Mexico #3 - Memorandum of Understanding
by Deena Candler, Outreach Foundation trustee
For the past two days, The Outreach Team to Mexico consisting of Deena Candler, Mark Mueller, Toby Mueller, Doug Nielson, and Mary Lynne Nielson has been meeting with the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico to learn more about one another and to forge a partnership.
On Monday we met with the President of the denomination and other officers to share our visions and get to know one another. The Presbyterian Church in Mexico has 6,000 churches and almost 3,000,000 members. They are focused on church planting and reaching younger people. They also seek to serve those outside the church. One of the huge issues facing Mexico concerns the borders…that’s plural. They are reaching out and serving refugees at both the southern and the northern borders. One pastor who ministers in the south has in his household now in addition to his family four children in his congregation whose parents are ill, and refugees from Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti for a total of 16 people who gather around his table to eat.
We were also able on Monday to tour the Mexico City Presbyterian Seminary. This seminary, which is one of 13 Presbyterian seminaries in the country, is the oldest and has been in existence for 140 years. We also visited the Instituto Juarez. It is a Presbyterian school for students from kindergarten through high school which is doing a wonderful job of preparing students for college.
Today, Tuesday, we had the opportunity to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico and The Outreach Foundation. Mark Mueller, Executive Director of The Outreach Foundation, and the Rev. Adolfo Arias Job, President of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, signed it in both Spanish and English as our agreement of how we can partner together in the next ten years.
We also had the opportunity to hear from two pastors who are planting churches in the southern part of the country. The first is in Tapachula, Chiapas led by Pastor Rivera. This church currently has 70 members and has found land which they have purchased. We saw their wonderful building plans. They need $30,000 to build the first phase of it, and already have $15,000 in hand! What excited us was that part of this first phase includes a cafeteria to help feed refugees. There are 9,000 refugees in Tapachula most of whom are from Haiti. The target of the church vision is to reach young married couples with young children and teenagers, and to disciple people to be followers of Christ. Pastor Rivera is the individual who is currently housing and feeding 16 people in his home.
The second church plant is in Oaxaca by Pastor Osario. The desire of this church is to reach young families and students at the nearby university. Instead of a building they would own, they desire to rent a space near the university that would be inviting to students with a space to gather for coffee or lunch, with music lessons, and recreation, in addition to a space for worship and other meetings. The name of this church is Hospital de Fe (Hospital of Faith) because they stand on the belief that we are all broken and in need of healing by the Savior.
We are so encouraged by the vision and passion in this country and excited about how we can partner together for the future.