“There are thousands of Peruvians hungry to hear about the saving grace of Jesus Christ,” observes missionary Arthur Ivey, “We don’t even have enough minimally trained pastors for the existing churches, much less for the churches we could easily plant.”

The story of the Gospel reaching these hungry hearts is one of God’s using Peru’s people, who are offering their lives to reach their neighbors for Christ.

Pastor Alberto
In April, I was able to visit Mission Society missionaries Arthur and Mary Alice Ivey in Huancayo, Peru and was amazed by how the Lord is moving among them and all the local believers with whom they work.

Among the national workers, one individual in particular grabbed my attention – Alberto Fernandez, better known as Pastor Alberto. He and his wife, Karen, live in Huancayo.

Once a pastor in a denominational church, Pastor Alberto discovered that the local church leadership was rife with corruption. When he began being pressured by other church leaders to lead a life and ministry of dishonesty, he decided to leave the church, not knowing what might be next for him and his family.

The Lord quickly provided another opportunity for ministry. He and Arthur Ivey connected about developing a discipleship ministry among Peruvian believers and seekers. In this discipleship ministry, participants go through Scripture and 18 other books for two-and-a-half years, a significant commitment. Arthur mentored and encouraged Pastor Alberto, and these groups began to multiply, without being in any way controlled or even funded by outside sources.

What began three years ago as a handful of groups has grown to more than 150 discipleship groups in a 600 kilometer radius of Huancayo with almost 1700 participants. God is transforming lives through this ministry as the participants study the Bible and share life together. And Pastor Alberto – not missionaries Arthur or Mary Alice – is overseeing these groups and their leaders, teaching them to train disciple-makers.

When I asked Pastor Alberto what difference he felt between his past ministry and the ministry with which he is now involved, he replied with one word: “freedom.” I couldn’t help but think of the verse “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, this is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17).

– by Johnny Winkle, Mission Society director of advancement activities and former Mission Society missionary to Central Asia

Manuel
Manuel Villar Bodoya is 61 years old. He lives with his mother in the house in which he was born – with no water or electricity and about a six-hour walk from the main road.

Manuel, who walks with a notable limp (a condition he has had since birth), has planted more than 300 churches. His church-planting method is to pray and fast, asking the Lord Jesus where He wants Manuel to plant the next church. “When Manuel receives an answer,” reports missionary Arthur Ivey, “he heads out into the jungle on foot, looking for the place he has seen while praying. Once he finds it, he prays and fasts for a week in the place. Afterward he asks permission to preach in the middle of the village.

“As he preaches many begin to give their lives to the Lord Jesus. Manuel then prays and fasts again, asking the Lord to identify who He wants to be the pastor of this new work. Once identified, Manuel works alongside of the man in his fields, all the while teaching him the scriptures and discipling and training him for about six months. Manuel then leaves the church with an organized board and a pastor, and returns periodically to check on the new work until it is well established.”

During the civil war in Peru with the Shinning Path terrorists, Manuel continued to plant churches in one of the most heavily terrorist-controlled areas. One evening as he was preaching, terrorists came into the church and began executing people on the spot. When they got to Manuel, they condemned him for being a coward for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They then shot him in the back of the head and left him among the other bodies.

Manuel says he doesn’t know if the Lord saved him or resurrected him, but sometime later he regained consciousness. He managed to get home, cleaned the blood off, and went out to begin preaching again. Manuel still has the hole in the back of his head from the bullet entry.