Invasión: Mission in no man’s land

In Peru, there’s a law where anyone can move onto a piece of uninhabited land. If you can survive there for 90 days, then legally, you can claim it. Up to 50-100 people can move together, form a community and work to become part of an established town. They call it “Invasión”.  

“Invasión” is how the town of Carlos Quesquen Terri formed around two-and-a-half years ago. “It’s extremely hot, dry and barren,” explain mission workers Dave and Michele Mahon, who have been based in Peru since 2017. “There’s not one tree there. It’s like the moon.” 

For the people of Carlos Quesquen Terri, life is far from easy. There’s currently no school for the local children, and their parents work as farmers with no days off. But for somewhere so extremely on the margins, there’s also a great sense of welcome towards newcomers. When Peruvian missionaries Margia and Ronal showed up in Chepen, the next town over, talking to anyone who would listen about Jesus, it didn’t take long for someone to invite them to visit.

Ronal himself had grown up on Peru’s streets, spending most of his childhood begging, hustling and just doing whatever he could to survive. “Because of Ronal’s background,” Michele explains, “he could say to them, ‘I’ve lived like this, and I’ve got something good to share with you.’” 

Margia and Ronal were sent as missionaries to the area by Trujillo Baptist Seminary, and over their years ministering to the community, they have built up a Sunday School and regular small group meetings. The church is based in a community kitchen which receives foodstuffs from Peru’s Government. It’s more a warehouse where meetings would happen among sacks of grain than a purpose-built chapel. “There’s dust everywhere, it’s quite overwhelming,” adds Michele. 

For Dave and Michele, who teach at the seminary where Margia and Ronal trained, supporting this younger couple isn’t about finding finances or giving training. It’s about gently walking alongside them and affirming their calling, as mission work in Peru isn’t always seen as a prized route for Christians to go into. 

“An indigenous Peruvian mission worker can be seen as very low down in the pecking order by other Christians,” explains Dave. For Dave and Michele, the opportunity to encourage Margia and Ronal that they’re doing the right thing is a gift beyond value. “We’re there to say: ‘We’re interested in your story, it matters, you’re important’,” explains Michele. “That doesn’t happen very often, because they’re out there in the sticks and can feel very alone.”

Dave and Michele recognise that churches in Peru are very aware of the losses associated with mission: loss of finances, loss of status, loss of an active church member. It’s a fear we can relate to here in the UK. When your church needs financial support and encouragement from within, it’s very easy for a pastor to tell a young person, ‘don’t go on mission, I think you’re called to stay here. Go and get a good career where you can give back financially, and you can lead the youth group at our church.’  

Thanks to encouragement from Brazilian mission workers working with the Peruvian mission board (CEPB), things are beginning to change. Dave and Michele sense there’s a lot of potential – but prayer is still needed for pastors who remain wary of the risks and are worried about their young people being galvanised and being sent for mission. “The conversation often goes, ‘Do we want these young people to become local pastors, or do we want them to be mission workers?’ We sit on both sides of the camp and provide that middle ground,” explains Dave. 

There are already some exciting developments for mission in Peru. A gap year-style programme has been launched called ‘Radical Global Peru’, and it has four young people signed up. Michele herself is undertaking a doctorate, studying the role of women like Margia in mission.

Committed workers like Margia and Ronal are also following their callings, no matter what others think. God is working, and he’s kindling a desire in churches to embrace, encourage and get alongside his plans. 

For Dave and Michele, there’s a wonderful lesson to be learned about how important the gift of encouragement can be for faithful servants like Margia and Ronal. “In Peru, there’s no concept of time limitations – what’s important is the conversation, the person in front of you. And we can learn from that,” says Dave. Michele agrees. “Sometimes [raising up the next generation of mission workers] is not about money. People just need to be listened to.”