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Ministry Start Date: Aug 1, 1975
Tribes NTM is Working in: 8
Churches Planted: 4
Tribal Believers: 100
Translations Completed: 0
Translations In Progress: 4
Unreached Tribes: 40
Assigned Missionaries: 122
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There are a number of tribal church-planting works in progress, but many tribes remain without the Truth.
The national missionary training program is expanding its facilities as missionaries encourage the Mexican church to take part in tribal ministry.
At the present we are working in the following tribes:
- Western Tarahumara with a population of 9,000. The missionaries are the Tim Roberts and Ted Wingo families.
- Central Tarahumara, population 40,000. There are no missionaries living in Tarahumara villages at present, but they make itinerant visits to disciple the leadership of the small congregation of believers and work on translation.
- Tepehuan, population 8,000. Matt Arnold, Irvin Bauman, Ben McLellan and Kevin Case families work with this tribe. Ruben and Lucy Carrillo live in the same area and work with the Spanish speakers. There is also a small congregation of believers meeting regularly in this area.
- Pima, population 1,200. At present no missionaries are working with the Pima, but the Dorr Granger family minister to the Spanish speakers of the area. There have been a number of professions of faith among the Pima, but a church has not be established.
- Guarijio, population 750. Tom Ragan, Dennis Bender and Terry Reed families minister to this tribe. There is a handful of believers in this area, and more are joining the ranks regularly.
- Triqui, population 15,000. The missionaries are Eduardo and Veronica Melendez, Miguel Angel Peņa, Amelia Orrostietta, and Gricelda Villalba.
We are looking to the Lord for works to open soon among the following tribes:
- Southwestern Tepehuan
- Southeastern Tepehuan
- Cora
Our facilities in Chihuahua consists of our Headquarters, 1 dorm, a guest house, an MK School K-12, a Spanish language Department for new missionaries, a National Training Program, including a Bible school, missions course and language institute. We are not all in one location, but are scattered around the city of Chihuahua in homes we have rented and made into offices, etc. We also have Guest house facilities in El Paso, TX.
HISTORY of NTM MEXICO
In the mid-seventies families of the Mexico field lived scattered all over Mexico to learn Spanish and do survey work. Puebla, Puebla was the first station established in August, 1975. At that time the Smoky Kellner family was running a guest home for the field from Brownsville, TX.
In 1973, Javier Ibarra, a Mexican who trained with NTM in the States and became a US citizen, began surveying in southern Mexico. In 1975 the Ken Gutwein family joined Javier to provide leadership and direction. Survey revealed that many mission organizations and groups were already working with the tribal groups in the southern regions of Mexico. Paul Wyma and his family joined the leadership team in 1979. In the spring of 1979 the decision was made to move the entire operations to Northern Mexico where there was little or no missionary activity. Javier Ibarra had discovered at least four tribal groups in northern Mexico that were unreached and "unclaimed" by other missions. The city chosen was Chihuahua. This move would give the mission easier access to the border for the necessary six month visa renewals and establish a location from which to work for the tribes in the northern areas of Mexico. The Kellners moved the guest house from Brownsville, TX, to El Paso, TX, putting them in close proximity to the new location.
During the summer of 1979 more families arrived on the field. A language program was started. As families were ready they began to move into the tribes beginning with the Central Tarahumara and Tepehuan. In the early 80's missionaries also moved into the Guarijio, Pima, and Western Tarahumara tribes.
In the mid 90's the area of Durango was opened with several families moving to Durango. From there survey work is being done into the Eastern Huichol, Western Huichol, Cora, and the Southwestern Tepehuan.
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