Guatemala Archives - TEAM Christian Missions Blog

Silent Night: A Guatemalan Christmas Story

TEAM missionary Joe Dorris learned that the familiar story of Christ’s birth isn’t so familiar in Guatemala — even for those raised in church.

Dec 22 2020

It was a cozy December night in 2017. Outside the apartment window, a resounding chorus of stray dogs and feral cats raised their voices in inharmonious unity. Inside, the cheerful sounds of laughter and hearty conversation combined with the warm smell of Guatemalan tamales and sweet ponche drink to bring about the cozy feeling that is known as Christmastime. “Ok everyone,” I announced. “To the living room. Study time.” The roughly ten guys rose sloth-like from the dinner table and migrated their full stomachs towards living room, where the sofa and chairs hungrily awaited, ready to swallow them whole. I…

Why I Need Other Cultures on My Church Planting Team

Every church planter has cultural blind spots. One of the best ways to find them is working with fellow believers from a variety of cultures.

Oct 19 2020

I’m not sure if you know this, but you have a culture — and not all of it reflects God’s Kingdom values. Shocking, I know. This may not be an entirely new idea to you, but let me push it a bit further. Not all of the cultural convictions that you think reflect God’s Kingdom values actually reflect God’s Kingdom values. In other words, you and I have values we think are rooted in Gospel principles — but are actually, mostly, born from our cultures. There is some irony here for missionaries because many are great at spotting this in their…

How Missionaries Around the World Celebrate Christmas

Serving in a new country often means adopting new Christmas traditions. Keep reading to see some of our missionaries' favorite traditions from their host countries!

Dec 20 2018

Hallmark movies, cut-out cookies and letters to Santa are all pretty typical Christmas traditions — for those of us in the United States. But around the world, there are hundreds of different customs surrounding the holiday season. So what happens when our missionaries immerse themselves in their host cultures? How do they celebrate Christmastime? To find out, we’ve asked a few of them about their holiday traditions. And here are some of our favorites: Christmas Trick-or-Treating Ryan Kennedy is a second-generation missionary serving in Papua, Indonesia. He was a missionary kid there — and now he’s raising his own kids…

The church is rapidly growing in Latin America — and so are false doctrines, like the prosperity gospel. Read our Q&A to find out how a TEAM missionary is steering new believers in a better direction. Photo by TEAM

Mar 08 2018

If you want to know where the Church is growing, don’t look to your local seeker-friendly, hipster church. Don’t look for the closest liturgical service either. According to TEAM missionary and former missionary kid Justin Burkholder, the best place to look is in a Pentecostal service… in Latin America. “We just sort of assume Latin America’s Catholic, … but a lot of Latin America is very evangelical, and mainly it’s highly neo-Pentecostal,” Justin says. In 1970, evangelical Christians numbered only 12.8 million in Latin America. By 2020, they’re expected to reach 203 million, according to the Center for the Study…

If A.J. hadn't had a craving for apple crisp, Celestino might not know Jesus. Read this inspiring story about salvation and discipleship in Guatemala. Photo by TEAM

Jun 13 2017

Have you ever craved a dessert so strongly you just knew it had to be from the Lord? Probably only if you’re prone to exaggeration. But after you hear Celestino’s story, you might think twice about your next hankering for sugar cookies. You see, Celestino didn’t have time for church. And after a lifetime of alcoholism and meeting Christians who only cared how much he could tithe, Celestino didn’t really have an interest in church either. Maybe that’s why TEAM missionary A.J. got a craving for apple crisp soon after he moved to Guatemala. That fall day, the grocery store…

A church plant in Guatemala is quickly becoming a refuge for people ready to give up on church. But amidst rapid growth, challenges persist. Photo courtesy of Iglesia Reforma

Nov 15 2016

Tragedy and chaos are familiar to the average Guatemalan. If you fail a class in school, well, that’s not good, but it’s common; hopefully you’ll do better upon repeating it. If you are badly hurt in an accident, well, you can’t count on great care at the public hospital and can’t afford a private one, so hopefully you’ll get better. If your husband drinks too much or hangs around other women, well, you’ll likely separate, and hopefully you’ll make enough to feed your family, even if that means you only see your kids for an hour each night. Chaos. Disorganization….

Life for homeless youth in Guatemala is characterized by cyclical poverty, addiction, and little hope for the future. But when a pastor started building relationships with these kids on the streets, he found out that they didn't need more preaching. They needed the gospel. Photo by TEAM

Aug 15 2016

“What do you really think of us, drug-addicts and homeless people?” Angel asked me. I paused. He, like many of the “jovenes de la calle“ (street kids), has been living in the streets since he was a kid. Now, at 22, he’s seen it all, lived it all. He’s used drugs as a regular escape. He’s found ways to survive with barely any income. He’s been pushed out of churches and restaurants because he’s asking people for money, because he’s high or just because he doesn’t look presentable. He’s seen ministries come and go, do their good deed, pass out…

With high poverty and crime rates, the prosperity gospel has taken root in Guatemala. Read about one missionary's heart to show his community the only hope to change this narrative.

Feb 15 2016

Every single day, we wake up to the latest news in Guatemala. “Three people wounded in gun battle.” “Remains of two young girls who were murdered discovered in Zone 6.” “Millions of dollars swindled by president and vice president.” Even though these aren’t actual headlines, these are actual things that have happened. A Narrative of Violence and Brokenness People are wounded and killed in gunshot battles every single day. Violence is rampant. The former president and vice president are currently in jail for stealing millions of dollars in what should have been taxes to help sustain and develop Guatemala. The stories aren’t just stories…

From Chick-fil-a cravings to aching loneliness, a missionary's first months on the field are full of surprises. Photo by Robert Johnson / TEAM

May 27 2014

It has been six months since my wife, Jenny, and I boarded a plane in Chicago and moved to Guatemala City. Our lives have changed dramatically since then. In the last year, we both stepped away from full-time jobs, liquidated everything we owned, and said good-bye to the place we called home for the seven years. We left behind the best friends we have ever made. And we did so while Jenny was six months pregnant. It’s been a wild ride. We’ve learned a lot of lessons in six months about missionary life. Here are some of them. And we…

The photos we choose to share in missions photography should represent subjects as the treasures they are, made in God's image. Photographs by Robert Johnson / TEAM

Apr 29 2014

Robert Johnson, TEAM’s Creative Director and Editor-in-Chief of Horizons magazine, shares about subjectivity and how we portray people in images. Her collection of doll parts filled a storage shed behind her house. Plastic arms, legs, heads, and bodies spilled from overstuffed bags onto the concrete floor. Maria Delfina Hernandez had built a small business with these doll parts salvaged from a dump in Guatemala City, cleaning them up, piecing them back together and selling them at low cost in the market. She’s been doing this for years. A gospel analogy using baby doll parts, Hernandez’s story is inspiring to me…

Tag - Guatemala

Silent Night: A Guatemalan Christmas Story

Why I Need Other Cultures on My Church Planting Team

How Missionaries Around the World Celebrate Christmas

Why the Church’s Future is Written in Spanish

When Your Sweet Tooth Leads Someone to Jesus

A Church For People Who Don’t Trust Church

What Do You Really Think of Us?

Fighting the Prosperity Gospel in Guatemala

6 Lessons from a New Missionary

A Tale of Two Photos