Pastors: Denied Visa Part of God's Plan in Mexico City
11/01/2011
Sharaf Gamiochipi (third from left) once served the Hispanic community in Kentucky but returned to Mexico when his travel visa was not renewed. The relationships Gamiochipi developed with Kentucky Baptists made possible a church plant he now pastors in the city’s Azcaptozalco Borough. Pictured with Gamiochipi are (from left) Job Juarez, regional Hispanic strategist with the Kentucky Baptist Convention; Brother Job, a deacon in the Mexico City church plant; and Dylan Mays, pastor of the sponsoring congregation, Bardstown Baptist Church. Click here to download this photo.
BARDSTOWN–While Bardstown Baptist Church has long been involved in Hispanic ministry, the KBC’s More for Christ emphasis helped expand its vision to reach the ambitious goal of starting more than 1,000 preaching points in Mexico.
Over the next decade, the Kentucky Baptist congregation hopes to see that many new groups of believers meeting throughout the 16 boroughs of Mexico City.
“When we drove through the city I said, ‘If we could start 1,000 churches it may not be enough,’” said Pastor Dylan Mays, who first visited Mexico in 2009 with Job Juarez, regional Hispanic strategist for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and part of the Bluegrass Baptist Hispanic Ministry Corporation.
The first two groups have already formed. One meets in the courtyard of a home on Friday evenings. The other is aimed at reaching current and former homosexuals and meets in a beauty salon on Monday nights.
Bardstown Baptist played a role forming those groups through its partnership with Pastor Sharaf Gamiochipi, who had to return to Mexico from Kentucky last year when his religious visa expired.
Meanwhile, the Bardstown congregation’s efforts to develop a partnership with a church in Mexico City had never come to fruition.
“We still had a heart to do something in Mexico City,” Mays said. “Sharaf and his family began meeting in a house-church setting, and we said, ‘We need to support this work.’”
In addition to investing several thousand dollars a year in Mexican ministries, the church investigated other ways of helping plant churches.
In September, Juarez (certified by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board) returned to teach a church planting class at the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary.
Seventy people attended the training, and the seminary has asked Juarez to return to teach more about techniques, including the use of planting teams.
Bardstown Baptist is planning a mission trip next March to do repair and construction work at the seminary. It also hopes to teach church planters how to organize an Upward Sports flag football league to enable them to reach more people with the gospel.
The church has named its effort Daniel Ministry Communities, after the Old Testament prophet who served God despite being held captive in Babylon.
Mays described the initiative as an “Experiencing God” moment. The Kentuckians recognized—as Henry Blackaby describes in his best-selling study—that God was at work through Gamiochipi’s house church, so that Bardstown Baptist should join Him there.
Its long-term goal is doubling the number of new groups started each year, which over 10 years would mean 1,024 plants. Mays said they avoid using the word “church” because too many people think that means having a building. The expenses involved can inhibit groups from becoming a congregation, he explained.
“It’s a big step for us,” the pastor said of 196-year-old Bardstown Baptist. “We’ve never done this before. When you look at an area of 32 million (people) and so many being lost, the enormity of (the task) put a burden on my heart.”
At present, 40 to 45 adults and children are gathering weekly at Gamiochipi’s grandmother’s house in Azcapotzalco, located in the northwestern part of Mexico City.
While many in this core group are extended family members, the pastor said most of them have been lukewarm about their relationship with Christ and need restoration of other relationships.
“At least 14 adults and five children never attended a Christian church and had much less interest in knowing more about God through Bible study,” Gamiochipi said.
“God has been good and allowed us to reach several neighbors. I am convinced that many more will soon have a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
In addition to starting the home group, Gamiochipi has taken two mission trips to other states in Mexico, while his wife has helped organize some worship ministries.
After spending two years in Kentucky, the Mexican pastor said he initially struggled to understand the problem in getting his visa renewed. However, what has happened since then has shown him that God is faithful and in control.
“We have begun a new work in Mexico City,” Gamiochipi said. “We can see the hand of God providing and guiding. We trust that this experience, even though it was difficult, has made us grow and learn to trust and rely more on Christ.”
This whole experience has shown Mays that More For Christ can mean far more than what is humanly possible.
“For a small Anglo-speaking congregation to go to the largest city in the world and start 1,000 preaching points in 10 years? There’s no way we can do it without God,” Mays said.
“God plants big visions and gives us big tasks, but He also makes it possible to complete those tasks if we depend on Him.”
Launched this year, More for Christ,www.moreforchrist.com. is a three-year emphasis of Kentucky Baptists to challenge themselves as individuals and congregations to an increased commitment to Christ and the Great Commission.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Ken Walker, KBC Communications
