Children & Youth Ministries

Riverwind's Pucallpa and Shipbo teams partner with volunteer students and young adults from Pucallpa to bring to life stories from the Bible during Vacation Bible School (VBS). The week long VBS is filled with teaching, songs, games, and fun. At the end of the week students are presented with a backpack filled with school supplies and items related to the topics taught in VBS. Vacation Bible Schools are conducted annually in several river communities of the district of Tahuania in February and June.

RiverWind's upriver Leadership Training Center is located in Nueva Italia. We have good relations with the school and community and are able to visit the elementary and high schools regularly to conduct classes in Bible as well as emotional and environmental education. RiverWind's children’s ministry director and local pastor's wife plan and conduct Sunday school, offering on-going teaching and relationships with interested students in the community.

Health & Wellness

From Creation to New Creation, God continues to be concerned about the well-being of humanity.  The opening chapter of the Bible tells us that God planted a garden, placed human-kind in it to serve and preserve His creation. God gives us all that we need for sustenance: “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food” (Genesis 1:29).  The closing chapter at the far end of God’s story reveals a picture of the river of life, with the tree of life along its banks, “bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month…the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2).

Well-being includes personal, family and community health; security of mind, body and spirit; physical and emotional growth; accessibility to education, growth and safety; and life-long opportunity and sustainable productivity.

Personal & Professional Development

RiverWind facilitates continuing education for individuals and educators in upriver communities of the district of Tahuania. Instructors and counselors from the United States and Perú visit and share their skills and knowledge. In these remote communities teachers have little (or no) access to professional development, by supporting teacher in-service training RiverWind is making a difference in the lives of teachers and students. 

Counseling seminars on family dynamics, addictive behaviors and other issues are another area of practical help that is offered. One-on-one counseling provides individuals the encouragement to begin life change. RiverWind has provided skill training to women including topics on cooking, natural remedies, sewing and jewelry making. This allows women to generate income to support themselves and their families. Personal and professional development is another way that we can allow God's love to flow through us and out to others.

Outreach

RiverWind's mission is reaching and teaching indigenous peoples along the Ucayali River basin, establishing and teaching local communities of believers who are then able to reach and teach others. RiverWind has a presence in Shipibo communities; many other cultural and language groups that have not yet been reached. As Shipibo students have grown in their knowledge of God and faith, they have become disciples and leaders who desire to share God's story in their own communities and beyond. Community survey trips are one part of getting to know a different tribal and language group. A survey trip is the beginning of years of work and joy as the Shipibo teachers grow in understanding a different people group and learn language skills necessary to effectively share about God who loves each and every person.

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in various forms. (I Peter 4: 10)