Relatively stable government during the last ten years has meant a time of great progress for the country of Peru. Improvements in the infrastructure have turned the major cities into more modern progressive centres, while water, electricity and modern communications have been taken to many rural areas. The country is rich in historical interest and scenic beauty, drawing large numbers of tourists every year. Yet a high percentage of the population still live in poverty, and the shanty towns surrounding the major cities are growing every day, as people leave the countryside to seek better education and opportunities for the younger generation.

Spanish and Quechua are the official languages of Peru. Roman Catholicism is the state religion and is taught in all schools. Peruvians, though identified as Catholics, are largely Christopagan. Young people are strongly attracted to secularism and the cults. There are still large areas of the country, especially in the highlands and the jungle, where the message of the gospel has not yet reached.

The Peruvian Evangelical Church (IEP - Iglesia Evangelica Peruana) is a denomination planted by four different mission agencies in the late 1800s and early 1900s. SIM's history in Peru dates to 1969, when the IEP invited the Andes Evangelical Mission (which later merged with SIM) to send missionaries into Peru. Their initial invitation was to help in leadership development and women's and children's ministries. This has continued to the present time, and now SIM missionaries are also engaged in evangelism, church planting and ministries of compassion. SIM also has a fraternal working relationship with the Peruvian arm of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA), and the Lima Evangelical Seminary.

Visionary planning for SIM's future in Peru includes:

• strengthening and enlarging our capacity to train church leaders
  
• increased church planting and community development ministries in rural areas, especially in unreached areas and where the church is still developing
  
• reaching out to the urban poor through church planting and community service ministries
  
• camping ministries in partnership with local churches
  
• ministries to university students and youth
  

Please pray for:

1. Clear guidance from God as missionary teams plan and implement new outreaches.
   
2. Godly relationships among churches, church leaders, missionaries, and believers.
   
3. The preparation of humble and godly church leaders.
   
4. Wisdom in taking the whole gospel to needy people in urban shanty towns.
   
5. The church to catch a vision for reaching children and youth for Christ.
   
6. Many churches to be planted in the unchurched areas.