Report from BHW Sth America Partnership Facilitator

Recent Events

Activities

Segadores Missionary Organisation: Saul and Clara split their time between their local church outreach and the Segadores ministry, 60% / 40% respectively. Their ministry with Segadores is reaching/evangelising the unreached tribes of the Peruvian Amazon. They are also involved in training indigenous missionaries.

Local outreach in their suburb of Lima called Pariachi. Both Saul and Clara play a significant role in the outreach of their local church. The suburb of Pariachi, where their church is, was established by displaced peoples from the Andean mountains during the 1990’s. These people experienced threats and even kidnappings from the “Sendero Luminoso” (Shining Path) terrorist organisation and fled to Lima where the local “Limenans” were suspicious of them, thinking that they were actually terrorists. So now they live on the outskirts of the city in shanty towns, many without work.

They are also involved in counselling married couples in their local church, training young leaders in the church and running youth camps. 

Saul is currently completing a Degree in Religious Studies. 

Programmes

Saul travels to the jungle areas where Segadores are working with tribal groups that have Christians amongst them to train potential leaders to be missionaries to their own people. He also assists other Segadores missionaries in contacting unreached people groups.

During the week Saul and Clara provide counselling for married couples in their church, which also extends to non-Christian couples on the fringes of the church. There are a number of challenges in this ministry as a few of the couples have struggled in their relationships. One wife’s husband was actually murdered, not by the wife though! Last year they held a married couples camp where a number of couples were reconciled to themselves.

They run youth camps each year. In June of last year they ran a camp and as a result in September they baptised 12 young people, these young people are now the camp leaders. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

Saul and Clara work amongst the youth in their suburb and run camps which these young people attend. Typically the youth in their suburb are from families who have fled from the Andes Mountain towns a generation or two ago due to the “Shining Path” Peruvian terrorist group. On arrival in Lima they were marginalised due to the locals believing that these people were in fact terrorists themselves. They had no choice but to set up slum type living conditions. 

In June they ran a camp and as a result in September they baptised 12 young people. 

Clara says that they are now running camps for couples, last year they held their first camp. The highlights were that lots of couples reconciled. One couple that reconciled, the women is now leading a group. 

Current Issues and Challenges

1) A concern to Saul and Clara is their health with heart related problems.

2) A number of couples in the church have marriage problems. Saul and Clara find it is difficult and stressful counselling them. One particular wife’s husband was murdered. Saul and Clara attended his funeral a couple of days before we arrived.

3) Yuliana, their daughter, finishes her studies next December. University is 2 hours away and so she has to leave at 6am for classes at 8am until 8pm. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) The youth camps are an encouraging success
2) The marriage camps have been really beneficial for couples attending, their marriages have been enriched, and in some cases, rejuvenated
3) Health issues for Saul and Clara 

Comments

The nature of Saul and Clara’s ministry has changed significantly. Where once the bulk of their time was dedicated to the Segadores mission organisation and its outreach to the unreached tribes of the Peruvian Amazon, now the majority of their time is with the youth and married couples in their suburb of Lima, called Pariachi. That doesn’t mean to say that they aren’t still travelling to the jungle to evangelise the various tribes who Segadores work with there. Saul is still involved in training missionaries from amongst the Amazon tribe groups that have responded to the Lord.

The significance of their work among the local church in Pariachi, Lima, can’t be underestimated. The people in this area of Lima were displaced from the Andes Mountains by the terrorist group “Shining Path”. We attended one of the services at Saul and Clara’s church and were impressed with the vibrancy and enthusiasm for the Lord that the Christians have. This is a poor suburb of Lima.

We consider that partnering with Saul and Clara is still significant, the change in their time allocation to ministries losing nothing in terms of reaching the lost.