Guavas and the Gospel

Bulmaro had some hesitation when he was called to plant a church in the city of Maravatío, Mexico.

Bulmaro is also a farmer and planting a church that far away from his own home would mean leaving his guava fruit for three days every week.

Then he found a way to use the guava fruit in his ministry.

Bulmaro, who takes part in Christian Reformed World Missions missionary Ben Meyer’s church-planter training courses, travels 2.5 hours from his farm to the city of Maravatío. He then shares his guavas from his fields with the people in this city.

“The guavas give Bulmaro an opportunity to meet people,” said Meyer. “They have opened the door to share the gospel with others.”

This is one example of how Bulmaro and the other trainees will use their newly developed skills along with their long-standing abilities—like growing guava fruit.

In central Mexico, many of the people are nominally Catholic. They do not read the Bible or actively practice their faith, said Meyer.

“Many of the people here confess that they do not attend church because it has become more of a tradition, a part of their customs,” said Meyer.

For this reason, Meyer and other church-planter trainers have been working with people like Bulmaro to help them awaken a new faith and create a community of believers.

So far, people are responding in Maravatío.

While sharing their guava fruit, Bulmaro and his wife met a woman and also shared the gospel with her. Now she is thinking of bringing her family to listen to Bulmaro when he comes to the city.

These relationship-building visits are the first step to establishing a healthy church in Maravatío.

“I want to establish a church for the honor of the Lord,” said Bulmaro. “We trust that God is going ahead of us as we move forward.”