What happened in Guatemala?

A key principle that we operate from as a ministry, and among our team here in our ministry is to: 1) only go to places where no other ministry is operating, and 2) where the pastors are in clear agreement to continued training and ministry together.  Thus, we were rather confused to receive 3 urgent emails from Guatemala over the winter inquiring . . .

"When are you coming back?"

"We have more pastors who want to come this time, how many more can come?"

"Can we do the conference next week?"

When we responded "How about the first week of March?"

They responded "We can't do the conferences right now."

(Something must be going on).

Now, let me first say that the church ("church" meaning all Christian believers, not just the "church" as in my church or your church) in Latin America is much more entrenched in divisions, jealousy and petty issues. To the same degree that the North American church is overwhelmed by consumerism (i.e.: select your favorite church, music, youth group . . .  you choose = consumerism vs. accepting (dare I say submitting) by faith to what God wants you to do). Pastors in Guatemala are distracted by similar issues that our Mexican brothers and sisters struggle with here in Mexico. The struggle is authoritarian denominations controlling church property and pastor assignments based on favoritism, sheep-steeling and almost every other conflict is then exacerbated by poverty. It's no surprise that the Gospel doesn't flourish in an area when so many pastors are distracted by issues of jealousy and division. In societies where corruption is expected in the public arena, the same corruption of the Gospel is being committed by its leaders! That's not good news.

Therefore, instead of conceding to the news of a closed door, we were genuinely interested in understanding what had caused such an abrupt change of heart within a group of pastors we had previously worked with. We cancelled the upcoming conference and quickly sent Pastor Marco and myself to Guatemala and Chiapas for a 5 day follow-up. First, to investigate the problems with the one group of Guatemalan pastors, and second, to help the pastors in Chiapas set up the next conference that we have been planning for this August. Many potentially fruitful connections resulted from our visit.

Since flying to Guatemala is actually cheaper than flying to Chiapas, we started in Guatemala City to visit 2 pastors we know in the capital, as well as, meet with the Guatemalan Bible Society. The GBS is starting a new ministry to offer training to pastors in the capital, and so we met with the director with the hope of establishing a partnership which would enable them to reach more rural pastors and for us to be able to establish experienced teachers within an existing structure (GBS) that could continue training pastors once we train the pastors to present the material. We're very hopeful that this connection will greatly magnify our opportunities to serve Guatemalan pastors.

Guatemalan Pastor Carmelino and his family

The following day we drove north from the capital to visit with the group of pastors who had suddenly changed their plans for the upcoming conference. Our meeting with them was brief, but we quickly discovered that a small group of pastors was responsible for raising funds for a multipurpose building, and that they didn't want anything to interrupt the completion of this building. While there is a group of pastors within their group that want to continue the teaching, we thought it would be better to remove ourselves from their conflict, and to leave another pastor outside of this group in charge of coordinating future conferences in northern Guatemala. Thus, we continued to visit additional towns close to the Mexican border over the next 2 days.

Pastor Marco buying a snack as we walk the streets in Tecun Uman, Guatemala

In the last town, we walked around asking people on the street, "Where's a good church around here?" or "Do you know a good pastor around here?" This is one of my favorite survey methods in new areas as it gives us a really good idea of how Christianity is operating (or not) in an unknown area. We met 5 pastors in 3 hours of walking through the town of Tecun Uman, some with tragic stories, some with business as usual stories. Few seemed interested in learning more, or would be able to. Resigned that maybe this was not the place of opportunity that we had felt when we passed through yesterday, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat in the plaza before crossing into Mexico for our meetings with pastors in Tapachula.

The Baptist church complete with extraordinary book store across the plaza in Tecun Uman.

As we were sitting eating fried chicken (fried food is sterile), I turned around and saw a cross on a green building across the plaza. As we only had minutes before we needed to head north, I ran across the plaza to find a small church and a Christian book store of the size and completeness that I've never seen anywhere in Mexico or Guatemala. We quickly located the pastor and explained why we were visiting his town. He told us that he would be interested in working together to start a training center in northern Guatemala because while there is training available in the capital, pastors from the north cannot afford to travel to the capital, and traveling north into Mexico is also dangerous for them (see below). Thus, after a brief introduction we left with the agreement to continue communicating with this great pastor. When we are feeling called to new areas, most of the time just showing up is all that is needed to open the door.

Google's satellite version of rafts crossing the same area in the picture below.

The Suchiate River which separates Guatemala (right) from Mexico (left).

Some of you might be thinking "Is it safe to walk around border towns?" Probably not. As a team we plan ahead, keep moving, and pray all of the time. Of all the risks we could encounter, it's seems like thus far, the driving is the most hazardous part of our ministry here. In Guatemala in particular, the highways are treacherous with huge unexpected potholes and very fast drivers. For Guatemalan pastors wanting to attend our conferences in Mexico, since most of them don't have visas to allow them entry into Mexico, they have to pass by raft over the river that runs between Guatemala and Mexico. Many other things come back and forth on these rafts all day and night into Mexico and Guatemala also, so this route is not safe for anyone.

Very public transportation in Guatemala.

Another paradox in Guatemala is that evangelical churches are about as common as Starbucks or McDonald's in the US. You would think that with that many churches, a country would generally be safer. Sadly this is not true. Even in the smallest town, every pharmacy, fast food restaurant and even cell phone stores employ security guards carrying shotguns. Think of it as small scale mutual deterrence.

Dunkin Donuts in Guatemala: Those are some very valuable donuts!

As we passed into Mexico at dusk after walking through Tucun Uman, I was suddenly surprised to feel a sense of relief as we came to the "Welcome to Mexico" sign. Funny that Mexico suddenly felt "safer," like we were home now.

Crossing north into Mexico from Guatemala.

Our meetings with the pastors in Chiapas were even more fruitful than we expected. They have formed a committee to coordinate the next conference there this August, and they are well organized.  There are so many more things to say about the progress we are seeing in Chiapas with the pastors, but if you've hung in there to read this much, thank you. We're thankful to be serving the pastors in this way, and thankful for YOU who read, pray, encourage us, and support us.

Coming home is always better!

Pastor Marco with some of his family.