Templo Alabanza Menonita (Moline, Illinois, USA)
The Quin Cities Spanish Mennonite Church in Davenport, Iowa, began in 1963 as a mission project of the Iowa-Nebraska and the Illinois Mennonite Conference mission boards, though the Iowa-Nebraska Conference took over leadership in the late 1960s. The new congregation joined the Iowa-Nebraska Conference of the Mennonite Church (MC) in 1966.
The mission boards asked Mac and Mary Bustos of the Second Mennonite Church in Chicago to head the work among Spanish-speaking migrants in the Quin Cities area on a partially self-supporting basis. Mac Bustos worked at the International Harvester plant in the shipping department.
The William Lauver family (returned Argentine missionaries) and Gladys Widmer, a Puerto Rico missionary home on furlough, had conducted earlier work with Hispanic migrants in the area.
The congregation's first building was a 40'x 50' frame building, seating approximately 170 on the first floor, located at the corner of East Sixth Street and Grand Street, in Davenport. It dedicated the building on 3 May 1964. By 1970, the Quin Cities church began to include some English services at the same time. It moved to Moline, Illinois by 1973 and changed its name to Iglesia Evangelica Menonita. The former location in Davenport became the location of a new short-lived church plant directed toward African Americans called the People's Church. The group located in Moline purchased a former Catholic Church.
Mac and Mary Bustos, after they left Iglesia Evangelica Menonita in 1977, began a new Hispanic ministry back in Davenport, Iowa that became known as the Second Spanish Mennonite Church.
In the mid-1980s, the congregation for a time changed its name to El Camino la Verdad Vida, but it then reverted to Iglesia Evangelica Menonita.
In the early 1990s, the congregation's name changed again to Templo Alabanza Menonita.
Felipe Cantú, a long-serving pastor at Templo Alabanza, also served as a chaplain at Tyson Foods, where many Spanish-speaking people worked.
In 2023 the congregation was part of the Central Plains Conference of Mennonite Church USA.
Bibliography
"Congregation to expand Latin ministry." Gospel Herald 63, no. 23 (9 June 1970): 529.
"New Spanish Ministry." Gospel Herald 57, no. 18 (12 May 1964): 408-409.
Oswald, Laurie L. "Congregation returns to Mennonite fold: first Spanish-speaking Mennonite church in Iowa is training a new pastor." theMennonite 8, no. 3 (1 February 2005): 20.
"Quin Cities Fellowship emerges." Gospel Herald 59, no. 35 (6 September 1966): 797.
Showalter, Richard. "He always thinks positive." Gospel Herald 72, no. 49 (4 December 1979): 943.
Yoder, Holly Blosser. The same spirit: History of Iowa-Nebraska Mennonites. Freeman, S.D.: Central Plains Mennonite Conference, 2003: 268.
Additional Information
Address: 613 3rd Street, Moline, Illinois 61265
Phone: 563-505-8002
Website: https://www.youtube.com/@temploalabanza8651/
Denominational Affiliations: Central Plains Mennonite Conference
Pastoral Leaders at Templo Alabanza Menonita
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Margarito G. "Mac" Bustos (1932-1988) | 1963-1977 |
| Benjamin Vasquez | 1977-1979 |
| Andres Gallardo | 1979-1985 |
| Felipe Cantú | 1986-2008 |
| Ramiro Hernandez (Interim) | 2009?-2011? |
| Margie Mejía-Caraballo (Associate) | 2010- |
| Alberto Parchmont | 2012-2016 |
| Aureliano Vazquez | 2017- |
Membership at Templo Alabanza Menonita
| Year | Membership |
|---|---|
| 1963 | 6 |
| 1970 | 26 |
| 1980 | 42 |
| 1990 | 25 |
| 2003 | 53 |
| 2009 | 76 |
| 2020 | 76 |
| Author(s) | Samuel J Steiner |
|---|---|
| Date Published | April 2023 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Steiner, Samuel J. "Templo Alabanza Menonita (Moline, Illinois, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 2023. Web. 25 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Templo_Alabanza_Menonita_(Moline,_Illinois,_USA)&oldid=175381.
APA style
Steiner, Samuel J. (April 2023). Templo Alabanza Menonita (Moline, Illinois, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Templo_Alabanza_Menonita_(Moline,_Illinois,_USA)&oldid=175381.
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