Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations Secretaries' Files: Venezuela Mission

Venezuela was the last mission field in Latin America to be occupied by the PCUSA. Early in 1897, the Reverend and Mrs. T.S. Pond of the Colombia Mission were transferred to Caracas. Despite much prejudice toward Protestant evangelicals, a church was established there in 1900 and the station was formally organized by the Board of Foreign Missions as a separate mission in 1912.

In comparison with Presbyterian missionary activities in other parts of Latin America, the work in Venezuela was limited. It centered chiefly in the Federal District of Caracas and in the neighboring state of Miranda, and was primarily educational and evangelistic. It has been estimated that during the 1930s perhaps 85% of the Venezuelan population was illiterate, with two thirds of the remaining 15% possessing only an elementary school education. The Church's educational work commenced in 1900 with the establishment of Colegio Americano, a school for girls and young women that eventually became coeducational with an expanded secondary school curriculum. Other educational facilities were later established at Guatire (Primary School) and Ocumare (Christian Rural Center). Evangelistic work was primarily restricted to Caracas, the only mission station.

In 1945, the Presbytery of Venezuela was organized, though the number of communicants in the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela was and continued to be small amidst an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population. In 1961, the Venezuela Mission was formally dissolved with its functions being assumed by the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela.