Baptist missionaries in Venezuela work in about 15 teams. Each team consists of International Mission Board appointees and sometimes national Baptists. These teams also seek help from volunteers, such as church or medical missions groups, to work with their missions projects.
Team Margarita consists of two missionary families, one family that resides in Greenville, S.C., and one national man. The team works on the Island of Margarita.
Team members do not necessarily have to live on the island in order to impact the urban professional class. The South Carolina couple serves as stateside prayer coordinators and technical advisors.
The Island of Margarita is about 35 miles north of the eastern coast of Venezuela. The team exists for the purpose of ministering to the physical, social, vocational, educational and spiritual needs of the urban professional class, a population segment almost completely unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Of the more than 340,000 urban professionals that live on the Island of Margarita, approximately 300 know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. That’s a little more than one-tenth of 1 percent evangelized.
Church model
After a great deal of anthropological study, Team Margarita has developed a church planting model called the “Home Church Model.” Urban professionals are aware of evangelical Christians but want nothing to do with the missionaries. To them, all evangelicals are poor, ignorant and crazy. Nevertheless, Team Margarita has found the professionals are interested in studying the Bible as long as it is on their turf.
They enjoy spending time with friends, family and coworkers in their homes. The plan is to minister to the needs of urban professional families, develop relationships and begin home Bible studies that will develop into home churches.
At the moment the members of the Plains Teams consists of one family. The team hopes to add more members in the future.
The missionaries serve a large area known for its cattle ranches and rich wildlife. The plainsmen of Venezuela were excellent horsemen, able to ride for days on end even in the most difficult of conditions. The hard life of a plainsman bred a tough, independent people. This fierce independence lives on today in the hearts of the modern day Llanero or Plainsman. The people of the plains are said to be proud but hospitable. Many are accustomed to hard work and difficult living conditions.
Spiritually hungry
Despite their pride and independence, most llaneros (plainsmen) are spiritually hungry and are therefore open to hear the gospel message. In fact, it was in the plains city of Acarigua that the first Baptist church was founded in Venezuela.
Volunteer projects might include human needs projects such as food distribution and medical campaigns. Sports evangelism clinics are always very popular. Venezuelans love sports such as baseball, soccer and basketball. There are many evangelism opportunities like door-to-door evangelism, preaching, Promise Keepers and discipleship training workshops.
Four missionary couples make up the Professional Class Team of Caracas.
One stateside couple is responsible for maintaining the group’s Web site.
The group targets the 2.5 million people that make up the professional class, like doctors, lawyers and business owners.
The team currently is busy with Bible studies, hospital visits, teaching cooking classes and working in clinics and other ministries. Some of their future plans include showing a video series called “En Familia,” In Family, in a local apartment complex. The series is in a soap-opera format and presents everyday problems. Then, a Christian counselor presents a way of dealing with the problem.
One couple leads the Venezuelan Deaf Ministry Team. The team is committed to sharing the story of Christ with the 500,000 deaf people in the country. One of the team’s goals is to establish a New Testament movement to plant deaf churches and ministry centers.
Three couples make up the Falcon Team, in the state of Falcon. About 3 to 5 percent of people are evangelized in this section of Venezuela.
Two of the couples focus their efforts on the city of Maracaibo. The other couple concentrates on the state of Falcon and works with Baptist representatives in planting churches and providing discipleship training for emerging leaders in the churches.
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