Two years ago, after receiving a call from the local pastor, we opened Quechua FC-Cajamarca. This pastor had started the church in this community, with only his wife and 3 kids and it was the only Sunday school at that time. His interest in partnering with EQ was so encouraging as we share a common mission- to reach young people for Christ. His church was new, and as he said, “It is hard to share the gospel in this region, because of their hard hearts.” We saw partnering with him as an opportunity because through the soccer academies, we believe God has given us the chance to open doors in hard to reach areas. Younger people do not want hours of sermons or to be asked to be good while sitting. Before the changes in their hearts can happen, they need to be able to trust and feel loved by the people who are telling them about Jesus.
At EQ, we were in touch with the pastor, providing the things he needed to run the soccer program. We were in regular communication with the coaches as well and they provided us pictures. We decided that it was time to go back. What a joy it was to see the kids from the pictures in real life! If you are a supporter of EQ, we invite you if you have the chance, to see God’s work in Peru. Believe me, it will bring a humble joy when you see what you are a part of.
Staying at Pastor Erik’s house gave us the chance to get to know him more and hear in more detail how God is moving there. Is amazing to see how excited he gets when he shares how much friendship he has been able to develop with the kids' parents. They recognize him in the neighborhood and he has been able to invite some parents to visit the church, which they have done! They have started to visit the church with the kids who are part of Quechua FC.
What is even more exciting is to share the goal we have with Pastor Erik. This goal is by the end of this year, to have the first teenager service exclusive for them. Quechua FC has attracted enough teens to the practices that we can have this as a goal. In Pastor Erik’s words, “The first year we just wanted to create a connection and friendship with the kids and their parents, and we have done that. Now in this second year, we feel we see the teens' commitment and our strong friendship open the doors to create the teens’ service.” This will still take some steps. We want to move forward from having them only in the training sessions, to taking the kids to activities like hiking around the city (EQ adventure ministry), or taking them to the movies (some of them have never been in a movie theater) to create a stronger friendship between the teens, and then being able to move from this the field, to meet at the church. This will require more investment to be able to provide for these steps with the teens. We trust that God will provide the money to achieve this goal in this region.