Mexico City church plants daughter congregation

Five years old and already birthing a new church – the La Paz (Peace) Christian Church in Mexico City is branching out and spreading the gospel to a nearby city.

Jon and Juana Pritchard worked with two other couples to plant the La Paz church in 1997. They now feel called to plant a daughter church in the nearby city of Pachuca. The Pritchards are missionaries with MBMS International, the global mission agency of Mennonite Brethren churches in Canada and the United States.

Two families from La Paz have committed to ministry in the new church plant. One will focus on counselling and nurture, while another will use musical gifts. One family has decided to move to Pachuca and another already lives there.

The Pritchards plan to form and disciple a core team of ministers within the first year. “Though Juana and I see ourselves as team leaders and mentors, we want to be very intentional about carrying out the role of being ‘church planter trainers,’ ” Pritchard explained. “We want to equip and train our team to plant this daughter church and work with other gifted people from La Paz to bring depth to the work.”

“Pachuca is currently Mexico’s fastest growing city and is a wonderful site for a church plant,” said Jon Pritchard. “The socio-economic area we are targeting is very similar to La Paz, so we believe that our people will feel very comfortable working in this new area.”

Pritchard sees a benefit in planting a daughter church in a different city. “Being a separate city from La Paz gives the mother church a feeling that they are involved in multiplication and mission outside of their own context. At the same time, the location is just an hour and a half away by car and we foresee much opportunity for La Paz’s members to be involved in the church plant,” he said.

The new plant is supported though MBMS International, but La Paz is working on creative ways of financially supporting the new church themselves.

“We want to continue to foster a recognition that completing the Great Commission is a cooperative effort, but also maintain a sense that we as churches in Mexico are responsible to do our part, both locally and globally,” Pritchard continued.

Nine La Paz members are being mentored by the La Paz pastoral team, along with a Bolivian evangelist/church planter who lives in Mexico City, to take over leadership of the La Paz congregation once the last missionary couple leaves next summer. Each of these local leaders has developed a team of people to work with them in a specific area of ministry in Mexico City.

The Pritchards are excited about their next phase in ministry. “This is a very important step in reaching what is perhaps our biggest goal – the development of a self-sustaining, reproducing, Anabaptist church planting movement,” said Pritchard.

As the pastoral team of La Paz looked back at key factors in the growth of the church, they noted that the number one factor has always been prayer. “We attribute [the church’s] growth to the developing prayer ministry of our congregation and to the tremendous prayer base that we, as well as our co-workers, have in our supporting churches, conferences and families,” concluded Pritchard.

The Pritchards have spent the fall in North America touring churches and gaining support for their ministry in Mexico. They will move to Pachuca at the end of December to begin their new ministry.

—Lisa Alvey, MBMS International