Evangelism Along the Border

Since 1984 the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico and the PC(USA) have jointly sponsored new church development along the 2000-mile border between Mexico and the United States . Twenty-nine churches have been organized, ranging from completely established congregations engaged in fresh outreach mission to their cities to very new gatherings of the faithful in previously unchurched neighborhoods.

Frontera de Cristo

The Frontera de Cristo ministry is located in Agua Prieta, Sonora (pop. 100,000) and Douglas, Arizona (pop. 13,000). On Sundays and weekday evenings the building is a center for worship, fellowship, Bible study and prayer groups, health and family ministry classes, and a medical clinic. The youth group has over 25 active participants.

Frontier Mission: Lacandon People

There are only 700 Lacandon people, who live in five villages in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The National Presbyterian Church of Mexico supports Dario Lopez as a missionary to this group of people. Dario is from the Tzelal people. The PC(USA) is participating in the training and sending of Dario to this work.

Mexico Frontier Mission Development

This fund assists the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico gain a vision to help complete the evangelization of unreached people groups in Mexico and begin the process of sending missionaries to other parts of Latin America and the world.

Pasos de Fe

Pasos de Fe is a ministry at El Paso, Texas (pop. 450,000) and Juarez, Mexico (pop. 1.5 million). Originally founded in 1973, Pasos de Fe formed a reconstructed bi-national board in 1998. Pasos de Fe presently consists of three fully constituted congregations and four missions in Juarez. There is also a thriving mission in Chihuahua, the state capital, some four hours south of the border.

The 2,000-mile U.S./Mexico border offers opportunities for the PC(USA) and the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico to witness to their unity in Christ. Gifts to this ECO assist the churches as in partnership they plant new churches, construct buildings and employ funds for pastoral salaries. They provide preventive health programs like pre/postnatal care and inoculations, childhood nutrition, hygiene education, and potable water programs. Efforts also focus on community and economic development, literacy, mission and vocational education.

Project Amistad

Proyecto Amistad, one of six sites of the Presbyterian Border Ministry, is based in the neighboring cities of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico and Laredo, Texas. The ministry facilitates United States/Mexico church partnerships that focus on building relationships in order to be more effective in growing the body of Christ. Together the partners build churches, support pastors and missionaries, engage in fellowship and learning together, and support each other in evangelistic outreach to adults and children.

Pueblos Hermanos New Church Development

San Diego, California, (pop.1.5 million) and Tijuana, Mexico, (pop. 2 million). Pueblos Hermanos, started in 1984, now supports mission work of six congregations of the Northwest Border Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Mexico. Pueblos Hermanos works closely with the Korean Presbyterian Church, which has founded three Presbyterian worship centers in Tijuana.

Puentes de Cristo

Puentes de Cristo focuses its mission endeavors in the Reynosa, Mexico, area across from McAllen, Texas. Puentes' mission work encompasses four main areas: new church development, preventative health, self-development of people and mission participation (mission teams). Puentes is a joint ministry between Mission Presbytery in Texas and Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas Presbyteries in Mexico.

Rachel Anderson — U.S. Coordinator for Border Ministries, Pueblos Hermanos

Pueblos Hermanos Presbyterian Border Ministry in Tijuana-San Diego, is one of six U.S.-Mexican Presbyterian collaborative ministries of evangelism, new church development, community health and development, and mission education along the Mexico-U.S. border. The Rev. Bill Soldwisch has held this position since 1983 and will be retiring at the end of 2009.  The Rev. Rachel Anderson will be replacing him in this position.

Susie Frerichs serves in the mountains of central-east Mexico, working with the Presbytery of the Huastecas, a presbytery of rural, indigenous churches of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico (INPM). She facilitates partnerships between U.S. and Mexican congregations and assists INPM congregations in evangelistic, educational, and community development programs, as well as in ministry with children, youth and Presbyterian Women’s groups.

Chris McReynolds is a U.S. coordinator of Proyecto Amistad, which recently relocated to the Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, border. There the PC(USA) and National Mexican Presbyterian Church collaborate in ministries of evangelism, new church development, community health and development, and mission education. “I have learned that God has much work for the church to do in Mexico and the United States,” writes Chris. “Christians from different cultures have much to offer and receive from one another beyond material things. It is my privilege to encourage the development of church partnerships and relationships, where, as we humble ourselves and remain in Christ, we get to take part in his work.”

Amy Robinson — Pasos de Fe U.S. Coordinator, U.S.-Mexico border

Amy Robinson is a long-term volunteer serving as U.S. coordinator of Pasos de Fe, one of six sites along the U.S.-Mexico border that are part of the Presbyterian Border Ministry. The coordinator facilitates the visits of church groups that want to participate in mission, scheduling and coordinating the visits, working with colleagues from the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico to plan the work, worship and living arrangements.

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Pueblos Hermanos Presbyterian Border Ministry in Tijuana-San Diego, is one of six U.S.-Mexican Presbyterian collaborative ministries of evangelism, new church development, community health and development, and mission education along the Mexico-U.S. border. The Rev. Bill Soldwisch has held this position since 1983 and will be retiring at the end of 2009.  The Rev. Rachel Anderson will be replacing him in this position.

Don Wehmeyer, an ordained PC(USA) minister, is director of the School of Continuing Education at San Pablo Theological Seminary in Merida, a school of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico. He teaches theology courses, leads workshops in many of Mexico’s rural areas, and publishes a magazine for pastors for the Synod of the Yucatán Peninsula. Martha ministers from the home as a volunteer medical doctor.