A Century Later ...
The U.S./Mexico border is a well-defined political boundary that stretches nearly 2,000 miles between two countries that are so different yet so much more intertwined in their history and life than many people know.
But the border is not simply a line drawn on a map.According to historian Oscar Martinez, (Border People), it is part of a "borderland," a place where "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."
You can tell it is not just a "line" when you cross it into Mexico, either by one of the many land crossings, or the dozens of bridges over the Rio Grande. In Los Ebanos, TX, a tiny hamlet just a few miles up-river from McAllen, you can cross on a ferry pulled by ropes! When you cross over, you realize that you have not just entered another country, you've entered another world!
The culture of the border is unique, and very distinct from that of the rest of the country on each side. Here in the borderlands there is a constant flow of people, commerce, ideas, contraband, culture, art, music, and violence. The peoples of the United States and Mexico meet and interact daily in a seemingly endless movement back and forth across this historic border. Others describe the interrelating that goes on at the border as "rooted in the shared histories, migration and demographic changes, foreign investments, businesses, local governments, and the decisions of millions of families and friends engaging in activities that require border crossing." (Anderson and Gerber, Fifty Years of Change on the U.S.-Mexican Border)
However, 9/11, security on the U.S. side of the border began to tighten. Hundreds of miles of fence have been constructed in the western half of the border, with unmanned drones flying overhead, all with the intent of stemming the tide of undocumented immigration and the entrance of illegal drugs. As drug violence on the Mexican side has escalated, security into Mexico has also been enhanced to hinder the entrance of explosives and guns from the U.S. Many from the U.S. are now hesitant to go into Mexico for fear of being caught in the crossfire. This has impacted Mexican businesses and exacerbated economic woes.
The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) paved the way for commerce to flow more freely across the border. As a result, U.S. companies began to build "maquiladoras," assembly plants which put together auto parts, TV's and satellite dishes, and medical supplies, to name a few. The Mexican border cities, as a result, experienced booming growth, with all the attendant pains, such as the need for increased housing and roadways, and the problems of traffic congestion, violence, and drug trafficking.
This constant ebb and flow of people across the border creates a strategic opportunity to reach people with the Gospel. And because of the mixture of culture present on the border, people are more open to the truths of Scripture, rather than the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church.
It is currently estimated that twelve million undocumented aliens live in the United States, many of whom have entered the country via the U.S./Mexico border. Many of these labor in the construction, agriculture, and landscaping industries, sending billions of dollars to their families still living back in Mexico. The border is the conduit for these relationships!
Many believe that a wall will solve the undocumented immigration problem. However a U.S. Border Patrol agent once told us about the steel wall that was constructed just outside of Yuma, AZ. Just two days after the wall was completed, Mexican immigrants cut a hole in it with a plasma cutter and walked through!
Still, we believe that a wall is the answer! But a different kind of wall: a Wall of Churches. The Gospel has the power to transform lives, cities, countries! If people can be reached with the Gospel as they arrive on the border through local churches, their lives will be transformed by God's Spirit and they will become God's witnesses no matter where they go!
BEAMM and the Border ...
Mission to the World (MTW) evangelist Jimmy Lyons had visited the border between the United States and Mexico in the mid-1980's, and was deeply touched by the overwhelming poverty and misery that he saw. Spurred on by the burden the Holy Spirit had laid on his heart, he urged the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) into action. In the three summers leading up to 1990, what was then SIMA (Servants in Missions Abroad) sent over 600 people from seventy PCA churches to build houses, churches, and clinics, and to evangelize. As labors bore fruit and interest mounted among PCA churches, MTW and Mission to North America (MNA) quickly recognized that a border ministry was needed. In September, 1990, Border Evangelism and Mercy Ministries (BEAMM) was begun, the only place in the world where the two missions agencies of the PCA work side by side in a domestic and international context.
The initial purpose, vision, and strategy of BEAMM was soon formulated: "On the basis of our conviction that man is made in God's image, and that Jesus Christ has died to redeem sinners, the border ministry of the PCA should reach out in church planting on both sides of the border and in works of mercy in response to needs expressed by local communities. Strategy for accomplishing this vision would be to place full-time workers in key areas, and continue sending teams of youth and adults to the border." Continuing with the heart of this strategy, the team established a working agreement between MTW and the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico (NPCM) in 1993.
In succeeding years, short-term teams played a vital role in the development of the BEAMM ministry in Ciudad Juárez, doing construction projects, outreach events such as Vacation Bible Schools in public parks where the Gospel was proclaimed to over 600 children and their parents in just a three-year period! God's Spirit brought many of these to Jesus Christ, and three churches, Gracia y Paz, Tierra Prometida, and Vida Nueva were born.
In 2000, the San Pablo Seminary was begun in Ciudad Juárez to formally train future leaders of the developing border church. By God's grace, over these past twenty years over 600 people have come to Christ through the ministry of BEAMM.
The Leadership Void ...
God's Church needs good leadership, and the lack of strong, Gospel-centered leaders is very obvious on the border, both in Mexico and in the United States. Hispanic communities need mature, Bible-saturated leaders who love the Gospel and love discipling people in its truth. The border is an excellent place for discipling future leaders in knowledge of the Bible, theology, and witness.
For twenty years, BEAMM has been working as a team on the border, seeking to start a movement of church planting through training leaders and reaching out to border cities with the Gospel in both word and deed. But recently, God has impressed upon us that if we desire to see this movement grow, we must become extremely focused in preparing more men for future leadership of His Church just like we have done with Juan Antonio Garcia.
Our passion is to see a movement of churches being planted all along the border. But it makes little sense to establish churches unless there is the intentionality of creating a chain of prepared laborers. Our vision to equip is driven by two biblical passages, Ephesians 4:12 and 2 Tim 2:2. God has placed pastors and teachers in his body to equip others for the work of ministry so that they are fully prepared to do the work in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. In his instructions to Timothy, Paul challenges him to entrust the sacred teaching to faithful men who will teach others, who will then teach others. In both texts we see the idea of equipping as a key component to a lasting ministry. We also believe that a well-rounded, fully-equipped servant of Jesus Christ requires a team.
Beginning in 2011, we will be forming teams dedicated to planting churches while at the same time discipling apprentices who will eventually equip others. We are calling these E4 Teams, named for the Ephesians 4:12 passage.
These teams, composed of men experienced in the areas of evangelism, church planting, theological education, mercy ministries, and administration, will combine academic training with life-on-life discipleship to their apprentices. These apprentices will someday become the future leadership of God's Church, on the border, and throughout the world.
