Missionary Follies... when separation replaces real mission engagement...

Yesterday I learned of a potentially grave consequence for mission work in my area of Latin America.

An organization with whom I am acquainted here in Oaxaca is in danger of being asked to leave the area.  It is an organization that is involved in some vitally important work in helping spread the Gospel in Southern Mexico and Central America.

What, you might ask has been their crime?  What is it that they may done to anger their national hosts and the leaders of the community where they serve?

They have chosen to work alone and not be involved with the larger community of people who live around their ministry base.  To put it another less charitable way, they have decided to not engage the community where they serve and have instead chosen to live a separate missionary life devoid of local contact.

It was not always this way.  There was a time when people in this community respected and felt connected to the larger work of this ministry.  The missionaries saw it as part of their ministry to engage and connect with the community in a variety of ways.

With the passing of time and a new generation of younger workers, that is no longer so.

Children of the missionaries no longer attend community schools, their parents deciding it is best to send them to the private English speaking school, which is miles away.  This was effectively the first step in breaking community with the very people they are serving.

Next was a gradual diminishment of personal involvement with the local Mexican church, choosing instead to worship together at their compound in English.  Now I know that these local churches are not the best, but perhaps those local missionaries could have been part of really helping and supporting the new emerging and struggling Christian community in Southern Mexico.

The people of the village, remembering the past when leaders of this ministry would be in homes and side by side locals in the market and at school meetings are feeling abandoned and neglected.

They are trying to figure what they must have done wrong to warrant such a pull back from a relationship that had transcended generations.  


They are hurt.

Now the leaders of the village are saying that if the outsiders do not really want to be part of their community, why should they continue to let them live there.

Should anyone be surprised?

I believe when missionaries from another country go to live in a foreign land, for the sake of the Gospel, they should become part of the local community.

I do not favor missionary compounds and have learned over the years that locals tend to subtly resent missionaries who refuse to be part of their community.  That is one of the primary reasons my own ministry, Adventures in Life, has worked hard to stay connected to  communities in ways that can enable us to be seen as part of that community.  It is that connection that helps us to really understand the culture of the people we are striving to serve.  

Let me give you an example.

A few years back, all across Mexico, people in rural areas were talking about the Chupacabra.  For the uninitiated, this legend is almost equivalent to the tales of the Loch Ness Monster.  The Chupacabra was a nasty beast that would kill your animals, and maybe even, your young kids.

I happened to be in a village at that time with an in-country missionary when a woman named Gloria mentioned her fear of the Chupacabra.  Because I was aware of this legend, she and I immediately had a bond that transcended our cultural barriers.  We were able to connect.

My missionary friend, who had served that area for almost 20 years had no idea what we were talking about or what this Chupacabra was.  He told me he never pays much attention to those types of things or the local goings on across Mexico, choosing instead to stay focused on his missionary work.

Hear me well on this... If your missionary work, be it in Mexico, Los Angeles, China, or your local Starbucks does not include understanding the local customs and culture of the people you are called to serve, you are going to fail!

This is what that mission organization here in Oaxaca has failed to understand and because of that, an entire ministry may soon lose its opportunity to continue some very important work.

There is evidence that at least some in the organization have gotten the message.  Over the last few weeks, leaders have started attending local services and asking the local church to pray that they are not forced out.

I wonder when they will begin asking for forgiveness and repent for rejecting the very people they have been called to serve.


Because if they don't, their ministry will soon look as if had been attacked by the notorious Chupacabra of Mexico.

Adventures in Life Ministry... celebrating 20 years of short-term mission in Mexico...

Just a few weeks ago I shared about the anniversary of a partner church of Adventures in Life Ministry. Iglesia Bautista Fortaleza de Dios.

This fall, AIL Ministry will celebrate 20 years of ministry in Mexico and we are throwing ourselves a party.  But best of all, you're invited!

We will celebrate in Las Vegas on September 22 at where else?  Yep, a coffee shop, Perk Up Coffee to be specific!  We've got the entire place to ourselves, a chance to enjoy some great fellowship, Oaxacan coffee and some wonderful desserts.  We will also auction some of those hard to get Mexican arts and crafts that only available in the interior of Mexico.

Here's your "official" invite, courtesy of Facebook.

Then on October 7, we are holding a big get together at The Guelaguetza Restaurant in Los Angeles.  Owners Fernando and Bricia Lopez, and their parents are all from the area of Oaxaca where we serve and they are excited to help us celebrate our anniversary.

So if you are looking for some great Mexican food, The Guelaguetza was recently named one of America's Best Mexican Restaurants, and if you would like to be part of that celebration, you can RSVP here.  Once again, courtesy of Facebook.

At either location, know that we will be highlighting some of our past ministries and providing a look into the future of Adventures in Life Ministry as we prepare for what we hope will be another 20 years of successful ministry in Mexico!

Fortaleza de Dios... Happy Anniversary to a Very Special Church in Ensenada

Back in the early days of Adventures in Life Ministry, we worked with a small congregation started by Pastor Alejandro [Alex] Corrales and his wife, Lilia.

The year was 1996 and we had helped Pastor Alex and his church buy the piece of land on which their new church now stands in Ensenada.

It was a corner lot [pictured above] and it cost us about $2500.00.  It measured 12.5 meters by 25 meters, or about 3200 square feet.  We signed all of the papers on Valentine’s Day and got ready for our first group to come and serve.

Chris Tong, [shown here with Pastor Alex] then the Youth Pastor at Warm Springs Baptist Church in Las Vegas, had called and he wanted to bring his group to help us get started.

After a lot of discussion, Pastor Alex and his team, led by Alberto Montaño [below] decided that we needed to start with the fence around the property.  They said that in Mexico, it was very important that you identified your property and that a fence was the best way to do that.  And so Chris brought his group and they got started.

Soon Chris came to me and asked what his group was going to do later in the day.  I explained that they would be digging trenches for the entire time of their trip and he was amazed.  He explained that his group was very good, and would have those trenches done real quick.

Very quickly the group got around half of the property, and then the fun started.  You see, the outside border was in a street.  A street that had been compacted by years of cars and buses driving on it.  When that dirt was hit with a pick, it just bounced, barely leaving a mark, exasperating the Americans who had come to work on that fence.

That’s when Sabino stepped in.  Sabino, who almost always had a smile on his face when he was working for Jesus, must have been 70 years old back then.  No one really knew his exact age, and neither did he!  He lived alone because when he came to know Christ, his wife and family left him.  That’s how it is sometimes in Mexico when you decide to follow Jesus… you go it alone.

At 70 years of age, Sabino watched those kids and knew they would never get the trench dug in time to pour the concrete footings and build the block wall fence.

Grabbing his own pick, he started working.  Bit by bit Sabino sheared away the hardened dirt and within a few hours, we had a perfect trench where the Americans had been trying to dig for two days.

We finished the project that week because of Sabino and his determination to work hard for his Lord.

Soon a group from First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, West Virginia, led by Billy Craig came to serve.  And then a group from Los Angeles, a few from Oregon, San Francisco and many others places I cannot remember. 

Everyday we worked, Sabino showed up to help in any way he could.  Mixing concrete, laying bricks, heating tar, it did not matter, Sabino was there until that church was finished and the people of that colonia in Ensenada had a place where they could go and worship God.

Much has changed since those early days for Pastor Alex.  He’s got two wonderful teenaged daughters, the church is full almost every week and they have started their own project to build a larger facility next door for the still growing congregation.  They are even sending short-term teams throughout Mexico to help other congregations like theirs build their own places to worship.

This month Pastor Alex and that little church we helped build, indeed, many of you reading this helped build, will celebrate their anniversary.  Sadly, Sabino will not be there as he passed on a few years ago.

Sabino is one of my spiritual fathers.  I cannot remember a day working at Alex’ church that Sabino was not there alongside me, encouraging and pushing me to be a better man for Jesus.

For me it is fitting that each June, the church Sabino loved and served, the church he helped build with his own hands, gets to celebrate not only earthly fathers, but our father in heaven, and their anniversary!

If you get a chance, find Pastor Alejandro Corrales on Facebook and wish him, his family, and his church, Fortaleza de Dios, well this weekend.