Montgomery’s Eastern Hills Baptist Church, Ridgecrest Baptist Church and Yarborough Street Baptist Church all have a story about how they first discovered Mixtec children and how they are better because of them.
But it wasn’t until December 2009 that the Montgomery Baptist Association churches realized they weren’t alone in reaching Mixtecs (also called Mixteca or Mixteco), a non-Spanish-speaking people group from southern Mexico living in Montgomery.
Community of Hope, which plants churches in multihousing communities; Forest Park Ministry Center, which provides assistance with food, clothing and utilities; and a few individuals were also ministering to this people group.
Because Mixtecs speak a completely oral American Indian language that has at least 50 dialects, reaching them would take all of these groups and individuals working together, so Lisa Rose, director of church and community ministries for Montgomery Association, began identifying those with an interest in these people and brought them together to form the Mixteco Task Force.
“The task force basically serves two purposes: [education] — how to communicate with [Mixtecs] and how to do cross-cultural ministries — and coordination — it gives us the opportunity to touch base,” said Michael Cassity, pastor of Ridgecrest Baptist. “It really is a united effort.”
Cliff Stever, pastor of Yarborough Street Baptist, agreed.
“It’s not just about Yarborough Street Baptist Church; it’s about a group of us that is reaching out,” he said.
This summer, the task force received help in reaching Mixtec parents from Oscar Gonzales, a Campus Crusade for Christ missionary who has worked with Mixtecs in Mexico.
Gonzales and a team from Rey de Reyes Iglesia Bautista (King of Kings Baptist Church) in Cuernava, Mexico, spent two weeks working with the churches and community centers, helping them build trust with Mixtec families through home visits, backyard Bible clubs and school supply giveaways.
“It’s a long road of building relationships and of building trust,” Rose said. “This people group is very poor and looked down upon in Mexico. I’m sure from their perspective … it can be kind of scary to open up to complete strangers.”
One of the most encouraging moments for the task force was the night it showed the “JESUS” film in a Mixtec dialect.
“One of the greatest joys was that we had over 50 people attend the ‘JESUS’ film,” Rose said. “People were enamored to hear something in their own language.”
And several Mixtec men accepted Christ. The men in these families are THE influence and it is anticipated that their family members will follow suit, Rose noted.
Greg Gosselin, minister to children at Eastern Hills Baptist, hopes that what happened this summer, along with the ongoing ministry to Mixtec children, will lead to a way to better reach entire Mixtec families.
“I’d love to have a church for Mixteco people with a good pastor, good Sunday School material and all in a language they can understand,” he said.
But until that happens, Eastern Hills, which picks up Mixtec children every Sunday morning, feeds them breakfast and brings them to Sunday School, will continue to find ways to intentionally involve Mixtecs in the life of its congregation.
“They are the sweetest and most wonderful kids you’ll ever meet,” Gosselin said. “Everything we do with them is intentional.”
At Yarborough Street, Mixtec children are a “vital part of the church membership,” Stever said.
Members of Yarborough Street pick them up for church activities on Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday night, and several adults have “adopted” the children while they are in church.
As for Ridgecrest, it is OK with being called the “Awana church” by its Mixtec children. The church first started bringing the children to Awana, and it quickly became identified with that program. Ridgecrest also now picks up the children for Sunday School.
“Jesus said to go into all the world and we do but the world is (also) right around us,” Cassity said. “God has brought the world right next to the doorsteps of our church.”
Rose said it will take time and patience for everyone involved to learn the Mixtec culture and build relationships with Mixtec families, but in the end, it is all about sharing God’s love with all people.
“These churches went out of their comfort zones to reach a people very different from their own folks,” she said. “I think it’s been a stretch for the Mixtecs and our churches but God’s love conquers all. We see that God has provided an opportunity and a door to reach a people group we never expected would be living in Montgomery, and our people have stepped out in faith.”
For more information about the task force or ministry opportunities with Mixtecs, contact Rose at lrose@mgmbaptist.org or 334-271-6227.
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