Mennonite Church USA
News Service
June 4, 2008
Long-held dream comes true in Hispanic church plant
by Laurie Oswald Robinson
Rosa Flores, Newton, Kan., is one of the founders of Iglesia Menonita Casa Betania (Bethany House Mennonite Church), the new Spanish-speaking church plant in Newton. Photo by Laurie Oswald Robinson. |
NEWTON, Kan. — For years, Rosa Flores searched for someone who could begin a Spanish-speaking Mennonite church in the Newton, Kan., area. It wasn’t until she recognized herself as that person that the long-held dream came true.
Rosa faithfully supported her husband, Gilberto Flores, in his various leadership roles within Mennonite Church USA after they moved from Guatemala to Kansas in the mid-1990s. All the while, she also dreamt of worshiping in her native language, Spanish, with other Latinos who hungered for the same in a Mennonite setting.
One day, it was Gilberto’s turn to support her leadership gifts. During the conversation they’d had a thousand times before, with Rosa voicing her desires, he challenged her to step out in faith to do what she dreamt of others doing. In that conversation, the seed of Iglesia Menonita Casa Betania (Bethany House Mennonite Church) took root in her heart. She eventually became one of the founders of the new Newton Hispanic church plant, which held its first Sunday service March 30.
“There are Spanish-speaking churches in the community, and I’d gone to each one,” said Rosa, a member of First Mennonite Church in Newton. “But none of them felt like mine. I had been a Mennonite for more than 30 years, and I wanted to worship in Spanish where it felt like I belonged. I felt the warmth and power of God at First Mennonite, but with my not being fluent in English, it was hard to connect.
“I talked a lot with Gilberto about this. Finally he said, ‘You have to just start, Rosa. You can’t wait for someone else to do it. If you are looking for leaders, then you and others who want this to happen are the leaders.’ ”
She discussed her husband’s challenge with her good friend and work supervisor, Norma Stoltzfus, a Mennonite who moved from Puerto Rico to Kansas 33 years ago. Stoltzfus sensed God calling her to join Flores. Like Flores, she explored many worship options, including Spanish-speaking Nazarene and Presbyterian congregations before she became a member of Whitestone Mennonite Church in Hesston, Kan. A Spanish-speaking group met regularly at Whitestone for about 10 years before it discontinued.
“Though I was really involved at Whitestone and it was a good place for me, I felt God calling me to join Rosa,” Stoltzfus said. “She needed someone to believe with her that God would move this thing if we were faithful to trust him.”
Hopes revitalized for Spanish-speaking church
From left, Norma Stoltzfus, Hesston, Kan., and Rosa Flores, Newton, Kan., enjoy fellowship during a weekly Thursday night Bible study at Iglesia Menonita Casa Betania (Bethany House Mennonite Church), the new Spanish-speaking church plant in Newton. They are two of the founders of the new church, which held its first worship service March 30. Photo by Laurie Oswald Robinson. |
The women’s faith, with support of other founders, such as Irma Gonzales and Violeta Ajquejay, revitalized the hopes of Newton’s five Mennonite congregations and Western District Conference (WDC), the sponsoring area conference from Mennonite Church USA. Exploratory meetings began in late fall 2007 and culminated with the spring start.
Flores and Stoltzfus co-lead Sunday worship and Thursday Bible studies for a handful of eager participants. They worship in a house which sits next to First Mennonite, which recently purchased the property.
First Mennonite is one of Casa Betania’s three sister congregations, with Shalom Mennonite Church and Bethel College Mennonite Church. They support Casa Betania financially with WDC. The two other congregations in Newton also are lending prayer and moral support. They are Faith Mennonite Church and New Creation Fellowship.
Their vision has spread beyond Kansas to Nebraska, where Jaime Cazares, of Omaha, a church planter, was contacted about Casa Betania. He has been invited by the new congregation and WDC to become part-time pastor June 15. He is moving to Newton with his wife, Suhelen.
WDC leaders take joy in a dream awakened
Dorothy Nickel Friesen, WDC conference minister, and Marco Guete, WDC assistant conference minister, find deep joy in watching how God’s people are moving forward in a fresh way with this local initiative. For a couple of decades, a possible Mennonite Hispanic church in the Newton area has had fits and starts and stops — until now.
“The Hispanic population has increased in Newton and Hesston, and that population is pretty big at this point,” said Guete, overseer for Casa Betania. “God has been at work for many years in the area, watching Hispanic people and opening their hearts for the Gospel.
“With the leadership of these women, and with the new pastor, I believe we will see the fulfillment of God’s will to reach those people in whom God has already been working.”
This Newton-based church plant dispels the perception that south Texas, the region in WDC flourishing in Hispanic church plants, is the only place where such ministries can grow, Nickel Friesen said.
Hispanics have been a significant part of the Newton community for a century, first arriving as railroad workers in 1905, 30 years after the migration of Russian Mennonites to south central Kansas.
“This church plant is not only about a 30-year-old dream come true but is a 100-plus-year-old story that hasn’t often been recognized, she said. “We’ve lived side-by-side with Hispanics for a long time. But we haven’t honored our multicultural community in our attitudes about worship.
“We tell Hispanics they are welcome in our churches, and yet we often want them to sound and look like us. We haven’t recognized the very deep and visceral thing that happens when people are worshiping in their native language. It’s not a matter of style, or of right and wrong. It’s a way of recognizing the multiple languages of God.”
Casa Betania beckons newcomers
Judy (Julia) Fransen, a Casa Betania attendee and a member at Shalom Mennonite, testifies to Nickel Friesen’s perspective. She grew up in Newton as a Catholic but left that church as a teenager and later found her way to the Mennonites.
“My grandparents were born in Mexico, and I am third-generation, born in this country,” Fransen said. “My grandparents spoke Spanish in our home, and I think I spoke a little bit as a child. But then teachers sent notes home to my parents that told them to encourage me to speak English at home.
“When I come to Bible study, the women here help me to learn Spanish again by reading the Spanish scriptures. It is so wonderful to hear God’s word in my native language.”