This November, Chris and Joy Petty will pack up their few remaining belongings and head south with their children. But the trip isn’t a vacation – far from it. The Pettys are moving to Bolivia to minister to the people there.
“My wife has always thought about being a missionary; has always had the desire to do it,” Chris Petty said.
But until this point, the Pettys have stood on the sidelines, working behind the scenes in the church where Chris Petty pastors, Poplar Springs Baptist of Ringgold, to send other families off to foreign countries.
“For the last eight years I have really felt like my role was to stay here and send others, and so I have sort of channeled that passion into sending families out from the church,” he said.
But lately, he added, the desire has grown and that call to pack up and go has been stronger.
“I think we have just felt compelled more recently and over the last few years that maybe the Lord would have us to go now.”
So through SIM (named for Serving in Ministry), a Christian organization which has been sending missionaries around the globe since 1893, Chris Petty will be working to train pastors and mobilize missionaries in Bolivia, while Joy works with their new church to disciple those in the community, as well as with the women’s ministry.
“Bolivia has the highest rate of femicide, the killing of women,” Chris Petty said of the importance of Joy’s work. “Domestic abuse is really rampant in Bolivia with many wives even being killed, and so there is a great need for women’s ministry.”
In addition to the high rates of femicide and the other issues plaguing the Bolivian people, the low number of Christian ministry workers in the country are what made the Pettys decide to make it their home.
“In the U.S., on average there is a trained Christian leader for every 250 people, and in Bolivia it’s about one in 10,000,” Chris Petty said.
And, he added, many of the pastors overseas don’t have the ability or opportunity to go through seminary or theological training, so he will also be working to train and send other missionaries out to other areas of Bolivia.
“There are groups in Bolivia that have never heard the gospel before – that wouldn’t know the name of Jesus at all – and there is no one actively in their reach so they’re trying to pastor churches without any kind of training,” he said. “So our goal is to mobilize missionaries from Bolivia to go into those least-reached areas.”
The Pettys are now actively working to sell their home and their belongings in order to be in Bolivia by November. The entire family is working to make this a reality, with the kids eagerly pitching in to help prepare for the big move to South America, Chris Petty said.
“The things don’t really matter to us on the one hand, but a lot of things have memories that are associated with them and you’re getting rid of all of those,” he said. “We’re having to say goodbye to a lot of people, including grandparents, family members, close friends.
“We have a range of emotions right now. We do believe we’re supposed to go and we’re excited about it, though.”
To reach the Petty family now and while in the mission field, email chris.petty@sim.org.