SOUTH AMERICA MISSION, INC.
FORT MILL, SC

We state it emphatically as our way of being. The commitment to living out our redemption also guides our concerted way of doing. By the true living out of our redemption in Christ, we discover just how we will participate in building for the vision God has set before us. After all, this is what Jesus commissioned us to do, to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18- 20). It’s more than proclaiming Jesus; at the heart of discipleship is revealing Jesus to others by living life together. It’s another person’s transformation achieved through Jesus revealed in our bodies. Jesus set the standard for how to make disciples when he said to Simon and Andrew, “Come, follow me.” (Matt 4:19), an invitation to learn and grow by being present with Jesus. The ministry of South America Mission flows from what we believe about God and his creation. As an interdenominational mission, missionaries come from diverse, evangelical denominational backgrounds and serve together in biblical unity. Our team affirms together the following truths of the faith. Missionaries Assigned Here Missionaries Assigned Here Farmers raise world-renowned coffee on the Andean slopes. Colombia sells much of the world’s emeralds and considerable amounts of gold, silver, and platinum and has the continent’s highest coal production—most from the Guajira Peninsula. South America Mission’s hope is redemption and reconciliation in Colombia as local churches flourish, presenting to the communities where they exist the ultimate model of redemption and reconciliation found in the grace and mercy of God through Christ. Missionaries Assigned Here *South America Mission currently has no missionary personnel in Paraguay, but our networks remain open there and we are actively exploring new ministry opportunities in Paraguay for sending missionaries. Click on a country to learn what South America Mission is doing there! The first Protestant missionaries were agents of the Bible Societies who began efforts in 1877. They were followed by the Brethren Assemblies (1896), Regions Beyond Missionary Union (1897), Evangelical Union of South America (1911), and Christian and Missionary Alliance (1933). SAM first sent missionaries to Peru in 1926. Missionaries Assigned Here . SAIM missionaries continued to reach new indigenous groups as well. In Two new realities began to take shape for SAIM in this decade of “take off”. First, as ministry grew, the SAIM missionary corps grew and matured as well. Growing missionary families precipitated the need to assess the requirements for more formally educating missionary children. In 1966, the mission’s first dedicated MK school, the SAIM Academy, opened in Pucallpa, Peru. Second, the landscape of South America was changing; cities were on the rise. In September of 1970, the mission completed its evolution from ISAMU to SAIM to SAM, the South America Mission. The 70’s also opened up the era of short-term teams being mobilized through US churches to go and work alongside SAM missionaries. SAM began to receive medical and dental teams, and high school graduates and college students began to go as interns for 6-8 week stints during the US summers. And one of the greatest displays of SAM setting its stakes deeper in ministry in South America during the 70’s was the establishment of SAM legal entities in South American countries. The creation of these entities provided strategic operational advantages, but also affirmed SAM’s desire, with missiological implications, to be a committed presence in and among the people, societies and cultures of South America. The first few years of the decade marked the twilight of Hunter Norwood’s career. However, as he approached retirement at the end of 1983, the momentum of the organization he led in no way showed signs of slowing down or pulling back. Donated income to the mission had grown by 37% and SAM’s missionary team by 43% since the early 60’s. Missionaries from Canada had an organizational structure through which to be mobilized as Canadian South America Mission (CANSAM) formed in 1982. The spiritual communities among people groups like the Terena of Brazil and the Shipibo of Peru were maturing; the indigenous churches were being shepherded by indigenous leaders, and the believers were beginning to go and make disciples among their own people who had not yet heard. This movement was like a wave beginning as a small swell that accelerated and crested in the 90s and into the new millenium. Indigenous leaders at the CONPLEI Congress in 2012 spoke of three waves of the gospel moving across South America. They referred to this era that encompassed the 80s as the second wave: national, indigenous missionaries continuing the growth and expansion of the faith. Mr. Anderson’s mother was among the very first missionaries recruited by Joseph Davis in the 1920s. Bob and his wife Mary went to Peru in 1955. The Anderson’s careers were sealed in service, sacrifice and suffering. They lost their infant daughter, Bonnie, to drowning in Peru in the early days of their ministry. Their legacy of commitment even in the worst times reminds us that the suffering of God’s people is sometimes the method God chooses to proclaim the good news and prove His worthiness. At the turn of the millennium, SAM’s missionary presence extended across five countries. Bill Ogden’s emphasis on leadership development and church planting was producing fruit; local expressions of the Church were forming in cities, and still in the jungles, led by strong national leaders. Ammi was attracting indigenous peoples from all across the great country of Brazil. The Wayuu in Colombia, Shipibo and Ashaninka in Peru, and Ayoré in Bolivia were sending leaders to be developed through SAM in order to receive them back into their rural communities to plant churches and shepherd congregations. In Pucallpa, Peru, a team led by Peruvian SAM missionaries planted a church, largely among professionals in the city, called Mil Palmeras. Also in Pucallpa, the Amazon Night Bible Institute, with a similar demographic focus and strategy as CIET in Bolivia, was developing leaders.