La Vina – La Iglesia Saint Paul

2022 New Year Message

Goodbye to 2021, hello 2022!

2021 was another memorable and turbulent year for La Iglesia Saint Paul (and the world), from continuing to live through the pandemic, to becoming an independent church, our community has not only continued to walk the life of faith but also thriving. Our family now is over 139 strong and we continue touching the lives of thousands of our neighbors and community.

Our compassions outreach ministry called the “Fruit of the Vine Food Shelf” served 4,077 families, or 14,539 people with 455,741 pounds of groceries. Many of our members were introduced to La Iglesia through our food shelf invitation.

Our church has also matured through different challenges, some pandemic related, others from unexpected crisis. What strikes us the most as we remember 2021 is:

La Iglesia leadership team grew in its walk with the Lord and commitment to the church.
We changed our name from La Vina to La Iglesia.
La Iglesia made difficult decisions to keep the focus of God’s calling on our community.
Our discipleship groups have grown in numbers.
La Iglesia served the hunger needs of our neighbors and communities throughout the pandemic.

It’s because of your prayers, helping hands, and generous giving. Thank you for our family as we make an enduring local and global impact!

As an organization, we are planning several initiatives as we head into the first quarter 2022.

We have merged the Fruit of the Vine Food Shelf into our Compassion Outreach ministry.
Vineyard Community Services has become a program of La Iglesia.
Staffing updates include administration and the compassions outreach ministry.

For 2022 we sense the Lord leading us to prayer for…

Leadership – new ministry leaders to serve the mission and vision of La Iglesia. For some of us, “renewing our first love”
Vision and strategy – to grow our board of directors to provide vision and strategies
Outreach – growing the church volunteers into the weekly outreaches, seeing people through the Lord’s vision and using the outreach as an evangelism and discipleship tool.
Facility – space enough to meet our growing needs, as well as our community service ministry and focus

Our compass points to the Kingdom of God and the ministry of Jesus the Messiah. We desire to do what He is doing and to follow His lead.

Living the Jesus lifestyle – Walking with Jesus

As we start a new year in the life of the Church, we want to take a moment and talk about living the Jesus lifestyle with some goals for our personal walk.

Taken from Matthew 6:25-7:23

Jesus’ words are the greatest words ever spoken. They are challenging, for example, He says, ‘do to others what you would have them to do you’ (7:12). This golden rule is beautifully simple and most of us have heard it said, but it seems impossible to live out. ‘Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them’ (v.12, MSG).

Our challenge is putting Jesus’ words into practice. His instructions are clear, but the standards seem impossibly high. Yet, nothing is too hard for the Lord.

Stop worrying and start living

Jesus commands us not to worry about our lives or for material things (6:25,28–31). Think ahead, plan, but don’t worry ahead. Trust in the Lord to provide (v.26). He knows your every need (v.32). Faith is the antidote to worry. You cannot add a single hour to your life by worrying (v.27).

Live one day at a time. Don’t borrow trouble from tomorrow: ‘each day has enough trouble of its own’ (v.34b). Decide today not to worry about tomorrow. Trust God to provide for you one day at a time.

Priorities

Jesus tells us to change our ambitions and priorities. Seek God for who He is and not for what He can do for you. Like us, God does not want his friends only to be interested in what they can get out of Him. He wants you to seek His ‘presence’ not just his ‘presents’.

Take on a new set of responsibilities that are both exciting and challenging: ‘seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be yours as well’ (v.33).

Do not be judgmental

We are not to take pleasure in judging others, not to enjoy seeking out other people’s failings or presuming their actions spring from bad motives. If we knew what people had been through, their sorrow and their suffering, we would not be so quick to judge. Jesus tells us to get our own lives sorted out first. We are to change ourselves before we try and change other people (7:1–5). Rather than sowing harsh criticism and judgment, sow mercy, kindness and love.

Persist in prayer

Don’t be repetitious but be persistent. Jesus makes wonderful promises of answered prayer (vv.7–8). He promises ‘good gifts’ as you pray (vv.9–11).

Choose to live a radical life

Stay on the narrow road that leads to life (vv.13–14). On the narrow road there is no room for pride, dishonesty, anger, hatred of enemies or unforgiveness.

Humility is the order of the day. You must give, pray, exercise self-control and seek first the kingdom of God. It is a road of purity, integrity, honesty and forgiveness. It is a road where you are required to ‘do to others what you would have them do to you’ (v.12). You are to show good fruit – by your character, lifestyle, teaching, actions, impact and relationships (vv.15–23).

Lord, as we face the challenge of living the Jesus lifestyle this year, thank you that nothing is impossible with you. Fill us today with your Holy Spirit and help us to live the kind of life that deep down we long to live.

Pastors: Ulises and Reyna Bello

Administrative Pastors: Brian and Kim Geraty

Eres bienvenido!! You are welcome!!

The La Iglesia St. Paul is a multi-ethnic with a Latino primary expression that is multi-generational that values all people, regardless of age, socio-economic status, gender, and ethnicity!

At La Iglesia Saint Paul, we welcome people from all backgrounds and at any spiritual level. Our functions and services are open to any person who is willing to come and explore the Christian faith. Our aim, in everything we do, is to help people live in the way of Jesus with the heart of Jesus.

Come join us Sundays at noon to 1:30pm and Wednesday evenings from 6:30pm, all are welcome!

Welcome to church services

Hello community,

We are a multicultural community with an upbeat celebratory worship service, relevant message and a community that is involved in local and global concerns of justice, advocacy and serving the poor. As a full-Gospel, non-denominational church we are committed to pursuing His presence, building His kingdom and sharing His love. Our goal is for you to belong, believe, and become. We want to extend our invitation to our weekly services at La Iglesia Saint Paul.

– Sunday Worship Service Starts at noon to 1:30pm in the Upper Fellowship Hall of First Covenant Church. Children’s class starts right after worship in our Community Room. Also, English translation is also available throughout our services.

– Wednesday night Bible Study is from 6:30pm in our Community Service Room.

We also operate a busy food shelf serving the neighborhoods of Saint Paul and the extended region. You are invited to serve as a volunteer or to be our guest, either way, we would love to see you.

Our facility is still working on safe Covid-19 safety protocols with masks required in our facility. We want to follow all personal safety measures regarding the use of mouth covers, social distancing and cleaning. We do this because of our deep love for each of you and our neighbors.

La Iglesia St Paul, 1280 Arcade Street, Saint Paul MN 55106

Thank you, we look forward to seeing you at the Service!

Blessings!

Pastoral and Ministry Teams

About our logo

WHAT OUR LOGO REPRESENTS

The logo represents three people, because the church is the people of God, not buildings, chairs or a steeple. The three people come together and when they do they form the cross of Christ, the symbol of Christianity. The dot or circle represents the person’s head and the colored lines represent the arms and therefore the action of the person. The person in blue represents a person in adoration or worship. The person is lifting up his arms toward heaven in worship. The blue color represents heaven where God resides and where all of our worship is directed to. The person in green, a color associated with life, growth and reproduction, means missions. It is the mission of Jesus to go into the world to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to make disciples, that make disciples. The result of that will be life, growth and multiplication. As the church fulfills the mission there will be more people saved and transformed. More disciples of Jesus. And more churches. There will be growth and multiplication. And the person in yellow, which is a warm color, signifies the close relationship among brothers and sisters in Christ who gather together to edify one another:

by teaching one another,
or by using their spiritual gifts and natural talents,
or by encouraging one another by praying and caring for one another.

Our name is simply La Iglesia (the church) because that’s exactly what we were called to be and what we want to be. We simply want to do what the church is supposed to do (Adoration, Edification and Mission). And just as the original church did not have a name such as Trinity Church, or The Good Shepherd Church or Harvest Bible Church, we prefer to call ourselves La Iglesia to express not only what we want to be and to do, but also to express our simplicity. We do not want to be a sophisticated, complex or fancy church but a simple church like the church in the book of Acts. And just as the first church was recognized by its location (the church in Rome, the church in Ephesus, the church in Corinth, etc.) we want to be identified as the church in our different locations. We are the church in Saint Paul.

We are “La Iglesia St. Paul”

After a time of prayer and consideration, we are changing our name to La Iglesia St. Paul in accordance to the first church in Acts.

Based on the first church that appears in Acts 2, we see that the church is a group of believers in Christ who come together for three purposes: Worship, Building and Mission. Worship is looking for the Lord together to worship him with words, music and thanksgiving. Building is to grow and edify the church by using our gifts where some are praying for others, some singing and playing instruments, others teach, others prophesy, others preach, others teach children or young people, others serve food, and there are many more gifts that people have been given for the use of edifying the church. Mission is Jesus’ mission to evangelize and make disciples who make disciples. The church, the Bible and the pandemic have taught us, it is not a building. It’s not Sunday. It’s not a small group that does everything. The church is all believers who gather to worship God, edify each other and fulfill the mission of Jesus. The church had no names originally. The church was simply known as The Church. And when they wanted to address a part of the church they went with these words “to the church in Corinth” or “to the church in Rome.” We are the church in Saint Paul.

During this period of reflection, we considered ‘who we are’ and what are our values. From these conversations we developed a vision and mission statement that would be simple, yet indicate our culture (mission) and where we want to be (vision). the following is our determination:

VISION (where we are headed) Based on The Great Commission in Matthew 28 – ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Our VISION is to be a community that is building the Kingdom of God to all nations, one life at a time.

Our MISSION (what we do today) – We seek to be a congregation of disciples of Jesus that gathers to accomplish three main purposes: To Know, Love and Serve God

Estamos cambiando nuestro nombre!

A la familia y comunidad extendida de La Vina de Saint Paul (la “LVSP”), así como a otras personas interesadas:

Habiendo celebrado nuestro cuarto aniversario, encontramos que nuestra iglesia está entrando en una nueva temporada. Estamos emocionados de ver adónde nos llevará Dios a continuación. Como una comunidad eclesial saludable, compuesta principalmente por inmigrantes latinos, nos mantenemos enfocados en lo que Dios está haciendo y en seguirlo. Nuestra congregación y grupos de discipulado están creciendo, y nuestros alcances impactan de 75-120 familias cada semana. LVSP también está creciendo rápidamente en madurez. Nuestra comunidad acogedora refleja el amor en el Reino de Dios en constante expansión.

Si bien a nuestra iglesia le está yendo muy bien. Sin embargo, están sucediendo algunas cosas poco saludables, injustas y dolorosas en el liderazgo del área de Vineyard que nos han afectado profundamente y, debido a eso, el equipo de liderazgo de LVSP y la junta directiva han decidido retirarse de la asociación de iglesias Vineyard y, en consecuencia, cambiar nuestro nombre. Tomar esta decisión fue difícil, hemos buscado el consejo de otros pastores y líderes cristianos familiarizados con nuestra región y área. Y ahora, queremos compartir con ustedes nuestras razones para tomar esta decisión, siendo lo más respetuoso posible con las partes interesadas.

LVSP se unió a la asociación de iglesias Vineyard como plantación de iglesias hace 4 años. Cuando una iglesia se une a la asociación Vineyard, se le asigna un líder de área. El líder de área asignado es para apoyar a las iglesias locales de la asociación. No obstante, en el corazón del líder de área se ha arraigado una ofensa con la que no se ha podido lograr la reconciliación. Desafortunadamente, la ofensa ha crecido y ha dado lugar a acciones más graves que han causado que el liderazgo de LVSP sienta que ya no es seguro para nuestra congregación continuar como parte de ese liderazgo y sus prácticas. Una iglesia de un viñedo local, su pastor y concejo, así como el líder del área, han causado nuestra preocupación. Este grupo eligió entregar a un pastor inmigrante ordenado por Vineyard y a su familia al USCIS con la intención de expulsarlos. Esta familia era un miembro importante de nuestro equipo de liderazgo de plantación de iglesias. Sentimos el dolor y el sufrimiento causado por las acciones contra esta familia.

Por tal razón, en lugar de continuar operando bajo el liderazgo de esta área, hemos decidido desvincularnos de estos líderes y de la asociación Vineyard y mantenernos enfocados en el Reino de Dios y Su llamado para nuestra comunidad.

En el tiempo de Dios, esperamos un tiempo de reconciliación. Sabemos que la unidad es a lo que estamos llamados en el cuerpo de Cristo, porque ellos sabrán que somos cristianos por nuestro amor.

Cambiaremos nuestro nombre y otras referencias a “Viña”. Nuestros valores y creencias fundamentales siguen siendo los mismos, así como nuestra visión y misión. La disociación no tendrá ningún efecto ni impacto en nuestra comunidad.

Estamos muy entusiasmados con lo que el Espíritu Santo está haciendo en nuestra comunidad y ministerios y queremos mantenernos enfocados en este llamado. Es nuestro privilegio servir a nuestra comunidad y crecer en madurez en Su Reino.

We are changing our name! – Estamos cambiando nuestro nombre!

To the La Vina de Saint Paul (the “LVSP”) family and extended community as well as other interested people:

Having just celebrated our fourth anniversary, we find our church is entering a new season. We are excited to see where God will lead us next. As a healthy church community, comprised primarily of Latino immigrants, we remain focused on what God’s doing and following Him. Our congregation and discipleship groups are growing, and our outreaches impact 75-120 families each week. LVSP is also rapidly growing in maturity. Our welcoming community reflects love in the ever-expanding Kingdom of God.

While our church is doing great, there is some unhealthy, unjust and grievous things going on in the greater Vineyard area leadership that have affected us deeply and due to that, the LVSP’s leadership team, and board of directors has decided to withdraw from the Vineyard association of churches and consequently change our name. Making this decision was hard, we have sought counsel from other pastors and Christian leaders familiar with our region and area and determined this is the right decision for our community. We want to share our reasons for making this decision, while being as respectful as we can to the parties concerned.

LVSP joined the Vineyard association of churches as a church plant 4 years ago. When a church joins the Vineyard association, they are assigned an area leader. The assigned area leader is to support the local churches of the association. An offense has taken root in the heart of the area leader to which reconciliation has not been able to be achieved. Unfortunately, the offense has grown and led to more grievous actions that have caused the leadership of LVSP to no longer feel it is safe for our congregation to continue as part of that leadership and its practices. A local vineyard church, its pastor and council, as well as the area leader has caused our concern. This group chose to turn in a Vineyard ordained immigrant pastor and his family to the USCIS with the intent of removal. This family was an important member of our church planting leadership team. We feel the hurt and suffering caused by the actions against this family. Copy of the two letters are available by emailing admin@lavinasp.org.

Instead of continuing to operate under this area leadership we have decided to disassociate from these leaders and the Vineyard association and stay focused on the Kingdom of God and His calling for our community.

In God’s timing we look forward to a time of reconciliation. We know that unity is what we are called to in the body of Christ, for they will know we are Christians by our love.

We will change our name and other references to the “vineyard”. Our core value and beliefs remain the same, as well as our vision and mission. The disassociation from Vineyard will have no affect or impact on our community. We are seeking the Lord to establish a new name for us at this time.

We are very excited about what the Holy Spirit is doing in our community and ministries and want to stay focused on this calling. It is our privilege to serve our community and grow in maturity in His Kingdom.

La Vina de Saint Paul celebrates its fourth year anniversary

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]The La Vina de Saint Paul community celebrated it’s fourth birthday party this past September 11th at the First Covenant Church parking lot.

Several people were baptized, several powerful testimonies of God’s goodness, music and excellent dinner made the evening special.

We celebrate with pastors Uli and Reyna, the leadership team and the community of La Vina de Saint Paul.
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Wednesday Night Bible Study – Community Room

La Vina Saint Paul’s Wednesday Night Bible Study is a very popular gathering to learn the Word and fellowship in our Community Room at the church. This will be a fascinating study and discussions as we cover God’s plan to build the church.

Everyone is invited, please come for worship at 6:30 PM, the Bible Study starts at 7 PM. The meeting will be in the Community Room, next to our food shelf store at the First Covenant Church building You will be met by a greeter.

We are practicing social distancing, sanitization and masks are required!

Article on Vineyard USA

La Vina Saint Paul was established to not only serve the Spiritual needs of our communities in Saint Paul, Minnesota, but also the physical needs of our at-risk neighbors. In fact, we started a food shelf prior to opening our church plant.

In 2017 our location had the highest poverty and lowest income levels in the state, which is when we first started meeting with our launch team. This trend continued into the pandemic and we found ourselves in a more concentrated food desert; continuing to serve the food insecure through different means. A large part of our diverse service population is multi-ethnic, unemployed or under-employed.

What stands out to me, is that many of our hundreds of food shelf participants also consider our food distributions as a form of church service. Eddie (name changed) told me, “This is where I come to receive groceries, talk about some of my issues and I get prayed for! I appreciate that the people here actually care about me and my family.” We also heard, “I can’t make Sundays for church because of work, I think the food shelf is my church.”

La Vina Saint Paul has continued serving the public through the pandemic by changing our food distributions from an inside choice method to a drive-up service in our parking lot. Now our parking lot volunteers are also ministry hands and feet of the Holy Spirit. Our volunteer force has become an extension of the communities we serve and includes people of many different spiritual walks and ethnicities. This became a ministry target as our church volunteers live out John 17 showing our love for each other as a powerful statement to the world.

We will continue to expand His Kingdom through compassionate services and building a strong community of faith.

In His name, Pastors Ulises and Reyna