The McCauls en Querétaro

Why Here

A city full of newcomers.

Querétaro is one of the fastest-growing cities in Mexico. Every day more families arrive, many of them far from the parents, cousins, and old friends they grew up with. That's a lot of people looking for a place to belong, and we were newcomers here once too.

¿Vives cerca? Te damos la bienvenida. En nuestra mesa siempre hay lugar para ti.

new residents move to Querétaro every day

INEGI

of Querétaro residents were born in another state

INEGI · CONAPO

3rd highest

average household income of Mexico's 32 states

INEGI, ENIGH 2024

of Querétaro's population lives in poverty

Down from 31.3% in 2020

CONEVAL

Growth can be lonely.

Starting over in a new city is hard on anyone, and Mexico's own health surveys suggest many people here carry more than they let on. Reported anxiety and depression run above the national average, and the suicide rate is higher too: 9.7 per 100,000 residents in Querétaro, compared with 6.8 nationally. We share these numbers with care. Behind each one are neighbors and friends, not a problem to solve.

Reported anxiety and depression symptoms, Querétaro vs. national average

Querétaro National average

Anxiety symptoms

22%

18%

Depression symptoms

18%

14%

Sources: ENSANUT 2022 and a 2022 regional mental-health study covering Querétaro (symptoms); INEGI EDR 2024 (suicide rate). Bars are scaled to a 0 to 25% range.

All figures come from INEGI, CONEVAL, and ENSANUT, Mexico's own statistics agencies.

None of this gets fixed by a dinner. But a shared table, offered in Jesus's name, is a place where newcomers get known by name, and that's where we start.

The Plan

Community grows in layers.

You can't rush real community. Ours grows through shared meals and neighbors who keep showing up, year after year, until people finally learn each other's names, and slowly discover the hope of Jesus at the center of it all.

Neighbors Around the Table

Open to everyone on our street. We host shared meals and regular gatherings, plain and simple, so neighbors who've never spoken to each other finally do.

Following Jesus Together

Some friends want to go deeper. That looks like praying together, reading scripture, and talking honestly about faith once trust is ready for it.

Leading and Hosting

A few friends step into leading others. They start hosting their own gatherings, and the whole thing keeps growing from there.

Where we are right now

Every 2 months

Neighborhood Gatherings

We open our house up. Right now it's 3 to 5 families around the table each time.

Monthly

Kids Afternoon at the Park

Snacks and drinks across the street, low-pressure and easy for new families to try.

Weekly

Friday Dinners

Rotating meals with one or two neighboring families, and others we've met around the city.

Growing

Homeschool Co-op

Three families and counting. It's turned into a real weekly source of friendship, for our kids and for us.

Starting soon

Moms' Art Workshop

A monthly gathering at a local cafe. Lena chooses the venue and the project, and the conversation does the rest.

For Our Partners

Proceed

Proceed is the longer letter we send to our ministry partners: real stories from the neighborhood, what we're learning as we go, and where things in Querétaro are headed next. Issue One is here for anyone to read. New issues go out by email to our partners.

Issue One · June & July 2026 Six Months in Querétaro

Click to read

What it looks like to lay a foundation

Field dispatch + prayer guide

Where This Is Headed

The Table, the Gathering, the Center.

We're building this slowly and in order, on purpose, always pointing back to Jesus. Here's roughly where we think it's going, including a model we hope gets repeated in neighborhood after neighborhood across Querétaro.

The Table

Small gatherings in homes, nothing fancy. Discipleship happens here, organically, built on real relationships long before anything formal starts.

The Gathering

Once relationships are strong enough, we move to a monthly Sunday gathering for worship and teaching. Neighbors still figuring out what following Jesus even means are welcome too.

The Center

A physical space that bridges the church and the wider community, built from day one as a replicable model for neighborhoods all over Querétaro.

Long-Term Goal

A café, a library, and room to gather.

The Center is the long-term goal: a physical space open to the whole neighborhood, church people and everyone else, sustained at its core by neighbors who follow Jesus together. We're building it as a replicable model, one we believe can take root in neighborhood after neighborhood across Querétaro, spreading the hope of Jesus one table at a time.

Café

Library

Classrooms

Workshops

Co-working

Resource Center

Get Involved

How you can help.

This work moves at the speed of real relationships and how much time we actually have in a week. Here's where an extra hand, a monthly gift, or a plane ticket helps carry the hope of Jesus a little further.

Ongoing

Current Projects

The homeschool co-op and the neighborhood gatherings could all use more hands right now, whether that means hosting or just showing up and following through.

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