by Pastor Hugo Torres

When the early church in Jerusalem began to grow in number of disciples, a problem arose in the daily distribution of food between Greek-speaking Jewish widows and Aramaic-speaking Jewish widows. The apostles wisely proposed to the community of disciples to choose seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and wisdom to entrust them with the responsibility of serving the tables and thus, the twelve devoted themselves fully to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:1-7).

While these activities continue and will remain paramount in the lives of pastors for the sake of their ministry, they are also paramount in the lives of believers for their growth and service. We find right here in the book of Acts, the apostles and all the believers who had received his word, constantly studying the Scriptures, having fellowship, observing the sacraments and praying together (Acts 2:42).

Based on the evangelistic scope of the apostles (Acts 1:8) and the new life of believers in Jerusalem, a Bible study in Spanish began in our church in March every Monday at 7:00 pm at the Café focusing on two activities: the teaching of the Word of God and prayer. I believe that these two activities are vital for the Christian, just as the two wings of a bird are vital for it to fly. But if the bird is missing one of the two wings, it will be impossible for him to fly.

God has been working since the beginning of this bible study adding new people and maturing them in their faith. It started with only one married couple that I myself already knew from La Puente.  After a few months, the attendance at the study has grown to an average of 10 to 13 people every Monday. Only one person is not a believer, while the rest are believers with different levels of maturity and paths of life. They are mostly locals from Avocado Heights and La Puente, but there are also a few that come from Glendale.

I am teaching the book of Acts, but with a focus on prayer. This means that we are studying all the passages where we see believers praying. By doing so, the group learns in the context of each passage the different aspects (worship, thanksgiving, petition, intercession, affirmation, question) and postures (meditation, Scripture saturation, listening, watching, waiting) of prayer in the life of the Christian. We take time to pray together applying what we have learned about prayer during the study and end with a time of fellowship sharing a snack now that the pandemic restrictions have been lifted.

It is a blessing to see what the Lord is doing and how the group is being edified and unified in the word and love of Christ, as our church continues to reach out to the community with the gospel and build bridges of friendship. My prayer is that God will continue to add more people to this Spanish bible study and my vision is that one day we can start a service in Spanish simultaneously with the English service every Sunday on our campus.