Transcending Boundaries

At the end of the nineteenth century, the border region was vaguely defined with sparse populations, and for the most part didn't attract much attention. Commerce and people flowed freely along the fairly undefined border. A century later the border defines a place where two distinct civilizations face each other and overlap. Border crossings, while still fairly easy, have been complicated by events such as the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001. Security into the U.S. has been tightened, yet U.S. industry is eager to take advantage of the ample supply of inexpensive labor and incentives made available by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

David White, who had worked on the border with BEAMM for eight years and is now in the Mission To The World office, explained it this way: “People come to the border, especially from the interior parts of Mexico, because they seek a change, caused by either a call from God or a desire for money. Statistics show that during the average seven years that a person spends on the border, he is able to find productive employment and is able to attain a Mexican upper middle class level of living. He might even be able to travel into the United States as far north as Colorado, Nevada, or California. He tends to be more open to hearing the Gospel and receiving Christ as Savior and Lord." We believe a man reached on the border may be able to return to his community in the interior, and may minister to that community more effectively than a missionary.

Oscar J. Martinez in his book Border People, says "Nowhere else do so many millions of people from two so dissimilar nations live in such close proximity and interact with each other so intensely."

And David E. Lorey in his book The U.S.-Mexican Border in the Twentieth Century, says "The 2,000-mile-long international boundary between the United States and Mexico gives shape to a unique economic, social, and cultural entity. The U.S.-Mexican border region has the distinction of being the only place in the world where a highly developed country and a developing nation meet and interact." Read More ...