World Challenge’s partners are holding pastor and youth conferences as well as reaching widows and building up the church in South America.
One of our partners who ministers to a group of churches in Peru sent us this report about how recent events and individual work has been going.
Darwin held a pastors conference to the local pastors in Cusco. Over 60 pastors showed up for the conference. It was a beautiful time spent in fellowship and in the word. We have had a lot of feedback from several different pastors and leaders in the community commenting on how fruitful and beneficial the conference was. Many of these pastors needed refreshment as the pandemic continues to extend in Peru, affecting many of their ministries. We are grateful that God has given favor to Darwin among this group of leaders.
Peru has a fairly wide network of Catholic churches, but much of their doctrine is heavily influenced by animistic traditions. Priests or pastors who want to teach directly from scripture may find stiff resistance from town leadership or government officials. This on top of the ongoing Covid restrictions has made the last few years very challenging, and yet God is continuing to bring people to himself and keep the churches alive.
He had a great time investing in our servant team and also hosted a team from Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel of Calgary, Canada. This team came specifically to set up a new radio online.
Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel of Canada has an existing radio that broadcasts Darwin's teaching in Canada along with many other pastors and teachers. In Cusco we are broadcasting on a local radio daily, but the new online radio will allow us to broadcast worldwide for the Latin listeners. We are very excited to see how God will reach people with Christ-centered teaching through this medium.
The work our partners in Peru are doing is hardly limited to church leaders or volunteers. They are also reaching the next generation, knowing that God often reveals his presence through the soft hearts of young teens who are crying out for purpose and direction in their lives.
One of the events that Darwin was very excited about was the youth conference. We were anticipating 50 youth that had preregistered, but we were pleasantly surprised with over 100 youth attending the conference! The theme of the conference was our identity in Christ. God is moving in mighty ways in the youth of Peru.
We're excited to invest in the future of the church through these young hearts. Many of the youth have continued to come to our Saturday night youth studies. The conference was extremely fruitful and encouraging for not only us but also those who were in attendance.
This is a small window into the other work that our partners do, beyond the widows ministry which we have written about several times before. The work there, though, has been inspiring and given us much cause to praise God. He can transform a person’s mind and spirit no matter what age they are or what their life has looked like in the past.
On both trips, Darwin was able to visit our widow’s ministry in Chinchero. In February, six widows gave their lives to the Lord. On this most recent trip, four more widows dedicated their lives to Christ! We are constantly amazed how God is moving in the hearts of these women. He is reaching those we would consider the most difficult to reach.
The people of Chinchero are extremely traditional, practicing many rituals of their ancient religion. It is spectacular to see God breakthrough those barriers. He has filled their hearts with such courage to go against tradition and to choose Him, even if that means rejection from family, society, and community. When these ladies choose Christ is not without sacrifice. Many face ridicule and have been marginalized by family members and the community at large. Their bravery to choose Jesus above all things in spite the opposition is truly inspiring.
Please join us in praying for the conferences, church leaders, young people and widows who are meeting with our partners in Peru. Pray for our partners as they continue to work in spiritual dark places, encouraging pastors and building up the church!