Today we’d like to introduce you to Missy Christie De Acosta.
Hi Missy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Looking back, I realize I never really chose this path, it became part of who I am. I was born in New Zealand and raised in Colombia, where my parents served as missionaries. From an early age, I watched them express their faith not only through preaching, but through love in action: caring for vulnerable families, serving local churches, and walking alongside people facing poverty, violence, exclusion, and hopelessness. Those experiences shaped my understanding that the Gospel speaks to every dimension of life.
When my father passed away 32 years ago, several community initiatives that had grown out of my parents’ ministry needed continuity and direction. In 1996, together with my husband and a small group of committed friends, we founded what was then Corporación Dios es Amor in Colombia. Our desire was simple: to proclaim the love of Christ in both word and deed and to create opportunities for children, families, and communities to discover dignity, purpose, and hope.
That small beginning has grown into Conviventia, a name that means living and working together. Today, Conviventia serves hundreds of children, youth, and families through education, family strengthening, vocational training, entrepreneurship, humanitarian response, and Christian discipleship.
What began in Colombia has also grown into a growing U.S.-based ministry supported by volunteers, that mobilizes churches, professionals, families, students, and volunteers to put their faith into action. Through Friends of Hope child sponsorship and short-term mission experiences, people are serving both locally in Houston and internationally alongside communities in Colombia.
One of the greatest blessings has been watching these partnerships flourish. Each year, approximately 200 volunteers travel from the United States to Colombia. They build, teach, mentor, pray, provide medical care, encourage local leaders, and share Christ’s love in practical ways. Their service certainly impacts the communities they visit, but it also transforms them. Many return home with renewed faith, a deeper understanding of God’s mission, and a stronger commitment and capacity to serve wherever He has placed them.
Today I see Conviventia as much more than an organization. It is a community of people from different nations, professions, churches, and generations choosing to live out the Gospel together.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all.
Working alongside families affected by poverty, displacement, violence, exploitation, broken relationships, and limited opportunities means walking through very complex realities. There have been seasons of uncertainty, danger, financial constraints, infrastructure needs, and the ongoing challenge of growing an organization without losing sight of why it exists.
Perhaps our greatest challenge has been resisting the temptation to confuse activity with transformation. It is relatively easy to provide aid. It is far more difficult, and far more rewarding, to walk alongside families, helping them rebuild trust, strengthen relationships, discover purpose, develop new skills, and ultimately become leaders who begin serving others.
That journey has taught us that poverty is not simply the absence of material resources. Lasting solutions therefore require more than generosity. They require hope, truth, discipleship, opportunity, and communities that journey together over time.
Those lessons have shaped Conviventia for three decades.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Conviventia is a Christian development and humanitarian organization committed to cultivating the conditions in which people, transformed by the truth and love of God, become faithful stewards who contribute to the flourishing of their families, communities, and society, for the glory of God.
What makes Conviventia distinctive is our belief that every person bears the image of God. Because of that, people are never merely recipients of assistance; they are participants in God’s redemptive work and stewards of the gifts He has entrusted to them.
For more than thirty years, this conviction has shaped everything we do. Long before concepts such as community ownership or locally led development became common language, we chose to walk alongside the people we serve, listening before acting, learning together, and building our strategy with communities rather than simply for them.
Conviventia was never built around projects; it was built around people.
We don’t believe poverty is overcome by charity alone. We believe it is addressed by restoring dignity, strengthening families, developing skills, creating opportunities, nurturing faith, and equipping local leaders who can continue transforming their own communities long after any project has ended.
That is why our programs are intentionally integrated. Education strengthens children while engaging parents. Family strengthening restores relationships and builds healthy homes. Vocational training and entrepreneurship create opportunities for economic independence. Humanitarian aid responds to urgent needs while laying the foundation for long-term resilience. Throughout it all, Christian discipleship provides the hope and purpose that sustain lasting change.
We also believe partnerships should be transformational for everyone involved. Mission teams do far more than complete projects. They join ongoing, locally led initiatives where they serve, learn, build relationships, and become part of a much larger story of restoration. In the process, communities are strengthened, local leaders are encouraged, and volunteers themselves return home with a renewed vision for serving Christ in their own neighborhoods.
Ultimately, our goal is not to create dependency on Conviventia. It is to see children become leaders, families become places of hope, churches become centers of transformation, and communities become increasingly capable of shaping their own future under God’s guidance. We measure success not only by the lives we touch today, but by the people who, having experienced God’s transforming work, begin transforming the lives of others.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Faithful perseverance.
Vision may inspire people to begin, but perseverance allows transformation to take root.
For more that thirty years, Conviventia has remained committed to walking alongside communities, even when progress seemed slow and resources were limited. That perseverance has been sustained by a deep conviction that every person is created by God with dignity, purpose, and extraordinary potential.
When you truly believe that, you don’t give up easily. You continue listening, serving, building, praying, learning, and inviting others to join the work that God is already doing.
Pricing:
- One of the simplest ways to become part of Conviventia’s mission is through our Friends of Hope child sponsorship program. • Child sponsorship begins at $36 per month. • Sponsors help provide quality Christian education, family support, spiritual formation, health monitoring, and a safe environment where children can flourish.
- Churches, schools, universities, businesses, and community groups are also invited to participate through customized one- or two-week mission experiences in Colombia. These trips combine meaningful service with discipleship, cultural immersion, and long-term partnerships that continue well beyond the time spent in the field.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.conviventia.us
- Instagram: @conviventiaUS
- Facebook: conviventiaUS
