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Once a year, hundreds of believers from the mountains of Pacaipampa in northern Peru meet together for several days of teaching, worship, and prayer. In this particular region of the country, there are around 45 churches, and very few of the pastors have any type of formal training, or even any literature outside of the Bible. In an effort to help facilitate the preparation of the pastors in Pacaiapampa, HeartCry has provided 60 pastoral libraries (consisting of a Study Bible, concordance, dictionary, and “Pastoral Ministry” by John MacArthur), which will be given to all of the pastors in the region and also to a few other leaders that are helping with teaching and preaching. HeartCry missionaries Javier Carhuapoma and Jose Luis Siancas instructed the men on how to make use of the study materials. Below Urbano Gomez, a HeartCry missionary devoted to traversing the difficult terrain to visit church plants throughout Pacaiapampa, explains the need for the resources, as well as how they will be putting them to use:
Each month all of the pastors from our region meet together to study biblical doctrine; we are studying the doctrine of salvation and other essential doctrines. Our desire is for these brothers who are leading churches to understand the Scriptures and to teach sound doctrine. We are very grateful for the books that HeartCry has sent to Pacaipampa for the pastors, which will be handed out at the annual conference we have in August. All of the pastors will be using them as the resources for our monthly pastors’ studies. We all need to grow in sound doctrine, and the books and study tools are going to help us greatly. Our hope is that the brothers who are leading churches in our region will attain a greater understanding of the Scriptures through these resources. Some of us were able to study in the seminary that Angel Colmenares provided for pastors in the mountains, but now there are many more pastors. The younger pastors did not get to study in the seminary and still need basic preparation.
Most of the pastors in the region do not have any books; they just have their Bible. In some cases, however, the local church will provide a special offering to purchase a Study Bible for their pastor, or sometimes a group of pastors collaborate to purchase a Study Bible for a young pastor. The brothers really want to study and want to be further equipped for ministry, but without even a Study Bible, this is difficult. So, for many pastors, the pastoral libraries that they will receive through HeartCry are going to help them greatly.
