Companeros

Compañeros en Misión

a program of Presbyterian Border Ministry

OVERVIEW

History

Compañeros en Misión is one of the seven programs of Presbyterian Border Ministry which is the result of a partnership between the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico and the Presbyterian Church (USA). Started in 1993 by Rev. William and Marj Buehler, PC(USA) missionaries, Compañeros began with two churches in Sonora, the second-largest state in Mexico:

- Nogales (border city about an hour's drive south of Tucson, AZ)

- Hermosillo (state capital, located 3-1/2 hours' drive south of the border)

The original name of the ministry - "Programa Nogalhillos" - was a combination of the names of the two cities. In 1999, after additional sites were added, the name was changed to Compañeros en Mision, which means "partners in mission" in English.

The church in Hermosillo was started by Rev. Dr. Jorge Pazos Aragón, a medical doctor and ordained minister of the National Presbyterian Church of México. Dr. Pazos began as the program's México Coordinator, with the Buehlers as the U.S. Coordinators.

Over the course of nearly 12 years, the program has expanded to other cities in Sonora. With a mission of helping Mexican Presbyterians to develop self-sustaining, self-governing and self-propagating churches, Compañeros en Misión now includes mission sites in five cities:

- Caborca (agriculture-based desert city located 3-1/2 hours southwest of Nogales)

- Guaymas (seaport city on the Sea of Cortés, 6 hours south of the border)

- Hermosillo (state capital, city of 800,000 residents)

- Navojoa (agricultural city located 9 hours south of the border)

-Nogales (city of 400,000 with approx. 80 foreign-owned assembly plants)

Ministry

Compañeros en Misión is managed by a volunteer Bi-National Committee, made up of members from both the US. and Mexico. Currently, there are seven members on the BNC:

- Rev. Robert Seel, Tucson (president)

- Rev. Jesús Gallegos, Agua Prieta, Sonora

- Betty Hillman, Tucson

- Rommel Valero, Hermosillo, Sonora

- Absalom Valenzuela, Tucson

- Rev. Rodolfo Navarette, Agua Prieta, Sonora

- Fernando Valera, Tucson

All five mission churches are relatively small, with fewer than 30 members each. There is a full-time pastor at each site:

Compañeros en Misión is involved in a variety of outreach programs in the communities where the churches are located, depending on available resources, community needs and the direction provided by the local congregations. These include:

Pastors within our area of ministry are involved in several training programs for evangelism. We are working to implement "Project Philip", which is a program of The Bible League, in an effort to give the pastors the training needed to use the materials. Working with Presbiterio de Chihuahua, we have been able to offer a workshop series called "The Toolbox," and another called "Explosive Evangelism." The National Presbyterian Church is working with pastors in our program to implement "Plan 20/20" which is designed to double the size of the Presbyterian denomination in México by year 2020.

With funding from the Presbyterian Women of Valley Presbyterian Church, Paradise Valley, AZ, and International Health Ministries of PC(USA), Compañeros en Misión initiated the "Fuente de Vida" community health program at all five sites in 2003. We began with extensive health surveys conducted in the neighborhoods around the five mission churches (Phase One). After determining the health concerns and needs of the community, we contracted for training services to provide comprehensive training of

"promotoras de salud" (health promoters), which is Phase Two. The training events started in Nogales and Hermosillo, and will soon be expanded to the other three cities. Already in Nogales, we have conducted three 5-week sessions on the subjects of cardiovascular disease, diabetes (22% of the population of Nogales has been diagnosed with diabetes) and osteoporosis. In Hermosillo, we completed our first 4-day series of training classes dealing with cardiovascular disease. One series was offered at Voz del Desierto church and another series was offered at La Lengüeta community center in Colonia Nuevo Progreso.

We are hoping to arrange specific mission trips built around community health education.

For further infomation on this ministry contact Walter Coe at cwcoe@earthlink.net or stop by the church office.