North Texas church groups that once regularly visited Mexico's border towns to help improve living conditions there are canceling trips or sending fewer people because of the region's violence, the swine flu outbreak and the worsening economy.
Several groups have adjusted their plans and some were planning to go to South Texas, instead.
"This is the hardest year in terms of getting people to go," said Jon Ewton, student ministries pastor at McKinney Fellowship Bible Church.
The church will send half its usual number of youth to Mexico this summer to build homes for the poor.
First Baptist Church of Arlington, which this summer will end 30 years of work in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, is sending volunteers to Brownsville, The Dallas Morning News reported.
First Presbyterian Church of Dallas said it planned to send a team to Galveston, to help with Hurricane Ike recovery efforts. The church has a seven-year tradition of working in Juarez, but decided to send only money, due to the violence.
Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas recently made the call that parishes should suspend missions to Mexico. The decision means that St. Ann Catholic Church of Coppell won't send its youth team to an area south of Monterrey, a region it has visited for 12 consecutive years. Instead, they're headed to Laredo.
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"There's an orphanage waiting for us to help finish it," said Kurt Klement, the church's director of high school ministries. "But we agreed with the decision, in light of the situation in Mexico, and we look forward to new opportunities.
