Ecuador
The Land and the
People
Ecuador gets its name from the fact that the Equator crosses the country. The population of Ecuador is now over 12 million people, of which approximately 61% are urban.
Religion
Since the time of the Spanish conquest, Ecuador has been predominately Roman Catholic, now over 90%. Complete liberty of worship is guaranteed by the 1946 constitution. In recent years, a great spiritual awakening has taken place among some of the highland Indians, with thousands being saved. The Protestant population has been estimated at only one or two percent.
Past and Current
Work
Baptist Mid-Missions entered Ecuador in December 1988. The initial target was the third largest city, Cuenca, at an elevation of 8,200 feet. It is a strategic hub of activities for five provinces.
Churches founded and flourishing in Cuenca include Independent Baptist Church (1991), New Life Baptist Church (1993) and Faith Baptist Church (1996). Two of these works now have Latin pastors and are self-supporting. A work in Santa Isabel is taking steps toward organization. Much effort has been directed toward other small towns and needy hamlets.
The Cuenca Baptist Theological Institute, initiated in 1993, now provides Bible-college-level training for Ecuadorian church leaders. Since 1995, God has provided a lovely site for Living Rock Baptist Camp, 13 miles from Cuenca.
The ARRIBA! Program, hosted in Ecuador from 1989-2000, gave some 70 U.S. college students experience as missionaries in training. Several of these students have become career missionaries. For more information on this program, visit the Opportunities section of this website.
Goals
Church planting is our primary goal. There is also a great need to train leadership for the local churches of Ecuador. Medium- and long-range goals include regularly starting new churches in and around Cuenca. Bible Institute students will be involved with missionaries in each of these projects. As personnel permit, we anticipate planting churches in the cities of Loja and Machala.