Christian Missionary Missing In Mexico After Armed Men Objected To Bible Outreach

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

(Worthy News) – A 79-year-old Protestant missionary remains missing in southern Mexico more than six weeks after armed men reportedly abducted him while he was preaching and distributing Bibles in Guerrero State, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Benito Guevara Arcos was last seen March 31 in San Vicente, a community in Chilpancingo de los Bravos Municipality, where he had traveled from Ocotito to share the Gospel. When he failed to return by nightfall, a fellow Protestant Christian went searching for him and was told by neighbors that armed men had objected to his preaching and forced him into a vehicle.

CSW said local contacts later confirmed that an organized criminal group was holding Guevara Arcos while allegedly “investigating” his identity, even though he had official identification documents with him. Days later, the group claimed it had released him in Amojileca, about 30 kilometers from San Vicente, but Christians who searched the only road into the town were unable to find him.

His family filed a missing-person report with Guerrero’s National Search Commission on April 13 and received police protection while posting flyers, but no confirmed information has emerged about his condition or whereabouts. CSW said the family has not filed a formal complaint with the Guerrero prosecutor’s office because of fear of reprisals from criminal groups.

Anna Lee Stangl, CSW’s director of advocacy and Americas team leader, urged Guerrero state and federal authorities to conduct a thorough investigation, warning that organized criminal groups pose a special threat to religious leaders and human rights defenders. The case comes as Mexico faces a broader crisis of disappearances; CSW cited a recent Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report saying disappearances in Mexico have risen by more than 200% over the past decade.

Christian persecution monitors have also warned that pastors and Christian community workers in Mexico are often targeted because their ministry, anti-drug work, and youth outreach can undermine cartel control. Open Doors says criminal violence remains a major danger for Mexican Christians, particularly church leaders who confront evil with good in cartel-dominated areas.

Yet even amid violence and intimidation, the evangelical witness in Mexico continues to grow. Mexico’s 2020 census showed evangelical Christians rising from 7.5% of the population in 2010 to 11.2% in 2020, representing more than 14 million evangelicals nationwide. Broader religious data show Protestant Christianity rising from 7.3% in 2000 to 11.2% in 2020, while Catholic affiliation has declined sharply over the same period.

Recent missions reports have also pointed to rising spiritual hunger in Mexico, with evangelistic outreaches emphasizing youth response, prayer, and renewed boldness among believers. Global Christian Relief has described Mexico as one of the countries where evangelical movements are growing quickly, even as outspoken church leaders face pressure from criminal violence.

Mexico remains overwhelmingly Christian in identity, but its spiritual landscape is shifting.

Catholicism still dominates, while evangelical and Protestant churches have grown significantly over the past 25 years, especially in southern and marginalized regions.

The Church in Mexico faces a sobering mixture of cartel intimidation, indigenous-region persecution, and religious pressure — yet the Gospel continues to advance, with pastors, missionaries, and believers carrying Bibles into hard places where the light of Christ is still breaking through.

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