DAWN Fridayfax 1996 #10

DAWN News from Latin America, Venezuela, Peru

South America: a continental evangelistic and missionary explosion

It is possible that over 500,000 new churches will be planted in South America by the year 2010, according to the members of the newly-founded Latin American AMANECER (Spanish for DAWN) committee. The number is the total target of the continent's known national long-term projects. According to Berna Salcedo, a member of the AMANECER committee, there are currently around 345,000 evangelical churches in South America.

In 55 of the 56 nations which comprise Latin and Central America and the Caribbean, broad groups of evangelical churches and movements have joined to take part in a long-term strategy based on the DAWN principle of multiplying evangelistic local churches. 500,000 new churches by 2010 would result in 845,000 churches for a population estimated to have reached 600 million - one evangelical church per 710 inhabitants. Mission experts consider this development to be "an evangelistic and missionary explosion" which will touch many parts of the world.

Venezuela: "Our target of 20,000 churches by 2002 is too small"

Careful empirical church-planting research lead by Caracas' Tomas Moreno has shown that there were around 6,000 evangelical churches in Venezuela in 1992. Following a national DAWN strategy conference, another 4,000 were planted in only 2 years. The churches' growth was and is so rapid that a broadly representative committee of pastors and denomination leaders has revised the original target of 20,000 churches by 2002 to 22,000 by the same date.

"Give me Peru or I die!"

In 1991, 250 pastors and intercessors came to a meeting called "Crying for Peru". The attendees decided to mobilise "an army of 10,000 intercessors" to pray that Peru would be filled with evangelical, Christ-centred churches. During a second strategy seminar at the start of November 1995 with the motto "Peru para Cristo" ("Peru for Christ"), 200 of these intercessors were present to pray for the conference.

Mike Steele, a DAWN staff member, reports: "Over 1180 pastors went to Lima, Peru for the 'Second national conference for evangelisation through Saturation Church Planting'. The conference's high point was", he continues, "the reaction to pastor Jorge Romero's call to prayer based on the famous Scottish reformer John Knox 'Give me Peru - or I die!' The pastors agreed that a total of 50,000 churches will be necessary to reach every person in Peru with the gospel. In 1993, Peru had around 3,500 evangelical churches; this number has grown to almost 14,000 today, and later this year, there will be regional conferences to work towards reaching 19,000 by the end of 1997. The long-term aim is to have 50,000 churches by 2003."
More from Peru

Peru: previously terminally ill Brazilian starts a fellowship in an abandoned Catholic church

As a young man, Jesuel was sent out to Peru by his home church in Brazil. A week later, he was discussing with friends when, where and how they should plant a new church. He says that during this discussion, a demon calling himself "Prince of Peru" appeared to him and told him "Go back to your own land, or you will die in Peru."

Jesuel prayed, but became so ill inside a week that the doctors gave up all hope of his recovery. As Jesuel fought for his life, a pastor had an impression during his prayer time that he should go to the hospital to pray for the young man of whom he had never heard. He did this, and saw how Jesuel was healed and discharged from the hospital. Shortly afterwards, Jesuel went to a town in north Peru where there was no evangelical church.

After 4 weeks of evangelising, nobody had been saved, but Jesuel did not give up, and continued to pray. One day, he went to a Roman Catholic church and discovered that it was closed. He made friends with the sexton, who told him that there had been no priest in the church for 6 months. Jesuel led the man to Christ, and a while later, the newly-saved sexton suggested that they call the people together to a mass. They rang the church bells, and the people started streaming to the church from all directions.

Jesuel reports that over 100 people started a personal relationship with Jesus that day. Jesuel and his new friend continued to meet with the new converts until he had to flee for his life when priests nearby started to spread rumours about him. He did not give up, though, and planted another 5 churches in Peru. Since then, he has returned to Brazil and married.

His plans? "My wife and I have decided to return to Peru."

Sources: Jesuel, Tomas Moreno, c/o Dawn Ministries, Jim Montgomery, Mike Steele, Berna Salcedo, Tel (+1) 719-548-7460 Fax (+1) 719-548-7475

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