Mission groups consider new locations away from Mexico

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention encourages churches and mission groups to exercise discernment when traveling to Mexico. According to the travel alert from the United States State Department, people traveling to Mexico, especially communities along the U.S. border, need to be aware of certain dangers. These State Department updates are accessible at the following website:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_3028.html

This year, the outbreak of kidnappings for ransom, increased homicides, thefts, rapes and street crime related to the Mexican government’s war against the drug cartels has created in many locations in Mexico a significantly unsafe location for mission projects. The outbreak of violent activity has precipitated unprecedented re-routing of mission projects from Mexico to domestic locations. It is difficult for the SBTC to know which areas may be safe and which areas give significant exposure to potential violence.

The SBTC urges you, as an autonomous church, to carefully evaluate any trips to Mexico. Because of the potential for extreme violence, the SBTC recommends that you consider re-routing any Mexico mission projects to another location.

For information about other options for re-routing mission projects, please contact Tiffany Smith: Phone: 877-953-7282 (SBTC); E-mail: tsmith@sbtexas.com.