Meet the Mathews | Peru

November 15

---

Hello, my name is Cody Mathews. I have been married since 2009 to my high school sweetheart Jessica and we have 3 little girls: Jane, Noelle, and Heidi.

Imagine going to church and never hearing the gospel. Imagine wanting to serve the Lord but not having any access to any resources to help equip you along the way. Imagine needing some desperate advice and going to your pastor and finding out that he has only read a few parts of the New Testament. Or perhaps you go to church, but do not even have a pastor! Imagine that you live in a very isolated region and the only Jesus you have heard about is from a catholic priest who only comes to your village a couple times a year. Or even worse, imagine that you live in an isolated mountain village or in the jungle and you have never heard of the only name by which you can be saved? Sadly, this is the story of many people in the isolated and unreached regions in Peru. Our family, by the grace of God is moving to Cusco, Peru to hopefully meet some of these needs.

For the past 5 years, I have been partnering with Peruvian pastors in order to train and equip leaders in the isolated regions in Peru and due to the great an magnificent needs of training leaders and advancing the gospel in the isolated and unreached regions, we feel God is calling us and has opened up a door to devote ourselves to this work.

What will we be doing?
I (Cody) will be working at the “Seminario Bíblico Cusco, Los Chatskis del Evangelio.” Chatskis were messengers in the Incan Empire who would run on foot to deliver important messages throughout the kingdom. What a fitting name, right? At this seminary I will be training and equipping pastors, missionaries, and church leaders as well as writing theological curriculum. Due to their isolated living conditions, many of these believers do not have access to much education and theological resources. We are bringing the training to them. Our heart is to see healthy local churches all throughout Peru- especially the isolated and unreached regions. One great example of this great need is that one of the pastors we partner with is part of a denomination that has 2000 churches all over Peru but only 170 fulltime pastors!

However, our work is not completed here. There are still hundreds, of isolated and unreached villages all over the Andes Mountains. We must bring the gospel to them. Our labor will be to bring them the good news of Christ through our personal evangelistic ministry, as well as through mobilizing God’s people to plant churches in these regions and to bring the gospel to them.

We believe we can sum up our ministry in two ways: 1. Training, strengthening and equipping local churches. As well as, 2. Taking the gospel to the isolated regions of Peru and planting churches.

There is much work to do brethren.

How can you help?
The biggest way you can help is to pray for us. Pray for our family. Pray for our souls, our marriage, our children. Pray for the church of Peru to be strengthened and for leaders to be equipped who can feed the flock the word of God. Pray also for the unreached to hear the gospel. You can also give. Our ministry is 100% supported by churches and individuals. You can do so at www.themathewsinperu.com/donate or at out missions agency here.You can also prayerfully consider how you can partner long-term in the advancement of the gospel and the training of leaders in Peru. 

Thank you for holding the rope for us and sharing in our work! 

- The Mathews Family

Full 3Circle Interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hj9_VjHLng

---