OUR VISION
The harvest in the Spanish-speaking world is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Our vision is to plant a thriving missional local church in the heart of southern Mexico in Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state. This local church will serve as the base for a Bible college providing theological education and a missions training center to send church plants and missionaries throughout Southern Mexico and Central and South America.
OUR VISION
We have a three-fold vision:
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Missions/Church Planting Training Center
Chiapas is the perfect location for a mission base for church planting in Southern Mexico and Central America! Spanish is spoken in over 20+ countries and is the second most spoken language in the world by native speakers. This makes it an incredible missional and evangelistic tool for church planting and missions. We want to train indigenous pastors and receive international students for missions and church planting!
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Bible College & Theological Education
Biblical illiteracy, a theological famine, and a lack of pastoral and leadership training are the realities in Southern Mexico and much of Central America. There is a desperate need for a Bible college to provide sound theology and doctrine to both laymen and women, as well as the next generation of pastors and leaders. We want to establish an international Bible college for Spanish speakers across the region!
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A Thriving Missional Local Church
Southern Mexico is one of the least-reached and least-evangelized areas in all of Mexico. Coupled with extreme poverty and the largest number of indigenous peoples, there is an urgent need for thriving, missional, Gospel-centered Evangelical churches to be planted in this region. This is our goal in the planting of Joy Church Chiapas!
THE AREA
We are planting in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas.
Tuxtla Gutierrez is the capital city of Chiapas, Mexico’s poorest and southernmost state. Chiapas borders Guatemala to the South and is the gateway between Mexico and Central America. This makes it a strategic location to plant churches and reach the southern region of Mexico.
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Tuxtla Gutierrez has a population of nearly 1 million people, making it the largest city in the state of Chiapas. As the capital of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutierrez is also an ideal location to serve as the base for an international Bible College targeting Spanish speakers from 20+ countries and a missions training and church planting center for Central and South America.
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It is situated in a central location, allowing access for outreach, evangelism, and church planting throughout the state of Chiapas, other states in Southern Mexico, and even into Central America.
In addition to extreme poverty, lack of Gospel access and Evangelical church presence, and the absence of theological education or pastoral training, Chiapas also has the largest number of indigenous peoples in all of Mexico. For these reasons, we believe Tuxtla Gutierrez is the ideal location for our church plant, Bible college, and missions and church planting training center.
Four reasons for planting a church in
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas
As the Capital city, Tuxtla is the ideal base for our church plant, Bible college, and missions and church planting training center.
The state of Chiapas has the highest poverty rates in the entire country of Mexico, both in multidimensional poverty and extreme poverty.
Southern Mexico lacks thriving evangelical churches, outreach, evangelism, and theological education and pastoral training.
Chiapas is the gateway to Central America, and Tuxtla Gutierrez is the perfect gateway city to the rest of Chiapas and Southern Mexico.
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The People
Here is a brief overview of Chiapas and some of the greatest needs within the State.
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66% Percent Poverty
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27% Extreme Poverty
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35% Indigenous Peoples
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66% Under 30 Years Old
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48% Basic Services Deficits
The Need
The desperate spiritual and physical needs in Chiapas and Southern Mexico are overwhelming. We believe that Christians are called by the Lord to care about all kinds of suffering, especially eternal suffering. Among the myriad of needs and potential missional and ministry opportunities in the region, there are three primary needs that we believe God has called us to address and has uniquely qualified and equipped us to do so.
Lack of Evangelical Churches
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Limited Theological Education
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Extreme Poverty & Indigenous Peoples