Maugansville Baptist Church

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The Bi-lingual (Spanish/English) in-house linguistic service at Maugansville Baptist is a Church Re-Plant ministry based model designed by Earl Wentzel, Marie Wentzel and Pastor Scott Johnston. Because this linguistic Church ministry crosses cultural boundaries it has been named the "Stephen's Model". The Stephen's Model is an Apostolic model derived from the book of Acts (Act 6:1-7, Act 11:20-26, Act 13:1). The premise of the Stephen's Model centers on spreading the Gospel to different language groups within the churches existing missions field with an internal representative from the parent church who can communicate to the different language group. The objective of this model is to maintain the doctrinal unity and accord of Christ's Church while indoctrinating the new language group into the Word of God and the church through contextual assimilation. This model was not designed with the intention to have two churches operating separately within one church building. It is one united church bodies evangelistic approach within their existing missions field to reach different people groups who have a different language that limits their ability to integrate contextually into a churches Christian environment. Once the new language group is assembled in the parent church they with the church representative operate their own Devotional Worship Service. Sunday school and all other relationship building groups, committees, or functional church teams are incorporated together with the plant participating as one body united in Christ for the sole purpose of advancing God's Kingdom.

"Do not go looking for a people groups with their own religious world view in hopes that your facility will be put to good use by them but pray that brave souls within your own church use their spiritual gifts to cross cultural boundaries and spread Gods Christian Worldview in hopes of continuously advancing his kingdom over and over like the sowing of seeds before each seasonal harvest. Intentional indigenous Church Re-Planting give a person a place to belong". Pastor Scott Johnston

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Tuesday December 11, 2007

Maugansville Baptist Church offers bilingual service

By BETHANY TREMBLAY, Herald-Mail Intern

MAUGANSVILLE — Someone attending the noon service at Maugansville Baptist Church could be in for a surprise - one service in two languages.

The bilingual worship service is the newest ministry project at the church on Maugans Avenue. The service, presented in English and Spanish, began about a month ago.

Pastor Scott Johnston said about 80 percent of all churches have non-English-speaking worship groups that meet in their facilities but are not affiliated with them. At Maugansville Baptist, the bilingual worship service is run by the church, allowing attendees to become members.

The church has always held a multicultural service, but the vision of two members of the church brought the idea of a bilingual service to life.

Earl and Maria Wentzel wanted fellowship at the church to be "a beautiful opportunity for people to share cultural differences," Johnston said.

The ministry, started by the Wentzels, took months of planning and preparation. The bilingual service is presented in two languages at the same time.

"There is a certain rhythm to it," Johnston said.

The ministry provides materials in English and Spanish that Johnston describes as "transitional steps to help Spanish speakers learn English."

The service is interpreted by Maria Wentzel, who explains the English sermon in Spanish as it is given. In addition to Wentzel's interpretations, the church has PowerPoint displays with two columns in English and Spanish, Spanish/English Bibles, and songs that are sung alternating Spanish and English verses.

"It works out well, smoother than most people would realize," Johnston said.

Earl Wentzel leads most of the service, with assistance from Johnston, who said he lets everyone in the church pursue any idea they have for ministry.

"It is the Wentzels' ministry; they do most of the work for it. I just help out where they need me," Johnston said.

Earl Wentzel has been a pastor for 10 years. His wife, Maria Wentzel, is originally from Costa Rica. The Wentzels began their involvement in bilingual ministry in New Jersey. They established bilingual services in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Maria Wentzel said.

Wenztel said since she speaks Spanish and her husband speaks English, they are always surrounded by Spanish speakers who want to learn English and English speakers who want to learn Spanish.

"There are Spanish-speaking people in Hagerstown who want to learn English. We thought this would be a beautiful integration of culture because you can worship God in any language," Maria Wentzel said.

Even though she and her husband have been involved with bilingual ministry, the services they worked with were still separate English and Spanish services, she said. This is the first time they have been able to have a simultaneous Spanish and English worship service.

Starting the first Sunday in December, services at Maugansville Baptist Church started with the traditional service, followed by Sunday school combined with students from the English and bilingual services, and ended with the bilingual service.

The church has about 30 members, and an average of seven or eight people attend the bilingual service, Johnston said.

Wentzel said she is happy with the response from the Spanish- and English-speaking members of the church.

Johnston hopes the ministry will help two cultures in the community grow together.

Through the new bilingual service ministry, Johnston said the church would like to break down cultural barriers, allowing people to better communicate with the community around them.

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