New Hispanic Church Start Part of Open Door Churches of Salem-Keizer
On the evening of Sunday, May 7th, the Open Door Churches of Salem-Keizer enjoyed a celebration at Las Naciones United Methodist Church (formerly Jason Lee United Methodist Church) to officially open the congregation and the Jason Lee Hispanic Resource Center! The evening was filled with a meaningful service, delicious dinner, and a cultural presentation of folk music and dancing.
Hearing from a vast array of speakers, men and women shared their hearts for this new church and spoke of the church's ability to not only help people grow spiritually, but to also reach other great needs in their local neighborhood with class offerings on parenting and citizenship as well as hosting the ongoing food bank ministry.
In a moving show of unity throughout the service, diverse communities stood as one to sing praise to God in Spanish, Russian, and English. Words of love and compassion were shared one to another. Truly, the nations came together to honor this new beginning of Las Naciones United Methodist Church as they reach out to the Grant neighborhood and communities beyond.
The Open Door Churches of Salem-Keizer is a cooperative venture of six United Methodist congregations in Salem and Keizer: Salem First UMC, Morningside UMC, Englewood UMC, Trinity UMC, Keizer:Clear Lake UMC and Jason Lee UMC. The Jason Lee UMC congregation has decided to close, and to donate their building for use by the new Hispanic church start, Las Naciones UMC. The lead pastor at Las Naciones is Rev. Jorge Rodriguez Flores.
You can find more information about the Las Naciones ministry on their Facebook page. Open Door Churches of Salem-Keizer also has a Facebook page.
More pictures.