PREACHING THE WORD IN MEXICO—By Pedro R. Rivas

PREACHING THE WORD IN MEXICO---By Pedro R. Rivas PREACHING THE WORD IN MEXICO
Pedro R. Rivas THE EFFORT to spread the news of salvation m Mexico was begun in the summer of 1933 when this writer made some weak attempts to start the labors of the Gospel of Christ in Monterrey, N. L., and Nueva Rosita, Coah., on his own account. Those were days of trials and uncertainty, for there was no precedent to follow neither were we depending for our support on the fellowship and prayers of the Brotherhood north of the Rio Grande. However, in spite of all we did what we could under the circumstances to keep the faith and try our best to hold our position and win others for the Master’s kingdom, it was not until 1939 that the church in Mexico began to take its actual shape through the contribution and prayers of the saints who, knowing about the great opportunities to preach Christ to the people of the neighboring south-ern country decided to see this work established on firm basis.

We want to take advantage of this opportunity to express our cordial appreciation to each and every one of those who directly or indirectly have lent their support to the men working in the field and also to buy property and erect some buildings wherein we can worship God with freedom and great hopes. As the years go by we can see signs of progress at every place where the work is started, and we do believe that with a stronger faith and determination to stay and grow the church of Christ in Mexico will eventually reach the status of a self-supporting institution. This, of course, is our ideal and toward this goal we are working day and night trusting that with God’s blessings we may some day be in a position to take the Gospel to other peoples, depending on our own resources to support our workers as we ought. However, for the time being it is only a cherished dream, although dreams sometimes do come true.

Even though the brethren in Mexico have been ex-posed to the organized opposition, misrepresentation, and at times violent persecution from the Roman Catholic fanatics, the Lord has bepn merciful protecting them to go ahead with our plans of evangelization, and we hope to keep on regardless of the con- equences, for we know in whom we have placed our trust. Protestantism, in general, has suffered from persecution from those who in high places exercise a strong influence over the rulers of the land to such an extent that one often finds himself occupying a strange position as though he were a foreigner in his own country. Because of the lack of better information they take for granted that every one preaching there must be by necessity a protestant, and so they have mistreated everybody alike by throwing obstacles in his way either by false claims or direct persecution. But we are happy in doing our small part to assist in laying out the foundation for a strong church in Mexico in the years to come. May the Lord have the glory for all.

BEGINNING at the zero point in Torreon, Coa- huila, at the present time there is a fine group of small, struggling congregations, thirty-one in number, located in 8 states and Mexico City, with 26 preachers doing the work. The following is the list by states:

1. COAHUILA. El Cambio, Francisco I. Madero, Ignacio Allende, La Florida, Sabinas, San Pedro,
and Torreon. Preachers working here: Agustin Sanchez, Juan M. Alvarado, Lazaro Cisneros,
Josue Carrillo, and Pedro R. Rivas.
2. DURANGO. Bermejillo, Durango City, Gomez Palacio, Lerdo, and Vicente Guerrero. Francisco Avila,
Ernesto Reyes, Marcelino Ramirez, and Agustin Arroyo, are doing the work.
3. ZACATECAS. Fresnillo, Calera, Rio Grande, Las Esperanzas, and Ojocaliente. Jose Lopez, Epig-menio
Zuniga, Francisco Varela, and Pedro Davila are doing the work.
4. NUEVO LEON. Two congregations meet in Monterrey. Humberto Figueroa and Jose Ruiz Cruz do the preaching.
5. TAMAULIPAS. Matamoros, Ciudad Victoria, Santander Jimenez, and Valle Hermoso. Pablo Villa, Arturo
Rodriguez, Santiago Figueroa, and J. Elizalde, are preaching in this section.
6. CHIHUAHUA. Ciudad Juarez (two congregations), Chihuahua City, Delicias, and Nueva Casas Grandes.
Manuel P. Gutierrez, Ben Cano, Jose Espino, and Juan M. Garcia are doing the work.
7. SAN LUIS POTOSI. San Luis Potosi, the capital city. One preacher, Bro. Victorino Najera.
8. AGUASCALIENTES. Aguascalientes, the capital city. One preacher, Bro. J. C. Saucedo. 
9. MEXICO CITY. One preacher, Bro. Agustin G. Figueroa.

Now to the best of our ability to recall facts, the following congregations of the church in the United States are helping in the Mexico effort:

CENTRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, Houston, Texas, supporting three full time workers; WEST BERRY CHURCH OF CHRIST, Fort Worth, Texas, supporting four workers in Mexico; COLLEGE CHURCH OF CHRIST, Abilene, Texas, supporting Bro. Francisco Avila in his work in Durango and also as one of the teachers in Torreon; CENTRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, Nashville, Tenn., contributing toward our work in general and paying for our monthly paper La Via de Vida, wTiich to a greater extent is distributed free of charge; CENTRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, Cleburne, Texas, special contribution for— §185.00 earmarked to buy 12 armed chairs for one of our classrooms in Torreon; GEORGE WEST, Texas, contributing regularly for the work in Torreon and vicinity; Muleshoe, Texas, church, supporting Bro. Juan M. Alvarado in his work at Francisco I. Madero and LaFlorida; MORTON, Texas, church supporting Bro. Juan M. Garcia in his labors in Delicias; Artesia, N. M., supporting Bro. Marcelino Ramirez in Lerdo, Durango; FOURTEENTH AND VINE, Abilene, Texas, supporting Bro. Ernesio Reyes in Gomez Palacio, Durango; Russel Avenue, Abilene, Texas, helping toward the support of Bro. J. Carrillo in San Pedro; Hamlin, Texas, supporting Bro. Santiago Figueroa in his labors at Cmdad Victoria, Tamaulipas;. Hope, supporting Bro. Josue Carrillo in San Pedro, Coahuila; JEFFERSON CHURCH OF CHRIST, San Antonio, Texas, supporting Bro. Agustin Arroyo in Vicente Guerrero, Durango; Otter Creek, Brentwood, Tenn., contributing regularly for the Torreon work, and VENICE CHURCH OF CHRIST, Venice, Calif., contributing also for the Torreon work and its vicinity. For the lack of information we have omitted the names of those congregations supporting the workers at Fresnillo, Zac., Ojocaliente, Zac., San Luis Potosi, Nueva Casas Grandes, Chih., and Sabinas, Coahuila, but our heart-felt appreciation is hereby acknowledged.

Local Church in Torreon
Now as a consequence of the work that is being ;done in Mexico we realize the urgent need of a place to train the workers for this field. For a long time we thought on the possibility of founding a school after the pattern of those already operated by members of the church in the United States, and actually took the initial steps to raise the funds for this project. Some negative factors, however, were responsible for the failure of this attempt although some brethren worked hard and raised about six thousand dollars, in round numbers. But no decision was taken until the summer of 1950 when some of the members of the Board of Trustees of the Mexico School Project at the request of some brethren decided to invest this money to increase the facilities of the local church in Torreon that it might do a better work. The funds were used to build an upper plant atop the preacher’s home in Torreon. Up to the present time it is being used by the local church for its teaching programs. We started the special classes for preachers on January 21, 1952, although to a lesser extent the church in Torreon had done it almost from its beginning. This work is not a private institution, but rather a part of the local church work as the other phases of this work. Nevertheless, the opportunities to do good are great and every church should be doing more and more in training workers. When we first began to preach in Mexico we felt the need for adequate leadership, and at present we believe this leadership is a must if we should ever attain the strength and efficiency that circumstances demand. As the work is expanding the need for preachers, elders, and other qualified Christians who may be able to teach, is strongly felt and we do sincerely hope that this work if properly carried on, will do something toward the preparation of the workers not only for Mexico, but for other Latin American countries as well. Language is not an obstacle for us, for most of the countries to the south speak Spanish and, therefore, it is obvious that we could, with God’s blessings, render a better assistance to the church program of world evangelization.

Once again because of the lack of actual experience we miscalculated the expenses—thinking $35.00 a month was enough for a brother to pay for his board and incidentals, but in practice it didn’t work. However, we have tried to save as much as possible in order to make ends meet, although we know now that the minimum expense per one man is at least—$50.00 a month. We offer this as a suggestion to those who might be interested in supporting a man for the Spanish-speaking field. The work the Torreon church is doing, as you may readily suppose, lacks some of the essential materials to offer a better training. First the teaching personnel. During the first year of labors this writer worked alone with the full responsibility of teaching, preparing teaching materials, etc., besides his other duties as minister for the Torreon church and editor of our Spanish paper La Via de Vida. To relieve us of this pressure Bro. Francisco Avila, minister in Durango, with the approval of the elders of College Church of Christ, Abilene, Texas, has been with us since Jan. 26, 1953 working from Monday to Friday and going back home on the week-ends. At present he is teaching four subjects daily and helping also in other church activities. We are sincerely thankful for this help and certainly appreciate the decision of the brethren to let him come and take such a splendid part in the preparation of the future leaders for the Spanish-speaking field. Now in order for us to do a better job we need additional facilities at the local congregation in Torreon. Torreon is a city of 160,000 where not only one or two, but many con-gregations could and should be established. The city limit spreads over 5 miles across. The local congregation has purchased four small lots with a surface of 5,428.0 sq. ft. in one of the most desirable additions to the city about two' miles away from the church building where we could build another building and start another congregation. Thus we are in need of another man who would assist in this work and at the same time assist in our program of teaching for the preachers’ class. Also at the present time we are missing better teaching materials even good maps and blackboards, which are essential in every standard classroom. We have a blackboard and some old maps which we are using with appreciation and gratitude, but we hope that as the years go by we might be able to see things improving.

Central Church in Houston is carrying a heavy load in this work in Torreon, for besides its local work it is paying the salaries of Agustin Figueroa in Mexico City, Humberto Figueroa in Monterrey, and myself in Torreon. This suggests that notwithstanding their great love and interest to expand the frontiers of God’s kingdom farther still the fellowship and prayers of others will be much appreciated. The following, besides Central Church in Houston, are contributing regularly toward the support of those men who are studying in Torreon and laboring 'in . that area. We love to acknowledge their contribution with sincere appreciation:

Central Church, Nashville, Tenn. 35.00 a month
College Avenue, Roswell, N. M. — 100.00 Jackson Park, Nashville, Tenn. (until Dec. ’53) 35.00
West End, Nashville, Tenn. 35.00
Shady Vale, Dallas, Texas 50.00
UNA, Church, Nashville, Tenn. — 55.00
Los Fresnos, Texas 35.00
Weslaco, Texas, (Amer. and Mex.congregations) each 45.00

Sometimes some of these brethren have failed in sending in their contributions and this has caused some problems, for our brethren under training need their support to buy food. Even now there are several young men anxious to study and preach if congregations could be found to support them for this work. This coming spring three young men will complete their training with us—Moises Perez Flores, Zenaido Sanchez, and Ernesto Reyes. Bro. Perez is contemplating to start the work under the supervision of the church in Dalhart, Texas. Bro. Reyes is already in charge of the work in Gomez Palacio, Durango, under the sponsorship of Fourteenth and Vine, Abilene, Texas, and we would like to keep Bro. Sanchez in Torreon as a fellow worker. In conclusion, the Mexico field offers great opportunities and this is a challenge to us and the fine Christian men and women who with a great love and vision for the future have done their best to back up our efforts, trusting that the souls we may convert for the glory of God are worthy of the money and prayers they are. so freely giving in their behalf.

We want also to express our appreciation to “our papers” that in a most unselfish way have carried the news of the Mexico field and encouraged us to keep on. May the Lord bless the combined efforts of his children the world over and may the reign of peace, justice, and universal brotherhood be a reality upon this earth!