Salisbury City Redención Church Officially Organized to Serve City’s Hispanic Population

The Salisbury City Redención church celebrated officially becoming a new congregation on March 18 during a special afternoon service marking the occasion. This followed the Chesapeake Conference administration’s recent decision to recognize them as a “group.”

The church is located in the heart of Salisbury, Md., near where many of the city’s Hispanic residents live. The location is expected to create new opportunities for evangelism and outreach. The church’s mission is to provide a place of worship and community for the city’s sizeable Hispanic population, and the church hopes to offer a variety of programs and services that will help meet the needs of this community.

The celebration on March 18 was attended by Andre Hastick, Chesapeake Conference executive secretary, and Orlando Rosales, the conference’s Hispanic ministries director. Both men were impressed by the church’s commitment to evangelism and expressed support for the church’s mission.

The church is led by Pastor Jean Pierre, who pastors a district of churches on the Eastern Shore. The idea for the new church originated after Pierre and a few members of the Salisbury Spanish Company in Parsonburg, Md., saw the need to have a church planted within the Salisbury city limits. 

During the pandemic, the church plant’s core group held meetings on Zoom to plan and strategize the launch of their new congregation. While searching for an appropriate location, Pierre spoke with Cesar Gonzalez, who was the pastor of the Beacon of Light church in Salisbury at the time. Beacon of Light rents space from Bethany Lutheran Church for their services, and Gonzalez proposed that both Adventist congregations could share the facility on Sabbaths, with the new Spanish group holding an earlier service in the morning and the Beacon of Light congregation gathering later in the day. This arrangement has enabled both congregations to serve their respective communities without compromising their mission or worship experience.

Salisbury City Redención members believe the church’s location, near where many of the city’s Hispanic residents live, will offer significant opportunities to attract new members. “The church needs to be close to the people. Our church exists for evangelism, so people need to be able to find it with minimal effort,” Pierre explained.

Reflecting on the journey of establishing the new church, Pierre added, “I’ve seen the hand of God guide us in every moment, and the church is growing very, very fast.”