South America
Go Ye Fellowship first sent a missionary to South America in 1945 and has been involved in ministry there continuously since then.
The population of South America is composed, first of all, of the many indigenous peoples that inhabited these lands long before the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese explorers. With the arrival of black slaves, a mixture took place, leaving us today with the indigenous races (some 25% of the total population), blacks, the mestizos (black with indigenous, white with indigenous and black), and the white Europeans (Spanish, Portuguese, Germans, English, Slavics, etc.). You will find a strong multi-ethnic composition in the overall population.
The outstanding religions are Roman Catholic, Indigenous, Protestant and Evangelical, and Afro-Latin spiritism. There is also a growing interest in the oriental philosophies. Among the evangelical churches, the great majority is of Pentecostal and neo Pentecostal extraction.
The overwhelming religious population is Roman Catholic, though actual practicing Catholics are far fewer than official statistics show. For example, of the three million inhabitants of the city of Buenos Aires, only about 2% would regularly attend church services. Of course, culturally, the majority in all of Latin America is Roman Catholic.
Statistics on Protestant and Evangelical growth show variables: conservative statistics would put the low point in Uruguay with possibly 3%, up to 25% in Guatemala. The three countries where there has been more spectacular growth in past years - Brazil, Chile and Guatemala - are showing signs of leveling off. Also, many Protestants and Evangelicals of the second generation are leaving the faith. Nevertheless, the Evangelical movement in South America is vigorous and growing. There are thousands and thousands of their churches and many seminaries and Bible Schools, and a growing missionary movement designed to send workers into other parts of the world.
The greatest needs are for spiritual maturity on the part of the churches, and teaching and training of workers. This, together with a continuous movement of expansion, evangelism and church planting, will produce - and is producing - remarkable growth. This is a good time in South America, as the masses are open to the Evangelical movement and message as was not true some 40 years ago.
Some statistics say that almost 50% of the population in Latin America is 21 years and under. We have before us an altogether new generation that needs to be reached.
