LIMA, Peru – More and more, Peruvian believers are catching the missionary vision.

And as more Peruvian Christians answer God’s call to missions, Tommy and Beth Larner are helping prepare them for what they’ll face on the field.

The Larners, International Mission Board missionaries in Peru, work with a Peruvian organization called Perú a Las Naciones (Peru to the Nations), which prepares national believers to serve on the international mission field. Recently, the first graduates completed the organization’s seminary-style training program.

“We’re very much a part of it, but it’s clearly Peruvian,” said Tommy. “It’s not an IMB mission project. And that’s exciting, that it’s coming up out of the Peruvian believers, and we just have the joy of being a part of it.”

While completing the training program doesn’t automatically put Peruvian missionaries on the overseas field, it does bring them one big step closer. Some of the program’s graduates are still praying for God’s direction, but others already feel called to a specific country.

The Larners believe that getting the organization’s first trained missionaries on the field will inspire others to follow.

“Pray that Peruvian believers will see themselves in Christ as ones that God can effectively use to reach the nations,” said Tommy. “And [pray] also for them to see themselves as equal partners to reach out to the nations, that this is a global family working together.”

Photo: Rebecca Springer