The Garden City, Kansas Hispanic Adventist Church is about to dedicate a new temple.
Well, it’s not theirs, and it’s actually not in Garden City. This building and congregation is the culmination of Garden City’s efforts 70 miles away from home base.
“We are happy to be a part of this and contribute our grain of sand in the great beach of salvation,” says senior pastor Ruber Álvarez.
“As a congregation, you can summarize our philosophy of evangelism in a single word: evangeliving,” he continues. “This means that we preach with our lives and lead by example, so that everything we do can smell and taste like evangelism.”
The church has made it their mission and vision to meet the needs of the community, focusing on guiding the youth and showing compassion for the suffering.
Garden City is vastly diverse, with Hispanics or Latinos forming almost 50% of the population. Furthermore, large Asian and African communities have made the city their home, many of whom are refugees.
Since the city’s economy is driven by agriculture and industry, median home income is well below the national average. Due to these factors, the church hasn’t had to look very far for their mission field.
“We use various ministries to connect with the community,” says Álvarez. “For example, we formed a married couples’ club that convenes once a month with couples from the city. There, we celebrate anniversaries, hold meals and recreation as well as offering counseling.”
Other examples include health fairs with free, basic medical screenings. Mi Ciudad Bella (My Beautiful City) is another community initiative from the Pathfinders Club. “The Pathfinders go out and clean neighborhoods and gift water bottles with a Bible promise.”
Maybe the best evangeliving opportunity comes by way of the city itself. Garden City is a center of broadcast media in Southwestern Kansas. “Each Sunday we broadcast a message from the largest radio station in the city, and we’ve received many testimonies from far away from those that benefit from our program.”
All of this is possible through the work of small groups. “Our vision is one of a triumphant church, empowered and fruitful through small groups,” says Álvarez. “Our mission is to preach the gospel to grow the kingdom of heaven as a lighthouse guiding all to the feet of Jesus.”
With drug abuse a major issue in the city, the youth of the church and community are the first priority.
With this in mind, the church has formed various small groups led by youth, as well as the AY federation so the youth can plan summits, activities and take charge of the development of the Adventurer, Pathfinder and Master Guide clubs.
If that weren’t enough, Álvarez mentions that the church has music classes that youth can enroll in. “Soon,” he says, “we could have the church band ready to go.”
Another way that evangeliving is applied at the Garden City church is their intensive discipleship program. “Each family is given another family to mentor, maybe a new family in church or one that is going through a hard time,” says Álvarez. “The goal is that once the mentored family is strong, they are given a family of their own to mentor, and so on.”
Although growing pains often accompany progress, Álvarez regards the church as healthy.
“A healthy church is one that grows, progresses, and empowers its members by making them feel useful and indeed important in the work to be done as they witness to others,” he says.
Garden City Hispanic has successfully planted a new church in a town far from home. It has been a long journey, but they have 36 members that will meet for the first time in their new home on the 21st of April. In Álvarez’s own words, this is “the fruit of God’s efforts which we have taken on as our own.”
It’s not hard to find churches that seem successful, but when a church “smells and tastes like evangelism”—sorry, make that evangeliving—the results speak for themselves.
