ABOUT US
HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION:
In 1996 a Brazilian family arrived and began to worship at the New City Christian Church, (in Coronation Street. E13) enabling us to look at Newham through Latin American eyes. Attempts were made to worship in English and Spanish offering bilingual support for new Christians. Spanish musicians and preachers assisted these efforts. The Lord started to use the ministry of Rev. Derek Wensley - oversee of “Newham Group of URC” and small numbers of Latin Americans began to join the church.
In 1999 Pastors Pedro Pablo & his wife Luz Stella Arias from Colombia arrived to help the church. They had been part of the first Spanish speaking church in London for many years in central London. Pedro used to work part-time as a "co-pastor" for about 10 years.
Senior Pastor
Pastor & Director of Women's Ministry
WHERE THINGS ARE NOW
Following a lengthy meeting with the pastors and leaders of the church and the ministers of the URC Group, on July 26th, 2003, it was agreed that we became independent but our church looks to work in partnership with other churches and ministries in UK dedicated to the strengthening of marriages, families, women, men and youth.
Our desire was to establish a different partnership with the Newham URC Group. MBN-IGLESIA CRISTIANA DE NEWHAM did continue to use the Plaistow building from Monday to Sunday until December 17th, 2005. We moved again to a bigger place as we keep growing and now we’re working in partnership with River Christian Church in Canning Town.
We have a close tie with the Newham Christian Fellowships, some 60-70 evangelical churches who are in association across the Borough, who are committed to a programme of social and spiritual renewal called Transform Newham. We are also members of the Evangelical Alliance, membership No. 153897.
WHERE THINGS ARE GOING
The Lord is calling us to be a light in London. That is why we have now extended our name-ministry: MINISTERIO BENDICIENDO A LAS NACIONES (BLESSING THE NATIONS MINISTRY) with three churches: Newham in the east; Maranatha, south and Shekinah en the north. We have people coming from other boroughs in London, and we are praying for a place in order to plant another church in the future.
We have a strong emphasis on building quality worship so that each Sunday is a celebration event for Jesus and His people. Discipleship is maintained for women and men separately and together through home/cell groups.
Seminars are held regularly for family life, marriage, issues raised by parents with teenagers, youth ministry and conferences. We would like to give proper support for children with disabilities and for single mothers and their children.
It is important to train and disciple the leaders of our congregation. To this end Statements of faith and practice are being prepared in Spanish to enable our worshippers to recognize their belonging to a local church. These Statements incorporate the EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE STATEMENTS of faith and practice that we acknowledge.
This will help the worshippers at "MBN" to recognize the wider links and also will help us to restore disaffected Latino Christians who have left other church groups unhappily. Our aim is to create a safe, non-threatening environment in which they can reaffirm their faith and enthusiasm for Christ once again.
In our ministry many people are challenged to make themselves available for whatever God called them to do.
Can there be a vision for a multi-cultural church whilst the Spanish language predominates? Yes, we are open to God’s will. Many of the youth are increasingly fluent in English and exposed to Western culture. In the future, as "MBN" grows and if it has enough bi-lingual members and trained leaders, then there is the possibility for two services, one in Spanish and one in English.
CIHCE RECOGNIZES THE LABOUR OF PASTORS PEDRO PABLO Y LUZ STELLA ARIAS, GIVING THEM THE IBEROAMERICAN TITLE OF "DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA”.
The Iberoamerican Council in Honor of the Quality Education (CIHCE) gave Pastors Pedro Pablo & Luz Stella Arias the Iberoamerican Award for Educational Excellence and the Titles Doctor Honoris Causa of Iberoamerica in August 2009 in Lima, Peru.
The ceremony was conducted to understand the work being done in favour of education and the development of people, with the aim of forming healthy, happy and successful persons.