Serving children at the U.S./Mexico border
Presbyterian mission worker Chris McReynolds is committed to meeting today’s needs at the United States/ Mexico border, but he’s keeping his eyes focused on the future.
Chris serves in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, which is across the Rio Grande River from Laredo, Texas. It’s a community where poverty and drug-related violence are pervasive. Gun battles, roadblocks and abductions are commonplace.
Yet Chris insists that the present circumstances need not dictate the future of Nuevo Laredo. He says that today’s children could one day guide the city into a brighter tomorrow. That’s why he and his Mexican colleagues have started weekend children’s clubs in Nuevo Laredo. About 120 children gather at churches to participate in music, art, games and Christian education programs.
Chris is seeing the clubs positively impact children and their families now, but he says their greatest contribution will be in the future. Children are learning to make positive moral choices that will help them resist involvement in the drug trade. They are being taught that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a powerful force for peace.
The clubs seek to develop leadership skills and cultivate creative thinking, a gift that Chris says will help the children meet the social and economic challenges facing their community.
Chris is U.S. coordinator for Proyecto Amistad, one of six ministry sites of the Presbyterian Border Ministry (PBM). PBM is a joint effort of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico.
“I think there are Presbyterians on both sides of the border who realize there is a great need for our churches to work together and to be the light and truth that God is calling us to be,” Chris says. “It’s no time to back away. It is difficult, but we have a calling to be here.”
Watch Chris tell the story of one family that has been transformed by this ministry →
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