Countries Where We
Assist Native Ministries
Overview
Latin America’s Protestant population is booming, yet the region is still home to high numbers of unreached people groups. Brazil tops the chart of Latin American countries with the most unreached people groups. Mexico is number two, followed by Peru and Colombia.
Mexico’s Oaxaca State, for instance, is the most ethnically diverse entity in the world. In one 36-square-mile area of the state, more than 200 languages and dialects are spoken. Peru is home to many “unengaged” tribes who live in the jungles of Amazonia, isolated from society.
In contrast, Peru’s evangelical population has dramatically increased from 1 percent in 1960 to 11.15 percent in 2017. However, Peruvian Christians suffer from a lack of trained leadership, leading to false teaching within some churches.
Poverty, gangs, and drug trafficking are some of the biggest challenges to the spread of the gospel in Latin America.
Many of the indigenous ministries we assist are addressing each of these challenges; for instance, in Ecuador, a ministry provides theological training to inmates at 12 prisons where they have planted churches. Former murderers and drug traffickers are now seminary students and leaders inside prison churches. Once they are released, they have an opportunity to learn a viable skill through the ministry’s rehabilitation program.
How You Can Make a Difference
Native missionaries in Latin America persevere in sharing the gospel in some of the world’s most dangerous mission fields—where gangs, drug traffickers, and hostile animist communities view them as a threat to their territories. They need your support to help them enter towns and villages through community engagement projects like small businesses and vocational training centers, which have proven effective in opening hearts to the gospel message.
Ways To Give
Evangelism & Discipleship
In Oaxaca State, Mexico, where over 200 languages and dialects are spoken, a ministry is training missionaries to reach the region’s many unreached people groups.
Community Engagement
In the slums of Guatemala City, an indigenous ministry provides more than 100 poverty-stricken children with afterschool recreation and discipleship in God’s Word.
Compassion
An indigenous ministry in the Peruvian Andes cares for poor children by providing them with nutritious meals, usually their only meal of the day, and tutoring.
Exclusive Stories from the Mission Field
“Not I, But Christ”
Free haircuts and dental care. The distribution of medications at no cost. Lessons in art and cooking and agriculture. To some, these things may seem like simple acts of kindness, the generous gifting of important services, resources, and knowledge to enhance people’s quality of life. But to native missionaries in Brazil, they present opportunities to live out the Great Commission, opening the door for them to be the hands and feet of Jesus among ethnic tribes who are not only wary—but sometimes even hostile—to missionaries’ attempts to share the gospel.
Be The Salt Of The Earth in Peru
A violinist gave offerings to demonic pagan gods in hopes they would help him become famous. His fame grew, but so, too, did his addiction to it. When his wife gave her life to Christ, he had no interest in her testimony until one day when he became lost in the Andes.
Break Spiritual Strongholds With The Gospel in Ecuador
A witch rules over an indigenous tribe deep in the jungle, and he threatens to kill through witchcraft anyone who attempts to introduce the gospel to his people. Despite his warnings, native missionaries have begun to visit one tribal village, and they pray that God will open the door for them to eventually share the gospel.
Lift Up The Disheartened in Colombia
A woman grew bitter and reclusive because of sores that covered her body, and she visited witches in hopes they could heal her. Nothing worked. When her neighbor invited her to a native ministry’s evangelism event, she reluctantly agreed to attend. “That night she took the step of faith and accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior,” the ministry leader said.
A Cinderella Story
It was nicknamed “Cinderella” by some, this Latin American city that was rich in beauty and history but devoid of true joy, with no fellowship of believers and—prior to Daniel’s* arrival—no missionary to share the gospel message. Unbeknownst to Daniel, however, God had been preparing this place for a metamorphosis. Like Cinderella, it would soon rise from the ashes and transform into what, at its core, it was always meant to be. But unlike Cinderella, this would not be a fairy godmother intervention. This transformation would be through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Share The Joy Of Salvation in Paraguay
The death of their son devastated a husband and his wife, and their heartbreak turned their lives into a series of difficult trials. But one day they chose to attend church together, and after telling their story to a native missionary, they began the long journey toward healing.