Twenty-six years. By any measure, that is a long season of service, and it is the season Ensenada Ministries has spent walking with the people of Ensenada, Mexico. The ministry began with a first gathering in 2000, and since then the work has grown into a family of programs, a partner ranch in the hills, and relationships that span the border. This is a look back at how it happened.
It started with a first gathering
The story behind the story goes back even further, to a teenager's mission trip to Mexico around 1960 and the vision it planted in Carolyn Koons, a vision that carried through ministry training work at the Institute for Outreach Ministries. In 2000, Ensenada Ministries led its first mission trip, and the event gathered 3,400 campers together. In the ministry's own words, it started our love for ministry in Mexico. That first gathering is still told around dinner tables at the ranch today, because it set the tone for everything that followed: big-hearted, practical, and centered on sharing the love of Jesus.
Hundreds of mission teams
Over the 26 years since, hundreds of mission teams have crossed the border to serve. They have come as churches, youth groups, families, schools, and individuals, and they have painted walls, packed food bags, led children's programs, visited families, and sat with women at the prison church. Every team is different, and every team leaves something behind: a brighter church, a fuller pantry, or simply the memory of a face that looked them in the eye and said thank you.
The welcome at Rancho El Refugio grew with the teams. What started as a simple place to sleep became four homes made for gathering, and the partner ranch now hosts guests from a handful of friends to a camp full of young people. You can read the full story on the about page, and see what a team week looks like on the mission trips page.
The ranch grew with the work
Rancho El Refugio sits in the rolling hills about 10 miles east of Ensenada, and it has become a small village of hospitality for the teams and gatherings the ministry brings. The Hacienda, with its 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and full kitchen, is the familiar heart of the ranch. The Bridge House sleeps 14 with an ocean-view living room and deck. The Barn hosts groups of up to 33 in its bunk wing of three bunk bedrooms and 2.5 baths, with an auditorium and kitchen for whole-ranch gatherings. And La Quinta, the newest two-story house, added 5 en-suite bedrooms, a kitchen, and an extra-large dining room with mountain views. Outdoors, a large amphitheater and a fire pit ringed with benches turned worship into an evening ritual under the Baja sky.
Feeding, teaching, reaching
The programs grew just as steadily. Feeding the Kids pairs warm meals with teaching materials that introduce children to Jesus. Food distributions carry groceries and warm meals to families who feel they have no hope. Medical supplies travel with prayer to families and small clinics. With the church, the ministry helped build a place of worship inside the women's prison, a sanctuary that is complete and still gathering women to worship. Teams walk alongside people in recovery from addiction and carry the church to migrant farmworker camps through each harvest season. It all shares one message: Christ's love, by word and by deed.
The next 26 years
A look back is really an invitation to look forward. The children who received a warm meal and a lesson about Jesus are growing up, and the churches the ministry works alongside are carrying the work between visits. The next chapter will be written by teams that load the vans and cross the border, and by givers and pray-ers who hold the work up from home. If you want to be part of what comes next, get involved, or simply bring your group to Ensenada and see the last 26 years for yourself. For a day-by-day picture of what a team week looks like today, read our guide to what to expect on an Ensenada mission trip.