Nuestra Iglesia is a student-led church on campus that welcomes anyone and everyone to a comforting service every Sabbath at 10:30 a.m. in the Village Hall and embraces traditions from Spanish Seventh-Day Adventist churches. “Nuestra” is a Spanish word that translates to “our” and “Iglesia” means “church.”
Andres Anaya, a junior product design major, is serving as the pastor of Nuestra Iglesia for his second year in a row.
Anaya struggled a lot, as most of us did, through “the Covid year” of college. He felt isolated, without purpose or community. That all changed when a friend asked him to play guitar for Spanglish Church, which was the previous name for Nuestra Iglesia. He had never heard of Spanglish Church before. On his first Sabbath there he led worship for about 10 people including himself, and for the first time in a long while, he felt like he was home.
After a summer of a lot of prayer and self-reflection, he began his first year pastoring what is now called Nuestra Iglesia.
Nuestra Iglesia has more than doubled its regular attendees, and excitement for the small church began to spread across campus. Anaya reflected, “The once-broken community grew richly. People were getting excited about it. It felt like a big happy family, and I knew I could depend on people.”
With an average of 80-100 people coming through the doors every Sabbath, Nuestra Iglesia is focusing on reaching its arms further into the community. They partner with the Center for Humanitarian Engagement to connect with other local Spanish speaking communities and spread the love of Jesus.
Anaya is also very excited about the new AY program which will bring the Nuestra Iglesia community together on Sabbath afternoons for games, food, fellowship to close the Sabbath. Starting October 21, Nuestra Iglesia will be closing the Sabbath with this new program.
October 20-21 is Nuestra weekend! They will host vespers in the University Church and hold a special church service and their first AY program in the afternoon on Sabbath. Nuestra Iglesia would love to welcome you into their community every Sabbath at 10:30 in the Village Hall. [1]
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