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Missionaries Profile

Mexico

Mission challenges: persecution of Evangelicals, growth and maturity in the church, leadership development, unequal distribution of wealth and power, urban ministry

Religions: Roman Catholic (89%), Protestant (6%), Non-religious (4%), Traditional (1%)

Ethnic groups: Mestizo (60%), Amerindian (30%), Euro-American (9%), other

Languages: Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages

Name of nationality: Mexican

Land area: 742,489 sq. mi. (1,923,040 sq. km.), about 1.25 times as large as Alaska

Population: 108,700,891 (July 2007 est.)

Capital: Mexico City

Barnes, Richard and Mercedes Barnes Richard and Mercedes

With their work located in Baja California, Mexico, Mercy and Rick work with the Dios con Nosotros (God with Us) Baptist Convention of Baja California and with American Baptist missionaries Tim and Patti Long. Their ministry in Baja includes leadership development for new church planting, focusing on the Mexicali area and also including Ensenada, Tijuana and Tecate.

New church planting can mean many things, for us it has meant breaking down the old wineskins and discovering new ones. It has taken us down the road of dialogue about women in ministry and into innovative ways of doing outreach with young girls lost in prostitution. It has meant partnering with sister churches in the U.S. and looking for many innovative ways of financing what it means to do mission for the whole person.

Rick and Mercy are part of the faculty of the Mexicali (Dios con Nostros) Seminary, associated with the Dios con Nosotros Convention, teaching courses on church planting, mission, pastoral care and self-care. As intentional bridges between American Baptist churches in the U.S. and the Baptists of Baja California, they also help shepherd work groups and facilitate continuing education for church leaders adapting materials where appropriate.

During 2004-2005, Mercy and Rick will be on U.S./Puerto Rico home assignment, where they look forward to sharing with American Baptists their ministry and their passion for the people of Baja California, Mexico. They will be living in California together with their children, Aida, age13, Richie, age 11, and Joshua, age 5.

Languages used in ministry: Spanish (primarily) and English