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2008-07-08 issue:

Dream happens for Hispanic church plant

Bethany House Mennonite Church held first Spanish-speaking service March 30

by Laurie Oswald Robinson

Print Article

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.
















From left, Norma Stoltzfus and Rosa Flores, two of the church founders, fellowship during a Bible study at Iglesia Menonita Casa Betania (Bethany House Mennonite Church), the new Spanish-speaking church plant in Newton. Photo by Laurie Oswald Robinson.

Rosa 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. She also dreamt of worshiping in her native language, Spanish, with other Latinos who hungered for the same.

One day, it was Gilberto’s turn to support her leadership gifts. During the conversation they’d had many times, with Rosa voicing her desires, he challenged her to step out in faith to do what she dreamt of others doing. Then 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,” says 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.”

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 before she became a member of Whitestone Mennonite Church in Hesston, Kan. A Spanish-speaking group met at Whitestone for about 10 years before it discontinued.

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 Church, which recently purchased the property.

First Mennonite is one of Casa Betania’s three sister congregations, with Shalom Mennonite Church, Newton, and Bethel College Mennonite Church, North Newton, Kan. They support Casa Betania financially with WDC. Faith Mennonite Church and New Creation Fellowship, both in Newton, also lend prayer and moral support.

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.

This 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, says Dorothy Nickel Friesen, WDC conference minister.

The church plant also highlights another misperception about Newton, known for being a Mennonite “mecca” settled by Mennonite immigrants from Europe, she says. 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 says. “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.”—Laurie Oswald Robinson is a freelance writer and photographer from Newton, Kan.

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