UBF History of Mexico

Policies and Strategies of UBF Ministry in Mexico


Preface

In preparation for Mexico Night in March 2016 several missionaries gathered, shared the past work of God in Mexico and discussed the future policy and strategy of the ministry. Some wrote long articles. This is their summary, which was presented during Mexico Night by Barnabas Choi.

Introduction

Key verse Matthew 28: 19, 20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Nice to meet you! My name is Barnabas Choi. I am the coordinator of Mexico. I immigrated to Mexico on December 1999 and have served the Lord as a lay missionary. I run retail stores, mainly for clothes. At the same time I serve university students in IPN with the word of the Scriptures. Since July 2012 I have become a regional coordinator and collaborated with other regional coordinators in Latin America through Skype meetings every month.

During the preparation for Mexico Night, I formed a group of missionaries for open discussion. We reflected on the past and formulated mission policies for the future. We explored proper strategies in regards to the policies. Due to time limit I present you some of them. Please pray for us according to our policy. The key verse is Matthew 28: 19-20, which is the cornerstone for the mission policy of Mexico. We want to evangelize the 32 states of Mexico with this verse. We also want to participate in the evangelization of Latin America by sending out missionaries. Other churches of different denomination may have the same policy as ours. We will cooperate with them in any way that builds the body of Christ. At the same time we put our focus on youth generation, especially college students.

I. Religious and social landscape of Mexico

The principal religion of Mexico is Roman Catholicism. Catholic Church has preserved the legacies of faith such as the Trinity and the Apostles Creed. Most of all it preserved the Bible. However, the majority of Catholic believers don’t know the Bible well. Since they don’t know the word of God, they can’t establish a personal relationship with God based on the truth and the grace of salvation. For example, worshiping the image of Lady Guadalupe is a syncretism between Catholicism and indigenous belief. Most Catholics have the image of Guadalupe and frequently exercise religious acts in front of her. The prophets in the Bible will lament if they see this. Also besides Christianity, other religions such as Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, and Adventists greatly influence Mexicans. These bad influences expands rapidly because most of the people don’t know the Bible. Other religious people pursue mystical experiences more than bible studies. They seek self-indulgence and are not interested in pleasing God. We intend to teach them the Bible. Bible study is the only way to bring back the fallen ones from heterodox ideas and idolatry, to correct paths.

Many middle and high school students are addicted to drugs because they can get them easily. We are sorry for the miserable situation. Celebrating parties and enjoying alcohol and sex without caution every Friday has permeated into culture. Further, the people live with fear and anxiety for theft and violence caused by social instability due to hte corruption of political leaders. It’s very hard for college students to get a job after graduating, so they go through their college period without hope for the future. I ask for your intercessory prayers for them.

II. Current status of Mexico UBF

The previous speakers presented the work of God. Briefly, Missionary Jose Ahn arrived in Mexico as a diplomat in the year 1982 and started the ministry. Afterwards, Missionary Abraham Hwang and Missionary Timothy Rhee laid down the foundations of the ministry. Through them many missionaries came, who either collaborated or planted new chapters. Also, many Mexican students who had bible studies grew and collaborated or planted new chapters. At present, Mexico has 14 chapters, 324 participants at Sunday worship service, and 300 1:1 bible studies weekly. Mexico UBF consists of 33 missionaries from Korea, 22 second gen missionaries and 34 families of Mexican leaders. The sons and daughters of the missionary families and local leaders include 39 children up to elementary school, 15 middle/high school students, 10 college students and 12 adults over 25 years old.

III. Raising disciples and planting churches through native leaders

Currently native shepherds are serving pioneering ministry in three chapters in Mexico. They have advantages because they assimilate with Mexicans without language and cultural barriers. They also have the advantage to go to other Latin American countries as missionaries. In fact until the year 2016, 27 missionaries, including the second generation, were sent to the U.S. and several Latin American countries. We pray to send missionaries to the 4 countries - Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago.

On the other hand, the native leaders have many difficulties in raising disciples and self-support due to lack of discipline. Thus, we want to pay continuous attention to those sent to other places, and develop programs for reeducation so that they can grow as successful disciple makers. For the leaders who want to plant new chapters in other places we want to prepare them well beforehand.

There are 32 states in Mexico, but we only have chapters in 7 states. We need to fan into flame the work of evangelization and continually train and send out native leaders.

IV. Difficulties in mission and direction for the future

Despite on-going problems in the society economic condition has been improved. Many people have lost interest in the gospel and pursue present pleasures and material benefits. It requires a lot of effort and time to understand them and guide them with the word of God. However, many chapters have only one family, and they spend a lot of time on making money for self-support. Therefore they have many difficulties in visiting universities and engaging in evangelization. We have discussed possible solutions. One of them is to send other native leaders or missionaries from other chapters to support those who are serving in the new chapters. But this requires a lot of prayer because there are other difficulties to overcome. For example, those who go and support them need much time and effort to help their ministries in the most effective ways.

In plating a church in a new city, most leaders favor big cities due to a better opportunity for self-support. However, we can’t disregard many small and medium cities. In order to reach out to those cities we equip leaders with both spiritual lessons and the ability for self-support.

Additionally we want to create programs to help and discipline second gen missionaries when they are young so they can grow in faith and accept missionary call to become our coworkers in serving God.

V. Education for the second generation

In Mexico 76 sons and daughters are the children of missionaries. Some of them reach the age to collaborate with their parents, but are not ready. They lack personal faith and missionary call. Why? We thought of the causes. For example, many chapters have only one family. The parents don’t have the time and resource to raise their children for such objective while they work and serve college students. So, we realize the need to create programs and regular meetings for them when they are young.

After the 2015 Easter conference, we addressed the need to have meetings for the second generation and commissioned Missionary David Hong to lead in this matter. He will hold a meeting every other year with all the second generation in Mexico. In addition we pray that neighbor chapters facilitate a meeting for them more frequently. We pray for the second generation to have not only personal faith, but also to receive a call for the UBF ministry. We also want to send those who have spiritual desire to the U.S. or Korea so that they can receive spiritual discipline as well as love. I pray that some of them become greater missionaries than us.

VI. Coming to Mexico as a missionary

If you want to come to Mexico as a missionary, you will be able to obtain a work visa through the businesses of missionaries in Mexico or Mexican companies. After 5 years you will be able to obtain a resident visa. Also, North American citizens can receive a tourist visa for one year, who work in language institutions as an English teacher and serve a short-term mission.

Prayer Topics

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