Witch Doctors. Sex Traffickers. Church Planters. (part 1)

Mexico is a mosaic of beauty and brokenness. From the desert fishing coast of Baja to the Ancient Pyramids of Teotihuacan, cities possess stories both known and untold. Mexican history is blended with rich Aztecan heritage and a convoluted vexation of the 16th century Spanish conquest. They have fought opposing countries and civil corruption for hundreds of years and so it continues today.

I saw this very real and present struggle firsthand while traveling through a small suburb just outside of Puebla. As we drove onto the same location where the battle of Cinco de Mayo transpired, our mission team received warning. We were entering the sex trafficking capitol of Mexico. The extravagant homes of it’s leaders and pimps can be seen at the top of a hill overlooking the village of shacks that serve as confinement for abductees. Men profit off the innocence of women and children. Villagers are watchmen of those who enter. Everyone has a role in the transaction process. Even police officers and government officials are involved, making it more than complex to shut down.

A broken system made of broken people is impossible to fix. Thus, salvation is found in Christ alone. Only Jesus can make a nation whole. Mexico needs the gospel. It needs men in the trenches who are willing to lay down their lives to the glory of God that all may hear. With only 7.5% of the population being “Protestant and Evangelical”, roughly 8.5 million people have been reached and 112 million unreached. The largest evangelical areas are located along the Northern and Southern Mexican borders with state wide practicing evangelicals at 12-20%.

These areas, along the U.S. and Central American borders are thriving, namely, for the amount of missionary presence. Though the same cannot be said of the center of Mexico. The further one travels into the main land, they will find that “speech is silver and silence is golden”. Thus the gospel is not spoken. Churches are like springs in the desert, with few and far between. This area comprising of five states is known as the “zona de silencio” or the “zone of silence” because many have not heard much less speak the name of Jesus.

It’s evident. There is a desperate need to cultivate gospel centered churches in areas, such as the Zone of Silence, where the presence of fellowship is virtually nonexistent. So who should be sent into regions like this and who is called to plant a church? We all are called to make disciples and share the gospel, but what about planting churches in a foreign context like Mexico?

“Conviction has kept me where I am. I know that God has called me to plant this church and I cling to that everyday.”

I spoke with Pastor Alex Servin of Calvary Chapel Silao who planted the church just outside the Zone of Silence in 2009. “The greatest difficulty of ministering in Mexico is the battle of tradition and this movement of following feelings rather than truth. We come against witchcraft and lies daily here.” And that’s no exaggeration. I walked through another Calvary Chapel a few hours east with it’s building having only 3 walls and a raised roof. It’s barren framework is due to the persecution it withstands from witch doctors in the community. Sunday services begin with cleaning up the blood and heads of animals used to vandalize and “curse” their location. “Conviction has kept me where I am. I know that God has called me to plant this church and I cling to that everyday.” Alex and his family began the church as a mission within the city, though now it has grown to the second largest church in Silao.

Continue reading part 2 here!