Nayarit mission reflections:
The recent mission outreach to the Cora people in Cangrejo
with Jay Tenbrink, Pastor Hector, Mark Hoffschnieder, and group of faithful men
was spiritually awakening. The following
thoughts are reflections on the opportunity to continue to prayerfully grow the
ministry to the Cora. Although not much
went as planned on the trip, it did provide a revealing contrast of both the
opportunities and obstacles facing the Cora in these times. Although there appear to be gains in
infrastructure such as the access road to the village, the new irrigation dam,
advances in public education; they are more than offset by marginal employment,
low income, out migration of educated youth, seasonal worker out migration,
alcohol abuse, violence, and family disintegration.
Need - The Cora Indigenous People are numbered approximately
25,000 in the mountain areas of Nayarit Mexico.
They are an unreached people, although well exposed to the presence of
Catholic tradition. The Cora are a proud
independent people living in tribal settings as survival agriculturists without
an advanced economy. Their faith is
animistic with Catholic influence. The
Cora traditions and culture are experiencing a great deal of pressure from the
outside world creating alcoholism, family strife, exiting youth, and a powerful
drug counter culture among many other cultural stresses.
Short term goal - to share the love of Christ in word and
action leading to personal relationships in Jesus Christ on the part of Cora
individuals and families.
Long term goal - to build self sustaining communities of
Christian believers living in the Cora Culture, to protect and preserve their
culture, and enhance their economic well being as is possible.
Process- establish
trust and relationships with leaders and people within the Cora Nations by
learning in depth their culture and ways, engage with them as grace filled
living examples and create a desire to receive and live the teachings of Jesus. We will look for opportunities to engage with
willing individuals and families by focusing on ways to create a personal
relationship of trust:
- seek
to define needs and assist as possible - for example with economic improvement in agricultural
production - by sharing knowledge,
techniques, and engaging in projects that will benefit the community at large
through increased crop production.
-
assisting with physical needs such as dental, vision, medical care as possible
-
encourage further development of the marketing of local artisan products.
-
establish faith based nurture for those struggling with alcohol, family
violence, etc.
-
connect believer groups and communities to facilitate a network of support and
encouragement
-
organize support groups for youth, women, economic development as possible in
the culture
Application – The journey of building trust will take
time. We have talked about the New
Tribes approach of community understanding with the intention of frequent
learning visits for a year or so, then moving a family or small group into the
community as allies in resource, with the purpose of developing deeper
relationships and local leadership. The
intention being to honor the existing culture while creating a foundation upon
which to build new sustaining strength in Christ.
Support- The
opportunity to reach out to the Cora is completely dependent upon authorization
from the Tribal Elder Council. The work
of Padre Pascual Rosales over the past 40 + years and his encouragement of Jay
Tenbrink and Cristiano Centro has created this opportunity to share Christ in
the La Mesa Cora culture. Prayer is a
constant need. Church networks,
financial resources, teaching and training models are all integral to the
success of the project. As the vision for
this work is revealed the details will be set forth. Our immediate prayer is for discernment and
direction, that the Lord will bring many to assist with this season of planting
for harvest.
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