Building a Sustainable Ministry in Mexico

Name: Gayla Congdon

Current Status: Alumni

Graduation Year: 1977, 1989; 1989

Gayla (BA '77, MA '89) and Scott Congdon founded Amor Ministries 40 years ago out of their passion to serve poverty-stricken families in the slums of Mexico. Through Amor Ministries, more than 19,000 homes have been built, and more than 390,000 volunteers have served on short-term mission trips.

In its first year, Amor took four ministry teams into Mexico. Today, nearly 1000 teams take part in short-term mission trips each year. In 40 years, Amor has grown into a national ministry that even trains and equips other ministries and churches for short-term mission projects. Just a few of the cities in Mexico that have been impacted by Amor are Tijuana, Tecate, Rosarito, Jaurez, and Puerto Penasco.

The Congdon's passion for serving in Mexico developed while they studied at Hope. She and Scott met while distributing clothes with the Tijuana Christian Mission. It was during this trip that they discovered a mutual passion for serving in Mexico. In March of 1980, they recruited their first ministry team for a building project at an orphanage in Tecate, Mexico, and Amor Ministries was founded. What began as two people's passion to give back has grown into a dynamic and sustainable ministry that touches the lives of many.

For more information visit http://www.amor.org/.