The “El Camino” Story
"El Camino" is a relatively new church which began meeting officially on May 6th, 2001 in Craig and Sue Querfeld’s living room. They are missionaries with TEAM.
20 people crowded into the room for the first meeting and the church has not looked back since.
TEAM have established a number of churches in Lima and in 1999 Craig and Sue, from the USA, who head up the “El Camino” team, moved to Arequipa to plant a church aiming to reach the professional class. They have three children, David, Philip and Becky.
They were soon joined by Canadians, Brad and Lori Quiring and their three children, Kayla, Brandon and Elizabeth.
Bob and Ruth Wantz came later to work teaching English as a foreign language. This outreach programme has resulted in many contacts for the church to follow up.
There is relatively little work being done among the professional class in Arequipa, but like the poorer members of society, they still need to hear the message of the gospel.
“Professional class” or “middle class” may be a misleading description if thought of in a Western context. It is not synonymous with success, but rather describes status and a lifestyle.
They may or may not have employment and financial security, and indeed in recent times, many are struggling just to make ends meet, even if they are employed.
In spite of this lack of security, the professional class in Arequipa by and large have a university education and a social status from their family and upbringing.
We were invited from the outset to join the team, heading up the children’s ministry. On our return from England at the start of our second term we began “Explorers”. This is a weekly children’s club which met on the terrace of Craig and Sue’s home. We also began teaching in the new Sunday school.
In June 2001 this house was rented to provide a base for the churches activities. “Explorers” also moved and continued to grow in the new location.
Following this, Brad and Lori Quiring established “7 UP”, a weekly club for those moving into secondary school. This provided both a forum for reaching young people and somewhere for those leaving “Explorers” to move on to.
From the outset the work of “El Camino” has been a team effort aiming to establish a church among Arequipa’s professional class which will have an impact on the whole community.
The vision for the church is that it become large enough to be noticed by the community, have the passion and vision to reach the city and beyond, and the resources (financial, personnel and facilities) to carry out this vision.
Arequipa, as Peru’s second city exerts a direct influence on the whole of the region. For all this influence, its evangelical population is still only 2.5%. Hence, Arequipa is a strategic place to establish such a church.
Within Arequipa, the professional class are the least evangelised social group. Many of these people have developed strong prejudices against evangelicals. They hold more strongly than others to their traditions, and their economic success has blinded them to their spiritual need.
Yet at the same time, they are the group who can sustain a growing church. We are reaching out to, working with and praying for these people.
