The Mission Field
The Mission Field of Chiclayo, Peru
Chiclayo is Peru’s fourth most populous city and is located on the northern coastal plain, thirteen kilometers from the Pacific coast. The city’s population is over 738,000, while the metropolitan area is close to 1,000,000. Chiclayo was founded in 1560 as a rural Indian village by a Spanish priest.
Since the city is in a productive valley, there is strong agriculture growing rice, sugar cane and cotton. Because of its location on the Pan-American Highway and at the hub of most of the highways into the mountains and jungle of the north, Chiclayo has massive transportation to myriad destinations. Thus, there is also thriving commerce in this city known as “The Capital of Friendship”. Another large demo graph of Chiclayo is college students since there are at least nine universities in the area.
As in most of Peru, in Chiclayo the poor are by far the most populous group and most people consider themselves Roman Catholic. There have been New Testament assemblies in Chiclayo for over 40 years and the Lord continues to bring sheep into His fold in this ample field where His people are vigorous to share the good news and reach into the many communities where the is no permanent testimony.