By Holly Meriweather

In Matthew 9:35, the Lord is talking to his disciples and saying basically, “Look at the harvest. The laborers are few.” Although most of us would not believe it, South America has few laborers and few healthy churches. 

Here are the statistics for this region, country by country:

In Argentina, the only BMA presence is one church that was planted by BMA Bolivia; however, it is not a healthy one. According to ministry workers, with the exception of the one BMA Bolivia church plant, Argentinian churches are not true Baptists; they are charismatic.

In Chile there is a church planting movement taking place, but only in Santiago, the capital, and there is no presence outside the capital. Pastors involved with the good work going on there have a vision to plant a church in each of the municipalities of Santiago before they concentrate on another area. So, BMA presence is centered on one city of over five million people. 

In Uruguay, there is one BMA church in the entire country with no leaders planting more churches.

In Peru, three states out of 24 have a BMA presence. But in the south part of the country, there is no evangelical presence, and when you travel from village to village in the area, there’s not even a Catholic chapel. In the 1980s a terrorist group had control of the southern region, likely causing the complete lack of evangelical, biblical presence, including Catholicism. 

In Colombia, BMA presence is in its infancy. A ChangeMaker from Mexico has just started his ministry in the jungle between Venezuela and Colombia. With 40 recent professions of faith, leaders have started a Bible institute there, but they have only begun to scratch the surface in Colombia. 

In Ecuador there is a brand new church plant, and forward movement is happening. 

Again there is a mindset that South America is reached with the gospel, but that’s not true. If you look at pure demographics of the entire region, it is more likely that only two percent of the population has heard the truth, but those are in pockets. Entire sections of the country are unreached. 

Our leaders in South America are working tirelessly to reach people and plant churches, but these few leaders can only do so much. They need help. 

So what do we do? 

Become involved in mobilization.

First, plead with the Lord of the Harvest that he will send leaders. Pray that he will send people and raise up workers from among those countries. Americans need to understand that their role is not just funding missionaries but also sending missionaries. 

Next, give financially to help our ChangeMakers who work within their own people groups to build relationships, share the gospel, make disciples, and plant churches. In fact, a leader in Venezuela is asking for help with Bibles and other materials. 

Finally, one very important way to be involved in mobilization is to take a short term trip through VSM or BMMI. Johnmichael Poulin, regional coordinator for South America and Africa, has funds set aside for any pastor to go on a trip with him, but only two pastors have taken him up on that offer so far. 

Many career missionaries have been called to full-time ministry because of short term trips. Just one of many examples is Gavin and Chase Roberts, who went on trips to Peru growing up. Their experience led them to plant a church in Utah. God used their short-term trips to draw them into full-time church planting ministry. 

Johnmichael himself became involved in long-term missions because of short-term missions experience: “In 1994 I took my first trip to Bolivia when I was a senior in high school then returned in 1995. Missionary to Bolivia Jimmy Swindoll was sent out of Calvary Baptist Church at Horn Lake and invited me to come spend a year with him, so I left on Christmas Day of 1996. 

“God began working on my heart during those twelve months about full-time ministry, and my pastor, Dr. Kevin Clayton said, ‘If God’s calling you into ministry, nothing else will make you happy.’ I ended up coming home after that year and worked a non-ministry job and had a successful career making good money, but I was unhappy. So I went to seminary, and a month into it, I was called to pastor a church for five years in Munford, Tennessee. But finally, my family and I became missionaries to Peru and spent ten years serving the people there.” South America is ripe for harvest, but the laborers there are few. Who will go? Who will help?