Christ Church
Richmond, VA

Mission Date: August 5-13, 2006
Location: Peru
Project: VBS, Construction, Children's homes

Ten missioners from Christ Church in Richmond participated in a trip to Peru from August 5 - 13. Members of the team were the Rev. Hillary West, Pete Gallagher, Shelley Putney, Jim Heck, Debbie Halbritter, Terri Behr, Angie Womack, Ashlee Behr, Kate Putney and Jim Wheeler. Accompanying the group on the trip were over 900 pounds of donated school supplies, personal hygiene items, and clothes.

For most of the trip, the team stayed in Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, located 650 miles southeast of Lima at an altitude of 8,000 feet. While there, the team's hosts were the Rev. Juan Carlos Revilla, the priest of Cristo Redentor in Arequipa, his wife Maria, and two missionaries with the South American Missionary Society - the Rev. Ron and Vicki Robertson.

Under the leadership of the Rt. Rev. H. William Godfrey, the Bishop of Peru, the Anglican Church in Peru has established a Diocese that is both Peruvian and Anglican in its identity. Although the Church's roots and history date from the early nineteenth century with the arrival of English and North American immigrants, Peruvian congregations are now the overwhelming majority. Peruvian clergy and lay ministers seek to make the Church and its worship relevant to the people they serve, and in many congregations, Latin American Christian music is part of the worship.

The Diocese employs a "spider plan," where a parish has a central church and a number of mission congregations, resembling the body and legs of a spider. This has resulted in a period of strong growth. The number of Anglican congregations in Peru has grown from nine to twenty-six in the last several years. There are also invitations to begin missions in fifteen other regions of the country, and Bishop Godfrey has challenged the clergy to consider where they will establish new churches. The Diocesan vision is to plant ten new churches by 2010 (missionary churches that multiply).

Christ Church's missioners spent the majority of their time working in the small village of Villa Ecologica, located in the foothills of a volcano above Arequipa, a perilous location as evidenced by the recent eruption of Tungurahua in the Ecuadorian Andes. It is barren land, with small dwellings constructed of sillar, a white volcanic rock. The people are poor. There is no running water and little electricity. A mission church has been established there, Santiago Apostol, on land that was purchased through funds given by Christ Church for that purpose. There is little on the land now, just a cross, a storage shed, a small outdoor area for worship, a well (also donated by Christ Church), and an outhouse. During the mornings, the mission team taught vacation Bible school to over 50 children. The group sang songs, did crafts, played games, and acted out parables. The children gave far more back to the missioners than they received; their joy and love was palpable and contagious. The team also constructed a play fort/swing set that the local children quickly put to good use.

While in Arequipa, the mission team visited two children's homes, providing supplies and gifts to the children. The children's homes, or casas hogares, care for the most vulnerable members of society who have been, quite literally, abandoned. In Peru, an incarcerated mother may care for her child in prison until the child turns three years of age. Thereafter, the child is sent to family members. If there is no family, the child is put on the street. The children's homes run by the Diocese in Arequipa and Lima care for those abandoned or abused children.

The mission team also visited San Lucas School, run by the Diocese, where last year's Christ Church mission team worked. The team attended church services at both Cristo Redentor and the mission church of San Barnabe, which meets in a garage, reminding the team of the humble beginnings of Christ Church 13 years ago.

The team traveled home via Lima where it met with Bishop Godfrey and his wife Judith. The team toured the parish and mission churches in Lima, most of which are located among the pueblos jovenes, the vast shanty towns situated in the hills above Lima and inhabited by millions of people. The Anglican Church in Peru is proclaiming the Gospel by both word and action. All churches in the Diocese are required to be involved in social outreach work in some way; the Diocese believes that this is not an option for Christians. The Church is doing an amazing job of ministering, both spiritually and socially, to those who have largely been forgotten. At the same time, it realizes that anything it does is merely a drop in the ocean of relief needed for the suffering millions who live in poverty in the urban and rural regions of Peru. It is a daunting task to minister to those whose need is so great, but as Diocese of Peru Lay Minister Dan Caldwell says, "As Christians, we don't have a hopeless end; we have endless hope."

Missions are an integral part of the life of Christ Church, at the international, domestic and local levels. In recent years, mission teams have journeyed to the Dominican Republic, Peru and the Sudan. Domestically, teams have made several trips to Pascagoula, Mississippi to assist in Hurricane Katrina relief. Teams have also traveled to Montana, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. Locally, teams have worked with Hanover Habitat for Humanity, CARITAS ("Congregations Around Richmond Involved to Assure Shelter"), and Rebuilding Together. A group has also participated in a mission trip to Richmond Hill.

For more information on how you or your congregation can participate in mission ministry, please contact Mr. Buck Blanchard at the Diocese of Virginia at (804) 643-8451 ext. 35.

For more information on the work of the South American Missionary Society, please contact Lynn Bouterse, Coordinator of Short Term Ministries, at P.O. Box 399, Ambridge, PA 15003; (724) 266-0669; E-mail: lynnbouterse@sams-usa.org.