Josh and Crystal Murphree

Josh and Crystal Murphree, IMB missionaries in Peru, already have a long list of praises and answered prayers since their move last fall to a new city. They aren’t novices when it comes to missions or even extreme living, but moving to lead a new missionary team in the city of Cusco came with some initial challenges.

As the team launched, they began praying for immediate needs and asked others to join them:

Housing for their team — Provided within a month.

National church partners — The first church they visited was a gift from God, and they’ve found a sweet community of believers with whom they can learn and grow and make disciples.

Team unity — “It’s kind of like a dream come true,” Josh said.

Opportunities to reach people in jungles and mountains with the gospel — God is making a way.

Before this new team moved to Cusco, it had been more than 20 years since the IMB had a long-term presence in this region. This missionary team is an answer to prayer. But God has done more than move them to a new place. He’s given the Murphrees and their teammates a vision for how orality as a Great Commission strategy can transform the lives of people who have never heard the name of Christ.

Josh and Crystal explained that, like much of the world’s population, most Indigenous peoples of Peru have low literacy rates. Oral strategies involve teaching the Bible in a way that most people prefer to learn. Specific to their context, Josh said, “Rather than focus on literate methods, why don’t we teach them how to learn God’s Word orally so they too can reproduce what they learn, among others? Because it is a tool they can share with anyone, anywhere, no matter someone’s ability to read.”

The whole team is passionate about seeing the gospel move into unreached regions by sharing stories from the Bible through oral teaching. Their vision is for an oral training school for Peruvians to learn the Bible and share it, even across cultures — far into jungles and up into the least-reached mountain villages.

The team recently developed an oral training curriculum for local church leaders. Their church warmly received this kind of preparation and is being prepared in a joint effort to reach the lost. God provided partnerships with Peruvian missionaries committed to reaching the unreached. Their IMB team is growing, and U.S. church volunteers are joining the effort. The work in and around Cusco offers opportunities for both short-term and long-term partners, and prayer is always needed.