Following Jesus under drug cartels

Violence against Christians in Mexico has reached new heights. In just the last five months, Open Doors research has identified 57 incidents against Mexican believers, all driven by organized crime. The incidents range from intimidation and extortion to direct attacks on houses of worship and their leaders.

Sergio*, a missionary from Jalisco (a state in central Mexico), recently saw the violence firsthand. Two men came to his house with guns. “We were gathered with a brother praying when we heard motorcycles outside revving their engines very, very loudly,” he says. “I thought about getting up and going to see what was happening outside the house, but I felt from God that I should not go out at that moment, so I did not pay attention and we continued praying.”
Hours later, Sergio’s neighbor across the street called him. She told him that she had seen two men pointing guns at his house moments earlier. They waited for someone to come out while pointing at the door, but when they saw that no one was leaving, they left.

Evangelical Christians in the northern and central regions of Mexico are often seen as an obstacle to the interests of drug cartels, so they are under constant surveillance and, in some cases like Sergio’s, threatened with death.
But it’s not just in these parts of Mexico. The violence has spread throughout the country. From north to south, the news is filled with reports of kidnappings, shootings, clandestine graves, and endless reports on bloodshed each morning. In the places where gangs and drug cartels largely control the territory, evangelical Christians find it particularly difficult to live out their faith in these areas.

Missionaries who work in these regions often focus on children and single mothers—and this increases their risk. The cartels see children as potential customers and future recruits, so Christians working with them makes the leaders of the criminal groups unhappy.

Marcos Lara, a missionary in an area largely controlled by cartels, told Open Doors that at the beginning of this year he repeatedly saw luxury vans with tinted windows (widely used by the cartels) driving around his church while he was teaching the children he works with.

“We are being watched because the children we serve are considered a possible human resource for the cartels, so they may see the teaching group as a threat to their interests,” he says.

For Christians in these areas, public expressions of faith—even actions as small as praying for food in a restaurant—are dangerous, because revealing your faith means exposing your life and ministry to the cartels.

“This is a problem for us as missionaries, because we have to think of strategies that allow us to fulfill the Great Commission and at the same time take care of our physical integrity and the integrity of our families,” Marcos says.

Ghost towns

Evangelical Christians living in cartel-controlled areas are often also forced out of their home and ministries by the violence. “Ghost towns”—the nickname given to towns when the majority of residents decide to leave because of violence—are becoming more common in Mexico as crime spreads across the country.

Juan* and Rebeca* lived and worked in an area controlled by drug traffickers. They decided that one of their ministry tasks would be to evangelize people involved in the drug trade.

In February 2024, one of the young people they were discipling was tortured and forced to reveal the name of his pastor and spiritual leader. Juan began to be persecuted and threatened with death for being a “sympathizer” of the cartel’s rivals.

Juan, Rebeca and more than 150 people left the territory because of the growing threats. Half of the displaced population are Christian converts.

In Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico, more than 3,000 people (including Christians) have decided to leave their homes because of the constant clashes between criminal groups fighting for territory. The same situation has caused more than 100 evangelical churches to close their doors to protect the safety of pastors and believers, as reported in the February issue of El Sol de México.

Gamaliel Fierro Martínez, the president of the Association of Evangelical Pastors of Tapachula (a city in Chiapas state), the violence in the region has made it impossible for churches to function, mainly because clergy and parishioners have fled their communities to avoid falling prey to organized crime.

The testimonies of missionaries like Sergio, Marcos, Juan and Rebeca, who face constant threats and surveillance, illustrate the difficult situation in which many Christians who focus their ministry on teaching and evangelism find themselves.

Jorge Jiménez*, an Open Doors researcher in the country, thinks the situation for Christians could worsen in the coming months. “It is expected that the number of incidents motivated by [cartel-related violence] will increase significantly in the current period due to the increase in violence in the country caused by territorial disputes between cartels and in the context of the 2024 presidential elections,” he says.

We must stand with our family in Mexico as they endure violence and threats simply because they act as the hands and feet of Jesus. Please pray that the violence would not grow worse, and instead would begin to cease. Pray that Christians would have both wisdom and boldness. And pray for healing for all of the people who have been affected.

please pray

We must stand with our family in Mexico as they endure violence and threats simply because they act as the hands and feet of Jesus.

Please pray that the violence would not grow worse, and instead would begin to cease.
Pray that Christians would have both wisdom and boldness.
And pray for healing for all of the people who have been affected

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Following Jesus under drug cartels

Ghost towns

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