US Churches Divided On Sending Missionaries, Volunteers To Deadly Juarez

The deadly drug war in Ciudad Juarez and Mexico has some U.S. churches and ministries divided on whether or not to continue to send missionaries and volunteers across the border.

One group based out of El Paso, Casas por Cristo, told ABC-7 they’ve seen a drop in volunteers since the violence started escalating in Ciudad Juarez a couple of years ago.

“People are afraid to go over and serve and brave what’s going on over there,” said Jason Laffan, Director of Finance for Casas por Cristo. He said the group has been building houses for the “poorest of the poor” in Juarez since 1993. He said the group is aware of the violence gripping the city, but has not been directly affected.

“For our ministry we’ve had over 5 thousand volunteers in the last 3 years come work with us and we have not had or seen a single incident,” he said.

Laffan said staff and volunteers take special precautions when traveling across the border. Some of them, like avoiding driving at night and never traveling alone, are common sense. Other precauations involve more careful planning. “If something was to happen, like if the port of entries were to close– we have a facility that we use to make sure everybody’s safe.” Laffan added that they’ve never had to implement their emergency plan.

Casas por Cristo also has a close relationship with 100 pastors throughout Ciudad Juarez. Laffan said the pastors let the missionaries know what’s going on in each neighborhood so they know which areas to avoid.

“Most of the stuff is going on at times of the night when we’re not out working and it’s happening I places that we’re not going,” he said.

Staff at Casas por Cristo told ABC-7 they will continue to help people in need in Ciudad Juarez as long as there are volunteers to help carry out the missions. The waiting list for families seeking help is 3 years long, according to Laffin.

Visit Casas por Cristo’s website to find out how to donate or volunteer: here.

Long after drug-related violence caused most U.S. churches and ministries to stop crossing the Mexican border for mission work, Suncreek United Methodist Church of Allen, Texas, near Dallas, continued, according to The Dallas Morning News.

But now even Suncreek has canceled a house-building trip to the Ciudad Juarez area. The five-member group was set to leave Jan. 20 and return Jan. 31. Read the full Dallas Morning News article here.

?I?m heartbroken,? Janet Hunt, the church?s director of community ministries and trip leader, told the Dallas Morning News. Suncreek and a handful of other UMC churches in North Texas work with Proyecto Abrigo, a ministry in a suburb just outside Ciudad Juarez.

The ministry leader, the Rev. Jose Luis Portillo, called Hunt Saturday night and advised against coming, according to the report. Portillo told Hunt he heard gunfire the night of Jan. 14 near the dorms where mission volunteers stay. She said he learned Saturday that three bystanders had been killed at a store volunteers frequent.