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The Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor (Mennonite Church of the Good Shepherd) began as an outreach to Mexican workers at a poultry processing plant and apple orchard in the Goshen, Indiana area in the 1960s. In 1969, Kathryn Troyer, a former missionary to Puerto Rico, began a Bible study for the immigrants. The Waterford Mennonite Church expanded the Bible study to a Sunday school on Sunday afternoons at Bethany Christian High School. In 1970, a former Methodist church in New Paris, Indiana, was rented to hold regular Spanish-language services. Amzie Yoder, a missionary to Honduras, provided leadership for the first three months, followed by Teofilo Ponce.
The group organized with 20 charter members on 6 December 1970. It joined the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of the Mennonite Church (MC), and was the first Hispanic church in the Conference.
The New Paris services attracted up to 100 people on Sunday mornings, and by 1974 the group moved to a former Lutheran Church on South Sixth Street in Goshen.
In the 1980s, the church sought to ensure that El Buen Pastor continued to be a Spanish-speaking congregation, holding worship services in Spanish only and discouraging the English language at church gatherings. Over time, this policy became difficult to maintain. By 2014, worship services were bilingual.
By 2006, the congregation was ministering to Hispanic persons from many Latin American countries. Some had significant immigration issues requiring legal assistance.
In June 2015, the Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor voted to withdraw from the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA. It objected to the conference leadership's failure to discipline a pastor who had participated in a same-sex marriage. Pastor David Araujo said the congregation had felt "out of sync" with the conference for some time.
Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor then joined the Evana Network.
Bibliography
Araujo, David. "Changes at El Buen Pastor." Gospel Evangel" 95, no. 5 (September/October 2014): 4-5.
Groff, Anna. "El Buen Pastor to leave Indiana-Michigan conference." theMennonite 26 June 2015. Web. 10 June 2024. https://anabaptistworld.org/el-buen-pastor-to-leave-indiana-michigan-conference/.
Ortiz, José. "Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor." Gospel Evangel 87, no. 8 (December 2006): 8-9.
Preheim, Rich. In Pursuit of Faithfulness: Conviction, Conflict, and Compromise in Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Harrisonburg, Va.: Herald Press, 2016: 245-249, 309.
"Spanish church adds first members." Gospel Herald 64, no. 5 (2 February 1971): 108.
Additional Information
Address:
Meeting Place: 523 South 6th Street, Goshen, Indiana 46526
Telephone: 574-349-4339
Website: https://www.facebook.com/ibuenpastor
Denominational Affiliations:
Pastoral Leaders at Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Amzie Yoder | 1970 |
| Tiofilio Ponce | 1970-1975 |
| Mario Bustos | 1971-1975 |
| Jacob Weldon "J. Weldon" Martin (1918-1998)(Interim) | 1975-1977? |
| Samuel F. Hernandez (1941-2008) | 1977-1979 |
| José Socorro Mojica | 1979-1984 |
| Juan Vega | 1985-1987? 1989-1990? 2007-2012 |
| Atanacio Paiz | 1987-1989 1991?-1992? |
| Noel Santiago | 1992-1995 |
| Jose Eliu Rodriguez | 1993-1996 |
| Ron Collins | 1996-2002? |
| Betty Lou Collins | 1999?-2002? |
| Rafeal Barahona | 1999?-2002? |
| Seferina Garcia DeLeon | 2002-2004 |
| Ciro Serrano | 2002-2003? |
| Rolando Sosa | 2002-2004 |
| Jorge Vielman | 2002-2004 |
| José M. Ortiz (Interim) | 2005-2007 |
| David Araujo | 2012- |
Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor Membership
| Year | Members |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 20 |
| 1980 | 41 |
| 1990 | 32 |
| 2000 | 32 |
| 2009 | 43 |
| 2015 | 45 |
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | June 2024 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor (Goshen, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. June 2024. Web. 18 Jun 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Iglesia_Menonita_del_Buen_Pastor_(Goshen,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179133.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (June 2024). Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor (Goshen, Indiana, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 June 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Iglesia_Menonita_del_Buen_Pastor_(Goshen,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=179133.
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