The Brethren Church

As with many of our cross-cultural ministries, our efforts in Pasadena, California continue to grow and bear fruit.

• Juan Carlos and Maria Miranda have now moved to a smaller home, more conducive to their needs. Juan Carlos continues as the pastor of the Centro Christiano para la Familia (Christian Center for the Family) congregation in Pasadena. Soon they will ordain new deacons and deaconesses as a part of their ongoing leadership development efforts. This congregation has a strong mission emphasis as they continue to hold home groups in various locations. They are always seeking to establish more groups to see which ones may develop into full congregations. A new church in San Bernardino has been considered for some time now.
• Our new church plant in Pacoima is the result of such an effort arising from a home group. The Centro Christiano para la Familia – Pacoima is being led by Juan and Maria’s son Gus, and his wife Gladys. Gus has been continuing his theological education while working as a teacher and also in professional media technology. Gus and Gladys have for several years now been preparing to enter ministry on a more full-time basis.
• The current plan calls for choosing a leader for the Pacoima church plant so that Gus & Gladys can join their parents as associate staff at the main congregation in Pasadena. Gus will assist his father, and Gladys will focus on education, among other things.
• Recently the possibility of starting a new home group in Yucca Valley has emerged. This community is nearly 120 miles east of the Pasadena area. We are excited to see a new ministry begun in a wider circle from the mother church.
• Pray for more leadership as this church planting movement grows and expands to a much wider geographical area.

Home groups are a proven method of going out into the community, building relationships, meeting needs on a person-to-person basis, and sharing the gospel through these relationships. We would do well to consider such a strategy for many of our ministries throughout The Brethren Church. How about considering Pasadena as your next short-term mission destination? Such a trip would be a great encouragement to all, and yield many ministry observations that could be adapted to our own context.