Dave Smith, from Rayleigh Vineyard, was asked in October 2022 to go and see what God is doing amongst the Vineyard Churches in Peru.

I took the 10,000km trip in March 2023 to a beautiful country with enthusiastic, smiling people and some great Vineyard churches (it really is like God smiling on you when you are there!). We went with a mandate for “how can the UK and Ireland Vineyards support their Peruvian sister-churches?” looking at what we do best (in VCUKI) and what they needed most.

I remember John Wimber attending NLC in the 1990s giving us all his wisdom and equipping the churches and the saints here in the UK and Ireland, teaching us to “do the stuff” just like they were doing it stateside.

Now the boot’s on the other foot and we can do similar with our Latin American brothers and sisters and help them to thrive as Vineyards over there.

They are fab at Vineyard Values. Everywhere you go you see little indications that they know all about them and how to incorporate them into their everyday lives.

One of our challenges is to communicate our understanding and experience of the “priesthood of all believers” and encourage them to contextualise this Kingdom value into Peruvian culture. Getting them praying for each other within the depths of their congregations, not waiting for the pastor to do it and so allowing the Holy Spirit (Esperitu Santo) to equip them for works of service in the kingdom in and around them in their everyday lives.

The great thing I found about the Peruvian Vineyards was seeing myself in them from a few years back in who they were and what they wanted to achieve. It was definitely a 2-way street, in that we learned as much from them as they did from us whilst we were there. But it’s great to see and observe and experience an emerging church firsthand, a church that reminds us so much of where we have come from and how great our God is on a global scale.

Our church is now a committed part of the Peruvian Partnership and I’m so looking forward to seeing how the Kingdom values are put into practice in this wonderful country. I would recommend to any pastor to talk with their leaders, discern where and who the Holy Spirit might be inviting them to partner with and get in touch with the missions team for some practical next steps.