Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - June/96

Contributor - A.J. (Tony) Veldkamp

Title - Iglesia Reformanda La Senda

Topic - Reformed Church In Canada

In December, 1988, a group of Spanish-speaking people came together in the basement of a Toronto home. This marked the beginning of the La Senda congregation. The meeting was led by Andres Serrano, the man who would eventually become the pastor of the La Senda Reformed Church.

Two months later, in February, 1989, the congregation moved to a location at 1483 Royal York Road. The church used this facility for their services for four years, until their expanding numbers made it necessary to find a larger meeting place. At that time, the congregation moved into a facility at 294 Eddystone Avenue, Downsview. From the outside, the new meeting place appeared to be a commercial building; on the inside it harboured an atmosphere of warmth and beauty. In October, 1992, during the Fall session of Classis, the church was received into the Heformed Church of Canada as an unorganized congregation.

In January, 1993, a steering committee was formed to assist the La Senda Church. The committee was comprised of four members of the Bethel Reformed Church in Brantford, Ontario. Pastor Andres Serrano came to Canada from the Dominican Republic. He decided to name the new church La Senda because that was the name of his former church in the Dominican Republic. The name originates from the Spanish translation of the words of Psalm 16:11-The Path of Life.

The members of the congregation come from at least 10 different countries, which include Argentina, The Dominican. Republic, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Ecuador; they also include Hispanic Canadians.

When you attend the services at La Senda, you are bound to meet some interesting people. I remember meeting a soccer player there who bad been on the Chilean national soccer team.

Services are held on Sundays as well as on most nights of the week. The church has also opened its doors to the Daily Food Bank. On Tuesdays from 12:00 noon to 2:00 P.M., the church participates in a food distribution program. This community service offers the members of the church an opportunity to tell others about the love of Christ as they work with the down and out in Toronto. Another program at La Senda Reformed Church is Pro Templo. Through it, prepared food is made available for sale to the people after the services. Money raised from the sale of food is used to provide breakfast for the Sunday School children at La Senda and to pay for other maintenance costs for the church.

The membership of La Senda is constantly changing. This is due to the fact that many people who attend have to move on. for whatever reasons. Some must return to their country of origin because of immigration. problems. Pastor Andres Serrano has been able to help many people find solutions to problems of this type by going through the proper channels.

Since we have been involved with the La Senda church, the attendance has grown from about 40 to 110 participants. The church. has always experienced difficulties meeting financial obligations. This is understandable when you consider that most of the people who attend have very little in the way of financial resources. It's often the case that these people have had to leave their natives lands because of persecution. The populations of most of the countries in Central and South America are predominantly Roman Catholic. As a result, when people choose to embrace a Protestant faith, they are often looked upon. as outcasts. This circumstance can create a great deal of hardship.

The worship services at La Senda are very warm and are perhaps a little noisier than we are used to. We have to realize that the culture of Latin America is vastly different to our own culture. What is most important to the La Senda church is that we love and serve the same Lord. When. we, the steering committee, embarked on. the task of guiding the La Senda church, one of the committee members remarked that the way be saw it was that the mission field is our backyard. Keeping that in mind, we have given our support to the church, and we have very much enjoyed working with our sisters and brothers at La Senda.

It has not been easy to meet financial needs for it is very costly to operate within the city of Toronto. However, the church has received donations from many other churches and continues to have very generous benefactors who believe in the future of La Senda. Money has been. set aside to fund the project, although it is hard to keep up with the rising costs. The members of the steering committee believe that La Senda is a worthwhile cause. They also believe in a strong future and are working towards making La Senda self-supporting, possibly within a few years. Financial givings from the members of the church have increased considerably and are now in the $50,000 per year bracket. For this achievement, they are to be congratulated.

La Senda is a very vibrant and active community church. This can be seen in the number of people who have been baptized. In June, 1995, a group of 10 people were baptized. In October, five were baptized, in December three more, and in January, 1996, six more people were baptized.

La Senda became an organized congregation on May 1, 1996, in a ceremony attended by 275 people. There are now 33 charter families registered with La Senda, and the church. continues to grow.

Even though so many of the congregation stay for only a short space of time, Pastor Andres Serrano feels that it is a blessing that those people who have to move on have been introduced to the Gospel at La Senda. They can carry the good news with them wherever they go.

Metropolitan Toronto has a large Hispanic community, and there is a real need for direction and purpose in that community. The Reformed church has already experienced expansion in this area with the establishment of Agape Hispanic Church in Weston. The pastor there is Rev. Brigedo Cabrera. There is a good possibility that more churches like Agape and La Senda will be formed. In. order to function better and give stronger leadership in. this new area of God's Kingdom, the steering committees of both churches were dissolved, and the Hispanic Mission Committee was formed. This body will oversee all the Hispanic involvement in the Toronto area for the Classis of Ontario. It is our prayer, in the committee, that God will give us the wisdom and the faith to bring to fruition the work that has begun here. All around us, evil seems to grow. Still, there is an increasing hunger for the good news of salvation. We need to work diligently in the backyard mission fields. We need to have compassion for the homeless and distressed people of Toronto as they wander like sheep without a shepherd.

As Jesus said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Pray therefore for the Lord of the Harvest to send out labourers unto His harvest." (Matthew 9:37-38) In John 4:35-36, "He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life so that sower and reaper may rejoice together."

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