This is a guest post from SCS student/intern Marco Barron detailing his ongoing mission in Mexico.
A few years ago, I was walking through the streets of a small community in San Luis Potosi, North Central Mexico where my parents were born. I had walked these streets many times before, but this time it was very different. As a child, these streets were overflowing with people. It was a community where everyone knew and cared for each other, but this time, it felt like I was walking through the streets of a very different town.
With every step I took, I was hit with a harsh new reality. How could this town have turned into a place where the streets are empty and people are scared to go outside? Where running water is impotable, education is hard to receive, and poverty continues to take over? We hear it all over the news: many parts of Mexico are not safe. There are kidnappings, drugs, and corruption, but what the news does not tell us are the stories of love, hope, and strength.
As I walked those street, I felt God asking me, “Marco, are they exempt from my salvation or from my love?” At that moment, God gave me a new vision for this community that radically changed the way I view missions and ministry. Jesus commanded his disciples, “Go to all nations, making disciples, teaching them to obey His commands.” He called me back home to fulfill this very commission with my own people and within my own culture.
After a year of praying and planning, we finally put everything into action during the week of Thanksgiving this year. With the help of local pastors, we assessed the spiritual and physical needs of several communities. In order to create true transformation, the church should be involved in both of these aspects of life. First, we addressed the spiritual needs. Many believers in these communities lived a Christian life but did not know how to share the Gospel. Many thought they only needed to attend church and stay away from ways of the world to be right with God. Often, people rely entirely on their pastor to help them grow spiritually, but if they are only attending church once or twice a week, that is not enough. Additionally, without proper instruction or attention, many leave the church.
Because of this, our trip consisted of teaching fellow believers how to disciple and share the Gospel of Christ so that they can help their pastor foster spiritual growth in their communities. We visited 3 established churches and trained 34 Christians. We preached at 2 churches, and we even visited 15 homes so our trainees could get hands on practice. We prayed for the sick, shared Jesus with their families and friends, and held Bible studies in homes. One sister in Christ said, “Until this moment I thought that all I had to do was come to church and bring people to church. Now, I want to bring church to them.”
This is just the beginning of what God has planned for us to do. We will continue to visit our family in Christ in Mexico and to equip them with evangelical tools and biblical studies. In the following months, we will begin a project to cater to their physical needs as well. We plan to bring 20 new computers and media equipment to a small community high school in San Luis Potosi and help fund the local community dining room which feeds 35 to 45 people who are in need. If you feel so called to support this mission, I invite you to pray with us as we continue training and reaching people for the kingdom.