Andean Countries

The Andean countries, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, are crossed by the Andes, the world’s longest mountain range, shaping both the geography and the lives of millions of Indigenous people who have inhabited its highlands for centuries, such as the Quechua and Aymara.

It is the South American subregion with the lowest proportion of evangelicals, 12.6%, in an area historically shaped by Spanish colonial Catholicism and Indigenous religious traditions deeply rooted in highland communities. Venezuela is also undergoing a severe social and economic crisis that has driven millions to leave the country.

Of the 305 peoples identified in the region, 79 are still considered unreached, many of them Indigenous communities isolated in the mountains or along the Amazonian frontier. And of the 282 languages spoken in the Andean countries, 226 still have no part of the Bible translated, the highest absolute number among South American languages, reflecting the immense linguistic diversity of Andean communities.

Pray for this mountainous and spiritually complex region, where the gospel still needs to reach so many languages and communities isolated by the very geography of the Andes.