In the past, when Reaching Souls has looked to the horizon, we set our gaze beyond the seas to some distant shore. For most of the history of Reaching Souls, that gaze has landed on the shores of the African continent. However, these days we are gazing upon shores both further and closer. One such shore is very close. Our neighbors in Mexico, all 129.7 million of them, make up the 10th largest nation in the world. Mexico is also much more diverse than I ever knew, with almost 22 percent of its population (27.5 million) coming from indigenous groups who speak more than 300 different languages.

At first glance, it might be tempting to skip over Mexico, with some statistics declaring it to be over 95 percent Christian. However, upon closer view, we discover that 79 to 88 percent of those claiming to be Christian are Roman Catholic, but a very perverted and syncretistic version of Catholicism. In reality, less than 5 percent of the population is considered evangelical by most research and reporting organizations. That’s more than 123 million lost souls.

However, there appears to be a great awakening in Mexico, with the evangelical church growing by 7.5 percent between 2010 and 2020. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. We have made several exploration trips to different parts of this beautiful nation. We have identified central Mexico, which includes Mexico City, the 5th largest city in the world, as an area where we will concentrate our efforts in the coming months. This process will begin with interviews of potential National Missionaries. We have multiple interviews scheduled in Mexico City and the surrounding areas to select a pilot group of 8 to 10 National Missionaries who will quickly begin work.

God has also led us to an individual that will serve as our first team leader for Mexico and possibly become our National Leader for all of Mexico in the years ahead. These are exciting days, and our desire is to be positioned where God desires, when He wills, and for as long as He provides so that we can reach the maximum number of souls in the least amount of time in the most efficient way.

Some of the needs that we would invite you to pray with us about as we expand into Mexico:

Pray for resources to meet the needs of a new field and wisdom in how to distribute

Pray for a nation and the church that is depleted of male leadership as roughly 38 million Mexican immigrants live in the US, and the vast majority of these immigrants are men

Pray for opportunities to empower nationals to reach nationals through training

Pray that the Spirit of Christ will bring lost souls to Himself as the Gospel is proclaimed

Rejoicing,

Odus L. Compton, Chief Operating Officer