Seventh-day Adventists in Peru are stepping up their small-group ministry with a first-ever gathering intended to motivate, guide and expand this method of outreach and nurture. Some 5,000 people—all participants in a small group ministry—gathered in the capital, Lima, to attend the three-day event, which ended September 29.

Local church leader Pastor Rufo Jaimes compared the event to the “times of ancient Israel, and the days of the writer, Ellen White, when the church met in large multitudes to pray, praise, and listen to inspired messages.” Pastors Osmar Reis and Siloé de Almeida, both leaders of the church in South America, affirmed that the goal is to have 50,000 small groups of believers regularly meeting in countries throughout the region.

Small groups—where church members meet together for Bible study and worship during the week, in addition to Saturday, or Sabbath, worship—have dramatically impacted the church in Peru, said Pastor Melchor Ferreyra, president of the church in that country. He said that the rate of individuals leaving the church has fallen from 50 percent to 14 percent.

“The philosophy of small groups is not only a method,” said Pastor Haroldo Morán, president of the church in the North Zone of Lima. “It is a way of life that we should maintain. It is for this reason that the church promotes this type of program.