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Mission Trips
Bring your church, family, or small group to serve alongside local ministries in Ensenada through work projects, children’s ministry, and relational outreach.
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Ensenada Ministries · Baja California, Mexico
Christ's love, shared in word and deed.
Ensenada Ministries exists to share the love of Jesus by serving families, churches, and communities in and around Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, and we have been doing it for 26 years. We partner with local churches and with Rancho El Refugio, the ranch in the hills where mission teams stay, and we welcome mission teams, retreats, and conferences throughout the year. Whether you come to serve, stay, or give, there is a place for you in this work.
- Years of ministry
- 26
- Mission teams welcomed
- Hundreds
- Miles east of Ensenada
- 10
Our mission
Who is Ensenada Ministries?
We are a Christian mission organization that has shared the love of Jesus in Ensenada, Mexico, since 2000. For 26 years we have served this city and the surrounding communities of Baja California, welcoming hundreds of mission teams and walking alongside local pastors and congregations. We come as guests and partners, people who believe the love of Jesus is most believable when it is both spoken and shown.
We share the love of Jesus by serving individuals, families, churches, and communities in Ensenada, Mexico.
What does Ensenada Ministries do?
Our days are filled with simple, concrete work. We organize mission trips to Ensenada so churches, families, and small groups can serve alongside local ministries. We provide practical outreach with warm meals for children and boxes of supplies for families who are struggling. We partner with local churches and pastors, supporting their work long after a visiting team goes home. We stand beside people in recovery, we worship with the women at the city's prison, and we host visiting mission teams at Rancho El Refugio, the ranch in the hills east of Ensenada that has welcomed guests for over two decades.
Twenty-six years of showing up
Ensenada Ministries began in 2000 out of a simple conviction: the love of Jesus is real, and it is meant to be both spoken and shown. For 26 years that conviction has carried us through the neighborhoods along Ensenada's bay and into the farmworker camps of the agricultural valleys. The work has grown, but the vision has not changed. We share the Gospel through action, which means a warm meal carries a message, a delivered box of supplies carries a blessing, and a church raised up in a place of hardship carries hope.
Roots that run deep in the local church
None of this happens alone. From the beginning we have worked hand in hand with local pastors and congregations who know Ensenada's needs firsthand. Together we share work projects on church buildings, run children's programs in parks and neighborhoods, and move food and medical supplies through the churches' own networks. Worship gatherings continue long after a visiting team has gone home. We are guests and partners, not saviors, and that posture is the reason relationships here outlast any single project.
Hundreds of mission teams, one ongoing story
Over those 26 years, hundreds of mission teams have crossed the border to serve, staying at Rancho El Refugio, our partner ranch in the hills about 10 miles east of Ensenada. They come as churches, youth groups, families, and individuals, painting walls, packing food bags, leading games and songs with children, visiting the women's prison, standing beside people in recovery, and building friendships that span the border. Each team leaves something behind, and each team carries something home. The door stays open for the next group, and the welcome only grows warmer.
Ways we serve
How does Ensenada Ministries serve?
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Practical Outreach
We feed hungry families, share the gospel with people who feel they have no hope, supply medical care, and walk with the church at the women’s prison.
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Church Partnerships
Lasting relationships matter more than one-time projects. We work alongside local churches so encouragement and support continue long after a team goes home.
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Feeding the hungry
Hot meals, real hope
What we do
Practical help, told as good news
Every program pairs practical care with the message of Jesus, so families are fed, treated, taught, and encouraged all at once.
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Feeding the Kids
Warm meals paired with teaching materials that introduce children to Jesus.
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Food for families
Groceries and warm meals for households who feel they have no hope.
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A church home at the women's prison Completed
Built together so incarcerated women have a place to gather and worship.
Your home base in Mexico
Where do mission teams stay?
When teams arrive in Ensenada, they settle in at Rancho El Refugio, the partner ranch that has been welcoming mission groups for over two decades. Four houses, each built for gathering, sit close together among the rolling hills, so the ranch feels like one neighborhood: the familiar Hacienda, the newest two-story La Quinta, the ocean-view Bridge House, and the Barn with its bunk wing and gathering hall.
Between the houses, a large outdoor amphitheater and a fire pit ringed with benches give teams a place for worship, teaching, and long evening conversations under the Baja sky. The ranch also opens its doors to church retreats, conferences, and quiet days of prayer, so the same hills that host the work also host the rest.
- Four homes for groups of every size, from a handful to a camp of 33
- An amphitheater and fire pit at the heart of the campus
- Quiet hills, ocean views, and room for worship and rest
Rancho El Refugio
Worship under the open sky
Good questions
Common questions about Ensenada Ministries
Quick, straight answers to the questions people ask us most.
What does Ensenada Ministries do?
Ensenada Ministries shares the love of Jesus with the people of Ensenada, Mexico by combining practical help with the gospel: warm meals for children, groceries and medical supplies for families, a church home at the women's prison, and work projects shared with local churches.
Where is Ensenada Ministries located?
The ministry serves the city of Ensenada and surrounding communities in Baja California, Mexico. Mission teams stay at Rancho El Refugio, the partner ranch in the hills about 10 miles east of Ensenada, and gifts by mail can be sent to 4460 W Shaw Ave #460, Fresno, CA 93722.
How can I join a mission trip?
Bring your church, family, or small group, or come as an individual. Tell us your dates and group size through the contact page, and we will help you shape a week of work projects, children's ministry, and community outreach.
Where do donations go?
Gifts feed hungry children and families, supply medical care, support the church home at the women's prison, and carry the gospel to people who feel they have no hope. You can give online through PayPal or by check on the donate page.
Do I need special skills to serve?
No. Teams are shaped around the abilities of the people who come, from painting and packing food bags to leading games and singing with children. A willing heart is the only requirement.
Field notes from Ensenada
Stories from the work
Church partnerships
A place to gather and grow
Churches are the heart of the work in Ensenada. We partner with local congregations on everything from building projects to Sunday ministry so families have a place to worship, learn, and belong.
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Feeding the Kids
Meals with the message of Jesus
Our Feeding the Kids program pairs warm meals with teaching materials that introduce children to the love of Jesus. It is a simple invitation that opens doors all over the city.
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Mission teams
Teams at work, neighbors at heart
Week by week, teams arrive ready to serve. They paint walls, share meals, lead children’s programs, and build friendships that carry the love of Christ across the border and back.
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