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Brethren Global Partners: Argentina
OUR PARTNERS
Council of Elders | Rev. Willy Romanenghi, Rev. Guillermo Rojas
Pictured, Rev. Willy & Viviana Romanenghi
THEIR STORY
Argentina is the oldest Brethren Partner in existence. Beginning in 1907 through the vision and courage of Rev. Carl F. Yoder. His dream took his family from Ashland, Ohio, to Argentina, where he used education and mentoring to disciple people and train them as pastors.
In 1909, Yoder moved his family, accompanied by Bertha May Bell, to Argentina to plant churches and ministries throughout the province of Cordoba. He worked teaching biology at the National College. The Yoders worked in Argentina from 1909 to 1937. After the Grace Brethren Split in 1939, Yoder and his wife returned to Argentina from 1940 to his death in 1955. His family continues ministering in Argentina as pastors and leaders, leaving a powerful legacy of love and service. His dream became a reality, and today, roughly 30 churches throughout Argentina are developing people and bringing hope!
Today, the Brethren Church in Argentina, called IHA, or Iglesia de los Hermanos en Argentina, is responding to a renewed call for discipleship and church planting nationwide. Young leaders are being raised and mentored as they prepare to lead new congregations, while other leaders work not only to strengthen the church but add significantly to its reputation, providing opportunities for education and work training for families and communities alike.
You will also find ministries for recovering addicts like the House of Restoration and House of Blessing in Rosario and the school and church built in Soldini. Camps for kids, youth, and adults, like the one in Decasito just outside Cordoba, provide engagement, education, and fellowship.
NEWS & NOTEWORTHY
Praise the Father for a new Pastoral Couple in Argentina. On Sunday, November 3, 2024, Nancy and Agustin Bidondo were ordained and set as pastors for the congregation in Santa Fe, Argentina. Elders Willy Romanenghi and Guillermo Rojas presided over the ceremony, releasing this amazing young couple into the ministry as the church's pastors. Over the past couple of years, Willy and Guillermo have been working to identify and mentor young men and women and prepare them for the service. This marks the third new elder in Argentina in 2024, with Willy’s own son, Guillermo, preparing for ordination soon. Let us praise God for all he is doing with our partners worldwide! What a testimony to the faith and love of his people and their willingness to accept the call to ministry in the pastorate and in the workplace. God's word continues to be heard, and his kingdom continues to advance. Amen!!! Scott Soden Global Partners Coordinator
After months of collective prayer, meticulous planning, and dedicated fundraising, a united team of 12 embarked from Nappanee First Brethren Church (Nappanee, Indiana) on January 12th for Soldini, Argentina. For those of us who had experienced the previous trip, we anticipated a different journey, yet the specifics remained a mystery. However, we were reassured by the knowledge that God had been preparing us for this mission over the past four years. As a clear sign that the time was ripe, we received news that the governor of the Santa Fe province (our destination) had issued a call for all Christians to evangelize. In response, we collaborated with the church in Argentina to strategize community outreaches. Satan tried to put stumbling blocks in our way. We had flights canceled due to bad weather, airport changes, and the inability to print boarding passes. Through it all, we kept praying, and God answered our prayers. He sent us a ticket agent named Jay, who was raised in our area in a missionary home and was able to arrange new flights for us. Unfortunately, it meant splitting into two groups, and we could not reach our final destination because the flights terminated at an airport four hours away. Pastor Tito arranged for us to be picked up. While waiting for our flight in Atlanta, I received a random text from a friend who said I was on her mind. In relating the story of Jay in Indianapolis, she responded that he was her brother-in-law. Then she also said that she now understood that God was asking her to pray for all of us. We arrived in sunny Argentina on Saturday morning. After reaching Soldini, we settled into our rooms and reconnected with our friends. On Saturday evening, we went to our first outreach with the youth from the congregation. We had a scare with a sick baby, and everyone joined hands and prayed for him while his parents rushed him to a nearby hospital. Within 15 minutes of ending the prayer, we received word that he was okay. We then split into groups and walked the streets to pray for people. Our work week began at 7 AM with prayer and worship at the church. Afterward, we had breakfast and started building bathrooms and painting. There was a lot of laughter and singing as our team worked alongside our friends in Argentina. We took a break for lunch and then returned to work. In the afternoons, we spent time swimming in the pool, playing volleyball, and hanging out with the community. We were fortunate to have multiple translators for this trip, including one from our team. This allowed us to strengthen the relationships that began four years ago. As much as we enjoyed working side by side with our friends, the best times were spent worshipping and fellowshipping together. While in Fisherton, we visited Casa de Benediction, also known as "the House of Blessing." This area has been described as a lost community. Some of our team members conducted a revival outreach on the streets, spreading the gospel alongside the youth. Additionally, three men from our team delivered a message in local churches, with two of them doing so for the first time. Seeing how God gave them the right words at the right time was terrific. The week flew by, and it was time to say goodbye before we were ready. One of our team members described it as "my heart and my family are bigger." This time, we knew it wasn't goodbye, but "see you later." We arrived at the airport in Rosario and once again encountered issues with our flights. The group of 7 could only get to Buenos Aires, but the group of 5 checked through to Chicago. We boarded our flight to Buenos Aires and asked our travel agent to figure out our flights. When we arrived in Buenos Aires, we were told we could get a new flight in 2 days. We prayed and asked God to provide a miracle. The group of 5 left for their next flight, and we booked a hotel. We caught a shuttle to a beautiful hotel, and they graciously kept the restaurant open for those who wanted to eat. The following day, we heard that our travel agent had secured flights for us that evening! We ate breakfast, and then Bruce shared that God had asked him to prepare a short devotional before we left, and he wasn't sure why. We moved outside to a beautiful patio area and started pulling tables around to sit in a circle. A lady was sitting at one of the tables, and we asked her if she was okay if we had a time of worship. She responded that she was a Christian, so we invited her to share with us. Laura Jean was a cargo pilot from Texas who was on a 56-hour layover. We had a beautiful time of worship as we sang "I'll Fly Away" and "Blessed Be Your Name" and prayed together. The rest of the day, we spent time in the pool, going for walks, and napping. We arrived at the airport three hours before our flight. We spent two hours waiting in line to receive our boarding passes, which made us all nervous. Finally, we got through security and faced even more long lines. It seemed impossible that we would make our flight, but miraculously, we made it with 15 minutes to spare before the doors closed. Upon returning to the US, we encountered another ice storm, but fortunately, we had smooth sailing all the way home. I recently came across a quote from a devotional that beautifully describes our trip: “Settling for a life partially devoted to Jesus is too small a thing. God invites us to a bigger story—one where He is the main character.” 1 Corinthians 4-5: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” Other Team members- Joel Helmuth (a true Coach and leader), Nate Yoder, Mike Slabaugh, Bruce Wells, Lamar Miller, John Schmucker, Tim Miller, Chris Yoder, Tammy Rock, Rhoda Miller (translator extraordinaire), and Lydia Schmucker. Respectfully submitted, Alice Hershberger Nappanee First Brethren Church
I love writing articles describing what God is doing among, with, and through your partners globally. Being a bearer, a messenger of joy and hope is such a tremendous joy. This is why Jesus repeatedly referred to his message as the “good news.” I thought I would share the good news about what God is doing with your brothers and sisters in Cordoba, Argentina. Although the last few years have presented significant challenges, their faithfulness and devotion to continually presenting the Gospel and acting as Jesus' hands and feet in their daily lives have resulted in some fantastic things. Don’t just take it from me though; here’s the story in Pastor Walter Romanenghi’s own words. “I must start by saying there was a before and after for the pandemic. In our country, public activities were closed and prohibited from March 20, 2020, until mid-October of the same year. Then it began with a restricted entry of people (50% of the temple's capacity), and an entire year (2021) had to go through with little assistance due to the restrictions and temporary closures repeated a couple of times. Despite this, there were two baptisms in the year 2021 and one baptism in the year 2022. Throughout that stage, there was a great desertion of church members. Almost 40% did not meet again, and another 20% attended irregularly. New situations appeared, such as those who "congregated online" with international churches, others preferred to attend churches closer to their homes, and others, sadly, stopped congregating because their faith had declined. Thus, we began the year 2022 clinging to the word of Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” And our motto and motivation to the church were "Let's move forward". Since the beginning of 2022, young students have come to the National University of Córdoba and begun to attend church. Work with adolescents was also resumed, and a practically new group of about 25 boys was formed. New families have arrived, as well as families and people who come from other churches. (A phenomenon that affected all churches was this turnover of disenchanted members during the pandemic.) The Children's Bible School was one of the ministries that suffered the most from all the changes, and it has been recovering little by little. Between 2020 and 2021, modifications were made to the property to be able to broadcast the meetings on our YouTube channel, and the temple was adapted to specific demands of the pandemic time. In any case, we have again gained momentum to resume our idea at the end of 2019 of expanding our meeting room and building a multipurpose room (a sala de usos múltiples or SUM) in the church's backyard. This is how this year 2023 finds us, with the construction work in full swing, with almost no physical space other than the temple. (The other available rooms are packed with all the furniture and chairs that we have had to keep until the building work is finished). You can watch an update video on the progress of the construction at www.vimeo.com/brethrenhchurchusa.com In these months, we have seen God's economic and ministerial provision. Many brothers have committed to serving in various ministries, and currently, almost all activities are developing at the same level as at the beginning of the pandemic. In some churches, we have grown even more in the number of attendees. (For example, adolescents, children, and married couples) Today the challenge is to “Keep Moving Forward,” as we expand into a new room and take advantage of opportunities to evangelize in a neighborhood increasingly populated by new urban developments. Only one hundred meters around the church, there are five new buildings that, in the future, will be about a thousand new apartments to live in the neighborhood. We thank God for his goodness and provision of everything we need for this advance. The Church has been challenged to give, and today the goal is to raise an additional twenty thousand dollars to complete the progress of the work. It is not an easy challenge because of the difficult economic situation of our country. So, we ask for your prayers to achieve the best possible end in the new SUM of the Nueva Vida Church so that hundreds of children, adolescents, young people, and adults can know Jesus through the church ministry in the neighborhood of Nueva Cordoba.” Rev. Walter Romanenghi What a blessing to hear both the difficulties and challenges and the hope and focus on the future for this beautiful outpost of faith and love. What a powerful testimony to Christ and his Kingdom. What’s God doing in your congregation? We want to hear your story too!  Scott C. Soden Coordinator; Brethren Global Partners