La Finca Naranja, Cocales YOUTH CHURCH
La Finca El Naranjo is a small section of the city of Cocales. While we bring Jesus into every event and conversation we participate in, El Naranjo is our most evangelical mission.
Pastor Feliciano, a mechanic by trade, started out preaching to his own family. Now he has an adult and a youth service every Sunday in what used to be his living room, attached to his mechanic business.
The Youth Service is attended by about 45 children and teenagers each week. Feliciano's sons lead the services. They formed a worship team, using an old keyboard and drum set, and supplementing it with an array of homemade instruments.
There are hundreds of children within the boundaries of what the pastor calls “the neighborhood”, although, in the oppressive heat of the area, it is difficult for us to walk the entire area in one try.
Our role here is twofold. First, the pastor and his wife offer us a mutually beneficial source of Bible study and discussion. He asks us for faith and emotional support. We find the more we give, the more we get from this amazing couple.
Second, we all have a dream of hundreds of children and their children eventually joining the church. We look forward to spending a lot of time in this big residential community of day laborers and farmers.
The Youth Church is included in all our special events, like "Boot Out Infections" and the Christmas Project. In 2020, we kicked off a new feeding program for the children and some seniors.
We provide Bibles for everyone at the church, as well as Bibles to hand out to neighbors as they introduce their church to others in the community.
MCUGuatemala provides some food support for the pastoral family. We were also happy to match funds and help Pastor Feliciano put new paint on the church and new chairs in the sanctuary.
