Population: 24,000,000 (of which about 8,000,000 live in Lima).

People: 45% Spanish speaking
54% Amerindian

Religion: Catholic 89% (mostly nominal)
Evangelicals 5.7% of which almost half are Pentecostal/Charismatic

PROFILE ON MARGARET SAUNDERSON

Margaret has been in Peru since 1981, involved in a variety of ministries including Bible teaching, camps for teenagers, church planting, social aid programmes and some prison visiting.

The first church that Margaret was involved in planting was in VILLA SALVADOR, a shanty town on the outskirts of Lima. This has now grown, a church building has been constructed and most of the responsibility has been handed over to Peruvian Christians.

Since then, Margaret has started work in 3 other shanty areas: LA TABLADA, PROCERES, and FUNDO CALIFORNIA. All these started with children’s clubs, which then led to meetings with adults. The meetings are held either in people’s simple homes or on the sand outside.

These now form the main part of Margaret’s ministry and there is a lot to be done in the area of evangelism, discipling new Christians and leadership training. Also, as the people are very poor there is always a need to find work for people, or help them produce and sell things (e.g. sleeping bags, soft toys, jewellery); and food programmes for the very poor children have been set up.

The Shanty Towns around Lima in which Margaret ministers.