Church Development

New Church Development: Through Frontera de Cristo's Church Development Ministry, we are working with the Presbytery of Chihuahua to develop two new churches: one in Hermosillo and one in Agua Prieta. In 2005, church planters Gabriel and Lourdes Mondragon made over 100 contacts with un-churched business persons and professionals in Hermosillo and have begun the process of discipleship. At its April 2006 meeting, the Presbytery of Chihuahua called German Casanova as new church developer for Agua Prieta. German will arrive in Agua Prieta in the fall of 2006 to begin the process of developing a new church.

Church Development: Frontera de Cristo supports the continued growth of the Lily of the Valley Presbyterian Church and the First Presbyterian Church of Douglas. Each of the churches are multi-cultural congregations. The First PC is the only church in Douglas that is a bi-lingual worshipping congregation. Frontera continues to support the churches financially as they continue toward financial self-sufficiency. 2005 saw many milestones for the Lily of the Valley Church: in May the congregation became the first fully organized Presbyterian Church in the state of Sonora, in October, they led the Presbytery of Chihuahua's mission team to the Sierra Tarahumara, and in November they began construction on their new sanctuary which they will build without outside help. In 2006, the Lily of the Valley church has sent mission delegations to Nogales and Hermosillo to support the growth of the churches there through evangelism, service to the community, a concert by the praise band and a bible school for children.

Bi-national Seminary Intern Ministry: Frontera continues working with the two churches to develop a unique bi-national internship ministry for seminary students from the US and Mexico. Throughout this year, the churches have worked together in the construction of apartments to house the seminarians and will complete the apartments during the rest of this year and the first half of next year to be ready to receive the first bi-national seminary interns in the Fall of 2006. Frontera is financially supporting this endeavor to train and equip leaders from both national churches to be in multi-cultural ministry.

Health Ministry

The Health Ministry of Frontera de Cristo supports a full-time nurse and a part time dentist as they seek to help the community of Nuevo Progreso prevent diseases. The primary areas of focus are the following: 1) Prevention of Cervical Uterine Cancer and Breast Cancer through education and administering of Pap Smear and Breast exams, 2) Control of High Blood Pressure and Diabetes through screening, nutritional education and support groups, 3) Promotion of Good Hygiene from an early age through participatory education for students and parents in the community Kindergarten and elementary schools, and 4) Dental Hygiene through screening and education in the community schools, primary dental care and follow-up.

Our ministry also provides services in local institutions such as drug rehabilitation centers and children's homes.

Family Ministry

The Family Ministry is integral in sharing the gospel with unchurched folks of the Nuevo Progreso Community and beyond. The ministry provides a weekly Bible School for about 25 to 30 children, marriage enrichment gatherings/workshops, women's self-esteem workshops both for the churched and unchurched, parenting classes in the elementary schools of Nuevo Progreso, emergency assistance to families in distress, counseling, spiritual direction and a pastoral presence in a highly unchurched community.

The family ministry works closely with the New Hope Community Center providing a pastoral presence for the students of the Community Center as well as coordinating a four week summer school for 32 children with daily classes in guitar, Tae Kwon Do, crafts and sports.

With the departure of the Family Ministry Director in July 2005, the Lily of the Valley Church has continued the leadership of this ministry.

The New Hope Community Center

The Community Center is an innovative ministry which is a collaboration between Frontera de Cristo and the Nuevo Progreso Community. The purpose of the community center is to improve the quality of life in this outlying community of Agua Prieta by providing educational, cultural, and development activities for the community.

The board is formed of 5 community members, two members of Frontera de Cristo and two members from the Lily of the Valley Church. The Mexican Coordinator serves as a non-voting moderator and counselor of the board. The Community Center is four years old and has already achieved financial self-sufficiency.

The classes offered include aerobics, guitar, cake decorating, hair cutting, sewing and English. They are taught by volunteers. Students pay a $5 per month fee for the courses which go to cover expenses of the Community Center. The Board also organizes fundraisers in the community to raise funds for special projects such as the library they are opening and building improvements such as a cooling system.

Mission Education

The Mission Education Ministry focuses on building relationships and understanding across borders. Our ministry facilitates the crossing of borders of over 400 persons a year to enter into relationship with sisters and brothers from Mexico. The ministry helps churches, presbyteries and individuals reflect biblically and theologically on what it means to be disciples of Jesus Christ when borders divide.

Through its mission delegation ministry, newsletter, and speaking engagements both in the United States and Mexico, the ministry particularly grapples with how to respond faithfully to the immigration crisis. In addition, the ministry has developed a workshop entitled "Immigration and the Churches Responses" and has facilitated it in four different churches on the border and the interior of the United States.

The ministry is facilitating a border to border mission delegation of the Presbytery de Cristo with the theme: "Coffee, Migration, and Faith" and plans to facilitate these delegations for other churches and presbyteries in the future.

The Mission Education Ministry has been instrumental in helping churches understand the connection between their coffee consumption, the immigration crisis and their faith and has promoted Just Coffee as a faithful way to respond to the crisis and to enter into right relationship with the folk who grow their coffee. In the last three and a half years, churches alone have purchased over 90,000 pounds of coffee directly from the farmers—which translates into more than $630,000 to the farmer as opposed to the $45,000 they would have received on the open market. Just Coffee has also created 7 jobs at double the normal wage. All 35 farming families and all employees' families have health insurance and retirement. Hope is returning to the coffee farming community.

Just Trade Business Development Center

The Just Coffee cooperative and Frontera de Cristo have developed a model in which the value of roasting, packing, and sales is added to the coffee produced by the coffee community of Salvador-Urbina, Chiapas, Mexico. This value rises to about 400% of the value of the green product paid by fair trade intermediaries such as Equal Exchange, and ten times that paid to the vast majority of small producers in the conventional market. This means that all profits remain within Mexico to contribute to the growth of the cooperative and to economic development. This value is shared within the coffee cooperative and its community, and has had a demonstrably positive effect on the quality of life as well as the sense of dignity and justice prevalent in the families involved.

Frontera de Cristo and Just Coffee recently evolved the idea of replicating the model practiced by Just Coffee with other coffee communities and cooperatives in other border locations. As this idea expanded, it has become important to devote resources to the process of developing the capacity of new coffee communities and their startup coffee projects in the areas of roasting and packing, plus business planning, marketing, sales, and the replication of the value-added model.

The Just Trade Business Development Center will facilitate the evolution, replication and expansion of the model with producer communities in the south of Mexico and those in the border region with the goal of providing communities with alternatives to migration through economic development.

Oficina de Mexico
#1960 Calles 19 y 20, Avenida 40
Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico
Teléfono: 011-52-633-331-0932
 
 

US Office
826 11th Street
Douglas, AZ 85607
Telephone: 520-364-9257
Fax: 520-364-9257
 

Mailing Address
P. O. Box 1112
Douglas, AZ 85608