Hello! You've received this e-letter because either you or the missions team at your church expressed an interest in Frontera de Cristo and Café Justo. Please add office@fronteradecristo.org to your address book so we'll be sure to land in your inbox each time! You may unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this page if you no longer wish to receive our emails. View This Email as Webpage

March 30, 2025

30 de marzo 2025



Cultivating Relationships

and Understanding

Across Borders

As we conclude Women's History Month, join us in gratitude to God for the incredible women leaders of Frontera de Cristo.  Click here to see pictures of all our women leaders who bless our ministry and community year 'round. And please follow us on our new FB page.

Dear friends,


During our 40th Anniversary celebration six months ago, we took time not just to remember and reflect upon our past, but to also marvel and delight at God’s faithfulness in how truly energized we are in this moment of ministry. We are full of fresh vision and vitality for a future of faith to do God’s will of building bridges and not walls in the borderlands. 


Since our celebration, though, the last few months and recent weeks have been disheartening in relation to our longstanding partnership with PCUSA World Mission. Their announcement of closing the World Mission agency and severing all Mission Co-workers' service with their partners, including Mark and Miriam’s service as Mission Co-Workers with us, brings us great pain; and yet, we as a board, together with Mark and Miriam, continue to share a strong sense of renewed call to build relationships of understanding across borders.


As we seek to be faithful to God’s call upon our ministry in a time of great uncertainty, we will continue to discern how God might make a way forward for Mark and Miriam’s service alongside Frontera de Cristo. They have committed to volunteering with us through the end of the year, which will give us time to develop and implement a financial plan for 2026 that will allow us to sustain their continue service with us into the future. More information about a capital campaign will be coming soon.


We are grateful for your continued prayers and support!


In Christ’s grace and peace-

The Frontera de Cristo Board of Directors

Where Jesus Walks

by Miriam Maldonado Escobar and Mark Adams

“This is a place where Jesus walks.”

—David, a mission delegation participant after spending time

at the CRREDA (now CATPSIC) drug rehab center.


THE DRUG REHAB CENTER MAY BE A PLACE WHERE JESUS WALKS, but it definitely was not a place where Mark wanted to be when Pastor Chuy Gallegos sent him there to deliver some blankets early in his service as a Mission Co-worker. As Mission Co-workers, we serve at the invitation of and under the direction of partners. And so Mark went.


The first time Mark entered the center, and the gate was locked behind him, he felt the urge to get out as soon as he could. He delivered the blankets and left with no intention of going back. But Pastor Chuy sent him back, and the second time he went, he was even more uncomfortable than the first. As soon as he entered, someone yelled: “Llama Señor Hoyo ya llego el doctor.” 

The entrance gate to CRREDA (now CATPSIC) in Agua Prieta


Read the rest of the story

Impact of the PCUSA Interim Unified Agency’s Decision

to Eliminate all Mission Co-worker Positions and

Begin a New Model of Global Connection

WILL FRONTERA DE CRISTO CLOSE?


Absolutely not. Frontera de Cristo (FDC) is a non-profit organization independent of the PCUSA Interim Unified Agency (IUA).


Frontera de Cristo is a dynamic ministry that is expanding its ministry in 2025 in multiple ways including: expanding from four children’s enrichment sites to five; expanding its Love Mercy, Do Justice Ministry to more hospitality centers; beginning a music and art ministry for children and families of the children’s enrichment ministry. Just yesterday we launched an environmental education program with our children's enrichment ministry in collaboration with Cuenca Los Ojos.


How will FDCs staffing change?

PCUSA will no longer be sending Miriam and Mark as Mission Co-workers to serve with Frontera de Cristo as of March 24. Mark currently serves as one of FDC’s coordinators and Miriam serves as permaculture instructor and liaison with DouglaPrieta Trabaja and is a vital member of FDC’s mission delegation facilitator team.


The rest of Frontera de Cristo’s staff will continue serving with FDC. 


Continue reading this impact statement


For more information about the changes, read Talking Points and Frequently Asked Questions provided by the leadership team of the Interim Unified Agency.

Donate To Move Forward with Us

Do Great Things!

by Dora Yesenia Valencia

Dora Yesenia Valencia is a PhD candidate in Clinical Translational Sciences at the University of Arizona. She traveled to Frontera de Cristo this month with a delegation from the university.

I WAS BORN IN AGUA PRIETA, SONORA, and was raised in Douglas, Arizona, a graduate of Douglas High School, class of 2013. I am currently a PhD candidate in Clinical Translational Sciences at the University of Arizona, studying the social drivers of health care accessibility of the Nogales, Arizona community. I have been away from my border homes for almost 12 years, but lately, life has been bringing me back – full circle – in various ways; reconnecting me with my past to better understand my present.


Continue reading Dora's article

See photos

Subscribe to Frontera de Cristo's blog on Substack

Dora and her parents.

Photo by Leslie Hawthorne Klingler, RDS/RIl, University of Arizona

Join us on One of These Immersion Trips

Save the Dates!

June 16-18, 2025:

Family Immersion Trip to the

US-Mexico Border

Register and Pay Online

October 3-5, 2025:

The US-Mexico Border: Toward a More Peaceful Path Forward

Register and Pay Online

Click here to download the Individual Registration Form for the events listed above and pay by check

October 31-November 8, 2025:

Border-to-Border Delegation: Coffee, Migration, & Faith


 THIS YEAR'S BORDER-TO-BORDER DELEGATION "COFFEE, MIGRATION & FAITH" will be held October 31 through November 8. Travel to the Guatemala border and learn about the Café Justo cooperative. Dates include an introductory visit with all of Frontera de Cristo's ministries.

First Presbyterian Church Capital Campaign Update


Capital Campaign Update

for First Presbyterian Church

of Douglas


$27,655 raised

$72,345 to go

Donate Now to First Presbyterian Church's Capital Campaign

Order Your Café Justo Photo Book

THE CAFÉ JUSTO PHOTO BOOK is still available! Order yours now and learn about the founding families who brought the dream to fruition, and the process of growing coffee from seed to cup. It will give you a new appreciation for your morning cup of coffee!

Read about the benefits of Café Justo in the community and the unique ways some of their customers sell and serve the coffee. Meet all the coffee farming families. Get a glimpse of the activities that make the Café Justo y Más coffee shop a place for creativity, comfort, and camaraderie in Agua Prieta. And reminisce over photos of the fabulous 20th anniversary celebration.

The photo book is just $20. Or you can buy a box of 12 for $200. Shipping is included. Just scan the QR code above or click here to order online. Or download this order form to pay by check.

Love Mercy, Do Justice, Order Coffee

FRONTERA DE CRISTO AND CAFÉ JUSTO CREATED the "Love Mercy, Do Justice" (Amar Misericordia, Hacer Justicia) initiative to provide coffee for migrant shelters across the southern border. Thousands of women and men each week are greeted with a cup of coffee, a meal, and vital medical attention when they are repatriated into Mexico. You can help support this effort with a donation to Love Mercy, Do Justice.

In the mean time, why not order some coffee for yourself today? You will enjoy delicious 100% organic coffee cultivated, freshly roasted, and shipped by the Café Justo cooperative. Online orders placed by Tuesdays at 8:00am Mountain Standard Time will be shipped the same week. To order by mail instead of online, scan the QR code on the left or download this form.

"40 Years of Building Bridges and Tables of Love"

New 2024 video from the Presbyterian Mission Agency

Plus two more short videos from the Presbyterian Mission Agency:

FDC 40th Anniversary - Welcome

FDC 40th Anniversary - Visit

Donate Now

to Support the Ministries of Frontera de Cristo

Frontera de Cristo is a mission partner of Presbytery de Cristo, one of four presbyteries comprising the Synod of the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico) in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Facebook