First Peruvian Mission Conference

The Larco church is one of our Mission's three churches in the Trujillo area. It is the largest and most developed of our churches.

"All Christians are missionaries" was the message of the first ever missions conference at the Larco Church. "As the Father has sent me," said the Lord, "so I send you" (John 20.21). All are not sent as apostles, or even as ministers, but all are called to bear witness to Christ and what He has done for us. In this sense all Christians are missionaries giving testimony to the Gospel in a broken world.

Most Peruvians use the word "missionary" to refer to foreigners who work in Peru. Larco Pastor, Jaime Avellaneda, wished to emphasize the importance of Peruvians becoming an active part of God's mission. The Lord used two Peruvian missionaries, Trinidad de los Ángeles from the mountains and Dario Meza from the jungle, to deliver precisely that message.

Pastor Trinidad works among Quechua speakers in the region of Lambayeque, which is the second largest unreached group in Peru. In the jungle, Pastor Dario trains lay preachers among several indigenous tribes. Both men shared amazing missions stories and challenged the Larco youth to come work with them.

A key point of their message was that God calls three types of people to be involved in His mission: goers, mobilizers, and senders. Goers are the ones most commonly understood as missionaries: the ones who proclaim the Gospel across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Mobilizers awaken other Christians to active concern for the lost by investigating new areas, raising awareness of pressing needs, networking among churches, and casting a vision to mobilize goers. Senders are those who support missions through prayer, financial gifts, and encouragement. The central message of the conference was that all Christians should faithfully pray and give to missions, all should be witnesses where God has placed them, and all should also consider whether the Lord is calling them to prepare for ministry in new and unfamiliar places.

For the new believers in Larco this was a revolutionary message. They have watched their church grow in number, and have seen new believers and the church as a whole grow in maturity.  Now the Lord is challenging them to embrace the Great Commission in an intentional way in their own lives. Please pray that the Larco congregation would respond to these new challenges and become fruitful witnesses for Christ in Trujillo, throughout Peru, and to the ends of the earth.