From Tuesday, June 22nd through Wednesday, June 30th, 23 members of Marshville UMC will be traveling and working with brothers and sisters in the Loma Linda community of Managua, Nicaragua. The following is an excerpt from the web page which gives some good information on the church with whom we will be serving. Thanks to Patricia Medina for the translation.
Vision and Mission:
The reduction of men and women that have not met with God, Savior through Jesus in the Country of Nicaragua.
Mission:
To reach people in Nicaragua to announce the salvation and make them become Christians, disciples of Jesus Christ and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Before, Now and in the Future:
Since the beginning this congregation has been working on becoming a Methodist Church. Its’ pastor has been involved in developing the program nation wide. In 2001 it was established as a church. Now this congregation is starting the beginning steps for a new local church, located first in a neighborhood in Sacctera, Managua, but now located in the neighborhood of Villa Roma. Worship is celebrated on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Sunday is Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. There is a dining area where they serve food to 70-100 children three times a week. Thanks to God, the Church and the Fellowship Hall are built.
The congregation started in May of 2000. Our brothers Oma and Rosa were members of the Central American Church before they became Methodists.
At the beginning they started their services under a mango tree. It took almost 3 years for this church to celebrate its worship under these circumstances. In 2002 with the help of our brothers from the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and the local church that they started building a temple that was used until 2005. In 2004, the UMC Covenant Church, Jackson, Tennessee helped with all the funds to buy the land (2500 sq meters) and the funds to build the Fellowship Hall.
At the end of 2005, the UMC Bethany Church, Ohio donated the funds to construct the church project that has been started and predicted to be finished by the end of September, 2006.
The congregation is about 120 people, 58% children, 42% young adult men and women.
