Mission Trip/Missionary Security
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 […]
Missionary and son safe after kidnapping
Jim Scudder, a missionary in Kenya supported by the Pleasant Valley Church of Christ in Little Rock, Ark., and his son, John, are safe after a kidnapping ordeal in the East African nation’s capital, Nairobi. “Details are very sketchy at present,” said Roger Pritchett, missions minister for the Pleasant Valley church. Scudder and his son […]
BAHAMAS BURGLARY — Over $7,000 stolen from Md. church group on mission
A group of young people from a Maryland church who traveled to an island in the Bahamas this month to run a summer camp for impoverished children was robbed last week of more than $7,000 in church funds as well as personal monies and belongings. "People are shocked and angry and frustrated," said Pastor Kevin […]
Birmingham area missionaries survive Uganda bombing by al Shabaab rebels
A group of missionaries from Asbury United Methodist Church in north Shelby County were at a Ugandan restaurant Sunday night watching the soccer World Cup when a bomb ripped through the building, killing 13 people. A second bomb 50 minutes later at Kyadondo Rugby Club claimed more lives. The toll this morning for both bombings […]
Pa. Church Prays For Members Hurt By Uganda Blast
SELINSGROVE, Pa. (AP) ― The gathering of Christian missionaries from Pennsylvania to watch the World Cup final at an outdoor restaurant in Uganda was to have been a highlight of a month of evangelizing and sightseeing in one of Africa's more Christian countries. In a flash of fire and shrapnel, it turned instead into one […]
Pennsylvania church group members among those wounded in terror attack
(CNN) — The death toll from a pair of bombings that struck a restaurant and a rugby ground in Uganda's capital is around 60, a police spokeswoman told CNN on Monday. Seventy-one more people were injured, said police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba. The blasts occurred Sunday night as patrons gathered to watch the World Cup final […]
Border violence cancels more Mexico missions
For 22 years, Rick and Sherry Owens have led American mission teams all over Mexico — with nobody hurt or killed. And “that is how it is going to end,” Rick Owens said in a recent e-mail to supporters. The former Alaska oilfield worker has helped build more than 150 church buildings in Mexico. He […]
Violence keeps mission team from Mexico
For the past 20 years, youth and adults from First Presbyterian Church have traveled annually to Mexico for mission work, but for the second year in a row, Mexico will not be their destination this summer. Instead, they're going to work on a school for the deaf in Jamaica. "We are unable to go (to […]
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