to the countryside, but his love for the jungle was born many years later. His ministry took him to the “Gateway to the Amazon,” where he met people committed to the region, with whom he identified fully.
IRI-Colombia expanded this perspective. The leader from Acacir was one of the first to be contacted in 2019, when the Initiative was planning to establish the local IRI chapter in San José del Guaviare.
His community consists of about 400 people, including adults and children. All are eager to care for their souls, but they are also concerned about the jungle. For this reason, when he received the invitation, he was struck by the fact that it was a platform in support of the Amazonian tropical forests.
His work as a pastor in the Assemblies of God took a definitive turn after meeting with the Interfaith Initiative for Tropical Forests. Although his faith has always been tied to life, his involvement with the local IRI chapter in San José del Guaviare helped him understand that protecting the environment is not a topic foreign to the Bible, but a fundamental pillar of creation. The Amazon needs active advocates who combine moral influence with practical action, he realized through this shift in consciousness. Today, caring for the forest is a natural extension of his ministry.
Sowing the future in the church garden
After seven years of working for the Amazon alongside IRI-Colombia, Reverend Medina praises the Initiative’s work, providing religious leaders in San José del Guaviare with the knowledge and information necessary so that, from the pulpit, they can share with their congregants the urgency of forest conservation and motivate them to turn these messages into action.
He, for his part, has taken the mission very seriously. Today, the children and youth of his congregation are aware of their responsibility toward the forest. “We must care for nature,” they are heard saying. “We don’t speak of ‘the Amazon,’ but of ‘my Amazon,’” he explains, an expression that conveys a sense of ownership and love for the land.
His wife, Pastor Claudia Patricia Cárdenas, has been his greatest ally in this endeavor. They encourage the children in the community to plant a tree and care for it. They use photos to track its growth, and once it’s ready, they bring it to the congregation to plant it. On its grounds, the Vida en Abundancia church has a green space where, for the past five years, the children have been planting different species. Divided into groups, they take charge of caring for them. They’ve watched them grow and now know that their survival depends on good care.
To achieve this shift in awareness, we must start with children, notes Pastor Medina. “We need to teach them to plant trees, to care for nature, to protect water. Education must be part of that,” he asserts.
With adults, his work focuses on driving action, rather than mere reflection after worship: the goal is to influence people’s thinking to bring about behavioral changes.
Thanks to the messages he incorporates daily into his pastoral work, the reverend has convinced some members of his community to set aside several hectares of their farms for reforestation, rather than cutting down trees to raise livestock. “It’s about transforming a culture, where burning and ‘leveling the mountain’ are deeply rooted customs, into one that is more conscious and in harmony with nature,” he notes.
Pastor Óscar Medina knows he is not alone in this struggle, as the interfaith dialogue promoted by IRI-Colombia has allowed him to engage with other ways of thinking and experiencing spirituality, all united by a single goal: caring for the tropical forest. That is why, within his circle and beyond, he encourages those he guides through faith to change the way they relate to nature. “It is our responsibility to raise awareness from the pulpit and guide our community toward finding salvation, changing their lifestyle habits, and learning to care for our home, the planet,” he affirms.
Today, the Amazon speaks out and draws attention to its territory. For Pastor Óscar Medina, it is important not only to listen but to take action. And since everything begins at home, his congregation works day by day to draw closer to God. He, too, is present in every plant, every flower, and every animal that surrounds us.
