CRM - Empowering Leaders

About Venezuela & the Barrios of Caracas

Venezuela is not a poor country – and yet it is. As the fifth largest oil producer in the world, and the largest exporter of oil in the Western Hemisphere, Venezuela has an ample revenue source. But God’s blessing of this resource has resulted in great corruption and injustice. In a land with such bountiful resources, over forty five percent of the population live in poverty, particularly in the rural regions in the interior of the country.

In Caracas, the capital city, roughly fifty percent of the population live in concrete block houses or make-shift shanties in hillside barrio communities. The barrios are infamous for their social ills - unemployment, broken families, violence, crime, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, as well as the proliferation of spiritistic and witchcraft practices.

As grim as that “snapshot” might appear, we in InnerChange have seen that God never leaves a neighborhood void of the resources necessary to catalyze community transformation. We begin as learners, getting to know the community. When possible, we link with volunteers from Venezuelan churches to go deeper to find the real power brokers in the community and those who are open to knowing God and concerned for their neighbor. Our goal is to equip poor folks from the barrio to lead house churches and grass-root community efforts. Yet we begin by evangelizing family networks or existing community groups, or at times, by discipling a group of Christians in the barrio.