‘I was born in Peru and in about 1985 I was at university. There was an issue with an extreme communist group called Shining Path who carried out guerrilla warfare and it cost a lot of lives on both sides.

‘The Church was caught in the middle. Shining Path saw the Church as part of the establishment, and there was quite a lot of suspicion from the military because the Church wouldn’t condemn Shining Path in the way that the army wanted.

‘I was in the capital and was at a relatively privileged university, so it wasn’t so difficult for me. But I had the challenges that any other citizen did. For example, a bomb exploded at a bank nearby when we were at church.

‘It was a difficult time. A lot of people disappeared because they were taken by either Shining Path or the army. There was a lot of uncertainty. I was exposed to that.

‘I was involved with a Christian group at that time, and we kept in touch across the universities. The situation for them wasn’t as easy as it was for me. I remember when one university was going to have a Christian concert. I knew the people who were involved. Just as they were about to start the terrorist gang came in with guns. I remember one of the girls stood in front of them and said, “If you want to shoot us, you can, but we are going to have this concert.” The non-Christians who had come said that they wanted to hear what was going to be said, so Shining Path left.

‘That was a big encouragement for us, because it wasn’t easy, you know. The passage that helped us all then was Philippians 2.6–7, “Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

‘Therefore, he can understand what it’s like to be in a situation where you are powerless, where you are scared, you are in danger and your life depends on someone else’s decision. This passage had such a special meaning for us at that time. It showed us that we just needed to be faithful to God, who had saved our lives.’

Do you have a story to share? Email mybible@biblesociety.org.uk

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