Last week I had the privilege of heading down to the south of Mexico with two other field leaders, to the state of Chiapas, to visit a couple engaged in full time ministry exploration for our mission here in Mexico. This exploration is our way of understanding the need among Mexico’s indigenous groups in terms of their access to the Gospel, discipleship, Bible teaching and translation. As a mission worldwide, we focus primarily on unreached and least reached people groups, and here in Mexico it is no different.
There has been a lot of mission work done in Mexico, and there are churches and believers all over the country. Chiapas is actually considered one of the most “Christian” states in the country of Mexico, with a huge amount of churches from perhaps every Christian denomination there is. You might wonder, then, why we would explore Chiapas for tribal church planting? For our purposes, we are interested to know what resources are available for the indigenous people groups living in Chiapas, in their heart language.
In Chiapas there are a dozen indigenous people groups, and while there are good things happening in the Spanish language, we are finding that there is still a need for evangelism and discipleship in the heart language of the people. We highly value teaching and making disciples in the language of the people. There is nothing like hearing and understanding the Word of God in our own language and in fact, when you don’t hear it in your own language it can result in a lot of confusion! We are excited to know how we can partner with the local church in Chiapas to continue to work towards developing a thriving church among every people group!
Beth and I have known Hugo and Mariana since shortly after we arrived to the field, but over the past two years we have become good friends. You might remember that Hugo, Mariana and I traveled down to Oaxaca and Chiapas last year. After this trip Hugo and Mariana raised support to move down and pursue further exploration in Chiapas. This was our first visit down to see them since they moved.
We were only there a few short days to visit with them, but we had a great time hearing what they have been doing, hearing what the Lord has been showing them through their reports, and visiting a few different communities.
It was a very encouraging visit and we praise God for the faithful work Hugo and Mariana are doing. We also praise God for what He has already done and is doing down in Chiapas. We pray for His guidance on how we can partner with other believers to continue to see the unreached reached with the gospel! There are many needs among Chiapas’ indigenous people groups. What a privilege it is to serve the Lord, the One who saved us and gave us life, alongside so many others in this life!
Please pray for Hugo and Mariana, that the Lord would continue to provide for their needs, protect them and give them wisdom. Also pray that He would give us as a field direction in how He wants us to pursue ministry in Chiapas.
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