Category: Mission Trip/Missionary Security
Violence in Mexico curtailing faith-based missions
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — John and Wanda Casias knew the risks of being missionaries in one of Mexico's most violent, cartel-dominated regions, their children say, but they refused to curtail their work and instead put their ministry ahead of their safety. The couple's slaying this week during a home invasion comes as missionary groups are [...]
INLAND: Churches canceling Mexico missions
As drug-related violence continues to ravage parts of Mexico, a mounting number of churches in the Inland area and nationwide are canceling missions for fear that volunteers might get caught up in the maelstrom. Riverside’s Grove Community Church, which has been going to Mexico for 35 years, recently canceled a planned trip for this month [...]
Violence in Mexico Impacts Cross-Border Missionary Work
CORPUS CHRISTI – Just one day after two Texas missionaries were found murdered in their home in northern Mexico, churches here in Corpus Christi say they are also being impacted by the drug violence in that country. Local pastors say violence is forcing them to cut back their charitable works in Mexico. "It's so close [...]
Two North Texas missionaries found dead in northern Mexico
LEWISVILLE — Two missionaries from North Texas were murdered in their home outside the violence-plagued northern industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico, the U.S. Embassy and their family said Wednesday. The U.S. State Department identified the couple as American citizens John and Wanda Sue Casias. “I’m going to miss her, because she’s so loved,” their daughter [...]
Church Leaders Kidnapped in India
A staff-member and two church leaders from a California-based church planting ministry have been captured in western India. Over this past weekend an Empart Church Planter and two church leaders (names withheld for security reasons) were taken by force on their way to an evangelistic outreach event. Empart transforms communities by training local people to [...]
Colombian gang apologizes for robbing suburban church group
COLOMBIA— A group of west suburban students experienced an unlikely apology after they were robbed in Colombia. 16 high school students and chaperons from Glen Ellyn Bible Church traveled on a two-week long mission trip to Bogota. About half of the group was going to a children's center to deliver supplies when they were robbed [...]
Staring death in the face: Local pastor on a mission trip takes a terrifying turn
When E. Roger Ammons of Cleveland was thrown into a car at gunpoint by four large men and driven to parts unknown in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, his death was the only thing that appeared to be a certainty. But as suddenly as death pressed down on his life, his life [...]
Mission trips to Mexico suspended amid perceptions of violence
MEXICO CITY (CNS) — American Bob Decker leads mission groups through the ramshackle neighborhoods of Ciudad Acuna, where poorly paid factory workers drawn from impoverished pockets of Mexico originally built tiny cardboard dwellings. The groups deliver sacks of food and household basics to the residents and learn about the neighborhoods, but mostly they listen and [...]
Christians Stay on Mission in Mexico Despite Drug War
Despite a steady news media stream of stories on drug cartel violence and killings in Mexico over the last few years, hundreds of Christians living in Southern California have maintained their dedication to weekend mission trips south of the border. Their goal – to minister and provide basic necessities to the destitute in northern Baja. [...]
Area churches hoping to increase mission trips to Mexico
AMARILLO, TX – As mission trips to Mexico continue to decline, area churches are hoping to shatter any misconceptions on traveling across the border. For years Westminster Presbyterian and Pinnacle Community Church have traveled to Mexico to build homes for people living in poverty through an organization called Casas por Cristo. However, because of the [...]
Violence in Mexico Keeps Missionaries Close to Home
A Plano church that has spent years working in Mexico has refocused its missionaries because of drug wars there. Bruce Dicus, a youth pastor, did not miss a missionary trip to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, in 17 years until two years ago. "I miss going there," he said. "Serving God with your hands is one aspect." [...]
Missionary risks are rising, says security expert
With eyes wide open. That's how missionaries face lives where uncertainty and some risk may be unavoidable, said Ventura County mission leaders reacting to the four people killed Tuesday by Somali pirates off East Africa. Scott and Jean Adam of Marina del Rey, who used their yacht to distribute Bibles to remote places across the [...]
The dangers of mission work
Over the years, I have made a number of trips south of the U.S. border with short-term mission groups, both with my church and as a reporter for The Associated Press and The Christian Chronicle. Two years ago, while visiting San Diego, I spent an afternoon in Tijuana, Mexico, interviewing church leaders about drug-gang violence [...]
Texas missionary slain by gunmen in Mexico
DALLAS (AP) — A woman described by police as a U.S. missionary died at a South Texas hospital Wednesday after her husband brought her mortally wounded over a Rio Grande bridge from Mexico, where he said she had been shot in the head by gunmen in a pickup truck. The husband relayed to Texas authorities [...]
Allen church cancels mission trip to Mexico
Long after drug-related violence caused most U.S. churches and ministries to stop crossing the Mexican border for mission work, Suncreek United Methodist Church of Allen continued. But now even Suncreek has canceled a house-building trip to the Ciudad Juarez area. The five-member group was set to leave Thursday and return Jan. 31. “I’m heartbroken,” said [...]
