05 Feb Visiting a Potential New UB Church

Last Sunday, January 31, Jeff Bleijerveld, my wife Sandy, and I drove to South Bend, Ind., to attend a Hispanic church which is interested in possibly joining us. Connections were made through the Clearview UB church, a Hispanic congregation in Goshen, Ind. The two congregations have already done a few things together.

This congregation had originally been part of the Missionary Church. It closed for a while, then reopened under the umbrella of a different group. However, that didn’t work out, and the church went independent.

They own their building on a rather large plot of land toward downtown South Bend. When we arrived, people were scattered around the pews on their knees praying. Praying out loud.

The worship service started at 10:00 and lasted two hours. People arrived throughout that two-hour window; they probably started with 30 people, and ended with around 40. There were a lot of children and young adults. They had a very passionate songleader, very engaged with what he was singing about. Other people played guitars, drums, and congas. Throughout the church people had other percussion instruments that they played as well.

The service was in Spanish, but a lady translated for us. During the singing, she would start translating the first few phrases, and then get lost in the song, singing in Spanish. She translated anything spoken. People in the congregation knew enough English that if she got stuck, they would help her.

The pastor preached on being part of the family of God and how we are adopted into the family. He used a number of scriptures. It was clearly a message he spent plenty of time putting together.

At the end of the service, the pastor asked me to give a brief testimony. Since he was a very short man, I drew the analogy with Boehm and Otterbein, two men of different stature and different backgrounds who found that they shared the same passion for Christ.

Jeff Bleijerveld also spoke. Then we went out to a restaurant with the pastor and his wife, and four ladies from the church who comprise the board. We talked about what it would mean for them to become United Brethren. I don’t know that it will happen. This was just an exploratory meeting, and there are always issues to be resolved. But they were very interested, and we enjoyed the chance to get acquainted.