A PARTNERSHIP ORDAINED BY GOD: WILDERNESS COMMUNITY CHURCH & THE QUECHUA CHURCH OF PERU

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In late 2000, some 18 months after Wilderness Community Church was planted, God began to birth a vision in the leadership of the church to invest significantly in a single place in partnership with an indigenous or native ministry. As the leadership prayed, our focus was drawn to the nation of Peru, on the west coast of South America.

In July of 2001, a six-member team flew to Lima and spent more than seven days visiting with Christian leaders, praying and discerning God's will.

During our fact-finding mission, we met Pastor Joshua Saune and his wife, Missy, and learned about their efforts as leaders in The Quechua Church of Peru. Pastor Joshua is president of The Quechua Church. As we shared with Pastor Joshua and Missy, we knew that God was calling us to partner with The Quechua Church in sharing Jesus Christ with the Quechua people.

The Quechua Church is based in Ayacucho, Peru. The City of Ayacucho was a small Andean city in 1980 with a population of 20,000. Today, the population of Ayacucho has ballooned to more than 250,000 residents. This population explosion results from more than a decade of violence in the region where a brutal organization called The Shining Path attempted to overthrow the government of Peru and terrorized the population, killing and injuring hundreds of thousands. As a result, many of the Quechua who lived in rural areas abandoned their homes and property to move to squatter neighborhoods in Ayacucho.

Through our partnership with the Quechua Church of Peru, we have sent more than thirty mission teams to work in city and department of Ayacucho.  The average income of the people we serve is less than $1.00 per day.  We have sent teams that have focused on the training of pastors and development of lay leadership in churches, the provision of medical services, construction of churches and community buildings and the education of children.  Since 2001 we have sent an average of three teams each year.  These teams have predominantly been composed of persons from Wilderness Community Church; however, the teams have included persons who are members of other churches in the United States as well as individuals in the community who do not have a relationship with any church family.