In this land of extremes, the Andes Mountains separate Peru’s desert plain on the west from her jungles on the east. Many Peruvians, particularly those in the rural areas of the Southern Andes, live in poverty. People are hungry for God’s Word. The Mission Society’s Peru team, working with the Peruvian Methodist Church, is committed to training pastors and church leaders, planting new churches, ministering to youth and children and doing medical evangelism through a mobile clinic and Community Health Evangelism (a program in which nationals teach their communities simple methods of disease prevention and, simultaneously, introduce the gospel). There is a need for children’s ministry, evangelism, and possibly medical assistance at almost every location listed below, in addition to the other needs described.
Classroom Construction & Evangelization Project - Casa de Oración Qechua
Project Location: Chilca, Huancayo
Estimated Costs: Approximately $500 per person, per week, plus airfare and any specific project monies.
Dates Available: Teams welcomed all year. Recommended trip length from departure to arrival in the U.S. is nine-to-sixteen days.
Project Description: The Lord Jesus has blessed the Peru team with a relationship with the Casa de Oración Quechua in Chilca, Huancayo. This church is approximately 16 years old and is made up of a large population of Quechua speaking peoples from the south of Huancayo. The native tongue of many of these people is either; Quechua Huancavelica, Quechua, Ayacucho, Quechua Cusco, or Quechua Wanka. Through one of the local pastors, Genaro Puente Ayala, the team has involved this church in their discipleship program. There are 47 of their members, mostly young adults, participating with us in this ministry. Forty of these persons are almost to the point that they are ready to begin leading groups of their own. This combined with an opportunity to work with 200 non-Christian families (approx. 1000 persons), supported through Compassion International has given us a unique opportunity to evangelize and disciple, in an area that has traditionally been very closed to the gospel message.
The Casa de Oración Quechua is in need of additional facilities. They own the land in Chilca and have a small sanctuary that is almost full on Sunday nights. All of their other buildings are provisional adobe construction and are too small to meet the current demand. They have contracted an architect and have made a master plan and detailed plans for expansion of their facilities. They have decided that they would like to build the classrooms first to provide places for their children, youth, and young adults, but also have plans to use these spaces as a training center to send out workers to the south to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ into these little evangelized areas.
The new education center is proposed to ultimately contain three floors of five classrooms each. This construction has an estimated cost of $170,000.00. Many of the members of the congregation are skilled in construction and plan to reduce these costs by providing their skills and talents to the project in place of paying outside construction workers. By working with mission teams this would further reduce labor costs on this project. Financing for this project would come through grants from Compassion International, support from short-term mission teams and from tithes and offerings and other fund raising activities of the congregation. The first phase of this portion of the project would be to construct the first five ground level classroom buildings.
Work teams are needed to help with the construction of the center, participate in evangelism and children’s ministries.
Contact: Arthur Ivey acivey@mindspring.com
Youth and Young Adult Ministry
Project Location: Various locations
Estimated Costs: Approximately $500 per person, per week, plus airfare and any specific project monies.
Dates Available: Teams welcomed all year. Recommended trip length from departure to arrival in the U.S. is nine-to-fourteen days. For evangelism teams the maximum is sixteen people.
Project Description: Teams are needed to work along side of and train young adults to be effective evangelists, discipleship leaders, prayer warriors, and leaders of cell groups. This training can take the form of on-the-job teaching, classes, or combinations of these methods. Training events are scheduled throughout the year, as well as ongoing weekly training. Funds are needed to purchase training and discipleship materials in Spanish, as well as good quality Spanish tracts for evangelism.
Contact: Arthur Ivey acivey@mindspring.com
Kuyay Talpuy project for underprivileged children
Project Location: Mantaro Valley - Huancayo
Estimated Costs: Approximately $550-650 per person, per week, plus airfare and any specific project monies.
Dates Available: Teams welcomed all year. Recommended trip length from departure to arrival in the U.S. is nine-to-sixteen days. We also welcome individual volunteers.
Project Description: The Kuyay Talpuy school is a Christian education outreach ministry. It provides educational support in a Christian environment for preschool through eleven-year old students. The Kuyay Talpuy project is designed to give underprivileged/economically deprived students and families an opportunity to receive educational support and tutoring. Our students come from families of farmers who have no formal education and are extremely poor. They cannot provide for the education of their children and cannot help their children succeed once they begin to attend school.
The students receive their school supplies, teaching by Peruvian certified teachers, a hot meal each day, and Bible lessons. When students are working on their appropriate school level and are ready to enter the national school system, we help the families to enroll their children and we support them through scholarships for textbooks, uniforms, and school supplies. We also offer tutoring programs after school for community children who need extra educational support. Each week, the Kuyay Talpuy program offers a Kid’s Club ministry to the community as an evangelical outreach to all children and families in the community, as well as Bible study opportunities for community members.
As a member of a short-term team or as an individual volunteer, you will participate in community education and evangelism, children’s ministries, and teaching ministries. Our facilities are always in need of repair and revitalization. We are always looking for help with providing school supplies to the students, quality children’s books in Spanish, educational games and toys, etc. The teachers need help in the classroom and welcome volunteers. The students need affection and attention and love. The families of our children need support and guidance in the form of Bible study, family counseling, nutrition and health teaching, and just a general outreach of love and compassion. Other teachers are welcome to come and provide support for Peruvian teachers in the form of workshops and training.
Contact: Laurie Drum laurie@drumsforchrist.org
Teaching English to Peruvian learners
Project Location: Huancayo
Estimated Costs: Approximately $550 per person, per week, plus airfare and any specific project monies.
Dates Available: Teams or individuals welcomed all year. Recommended trip length from departure to arrival in the U.S. is nine-to-sixteen days.
Project Description: The ability to learn the English language is a highly sought skill among Peruvians. As a short-term missionary involved in teaching English, you may work in a variety of settings - local schools (private and public), local English institutes, one-on-one English tutoring or small group tutoring, etc. Your short-term team may choose to hold English Camp – a week long full-emersion English camp where students come to a retreat-like setting and work with your team through conversation groups, games, songs, etc., building relationships with your team while learning the English language and learning about the love of Christ.
If you choose to stay longer, the Peru team accepts interns for three or more months, who will work with students, building relationships in the process and sharing the love of Christ with them via English language learning and relational ministry.
The team will handle the curriculum – you just agree to come and share your language!
Contact: Laurie Drum laurie@drumsforchrist.org
