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Missionary Couple Use Skills Gained in Mexico in U.S. Church

July 14, 2015
Enrique Cuveas and Scott Geurink

Enrique Cuveas and Scott Geurink

Alas de Aguila

Scott and Marcia Geurink are using the expertise that they gained in Mexico as Christian Reformed World Missions missionaries to help develop leadership at Alas de Aguila, a Spanish-speaking church in Allendale, Mich.

In 2014, they returned to the U.S. after working for more than 20 years in Tijuana, Mexico, where they started three churches and helped to plant seven others.

“When we were in Mexico, we began to feel God calling us back here for something, but we weren’t sure for what,” said Scott Geurink.

Once they returned, Scott Geurink said he and wife met with the pastor at Rusk CRC, their home church which had planted Alas de Aguila.

“Rusk began the ministry at Alas de Aguila through an English as a Second Language program several years ago,” said Scott Geurink. “A special bond developed between the people.”

Since that time, with the help of Rusk CRC and other churches, Alas de Aguila has been growing. It now has a building and is in the process of incorporating into a Reformed Church in America congregation, said Scott Geurink.

Up to 80 people, many of whom work at greenhouses and on farms in the area, attend services on Sunday.

When they learned that Alas de Aguila’s ministry was expanding and the church might need of some help, the Geurinks met with Enrique Cuveas, the pastor of the Spanish-speaking church, to talk over options of how they might fit into the ministry there.

“He loved the idea of us helping grow this ministry,” said Scott Geurink. “A position was created for us. We are faith missionaries and are working to raise monies for the work.”

In a document that CRWM and Christian Reformed Home Missions submitted to Synod 2015, the work of the Geurinks was cited as an example of how missionaries with international experience can do ministry in a local setting.

Also mentioned in this document was work that World Missions and Home Missions are doing together in Montreal, Quebec and in Houston, Texas.

The document was part of a package of material that was given to synod as part of a request that the two agencies be given approval, which they received, to unify into one agency for missions, both in North America and abroad.

Although the Geurinks don’t work for World Missions or Home Missions, they are doing the type of ministry that reflects ways in which churches and ministries may connect in the future, says the document.

“The Geurinks, like CRHM and CRWM, have a vision for a global, joined mission. But there is still more potential for shared connections with a joined mission agency,” says the document.

“Alas de Aguila and churches like it face a future full of opportunity to partner with churches around the corner and overseas...

“As church plants and missions grow and look to fulfill the Great Commission, imagine if global missionaries and local churches could share their connections and mutually learn from one another,” says the document.

Scott Geurink said he could see Alas de Aguila partnering with other churches in the future.

He also said he believes the unification of Home Missions and World Missions has potential. While questions remain as to how this will play out, he said, the change offers the promise of one agency being able to do beneficial ministry among various groups of people at home and overseas.

“The ministry of these agencies has been quite different and there will have to be adjustments on both sides, but there are definitely good possibilities,” he said.

When they went to Mexico more than 20 years ago as CRWM missionaries, the Geurinks used established church planting strategies along with the gifts of the local people to create strong communities of faith in Tijuana.

Establishing the churches didn’t happen overnight. The work of developing leaders and strengthening existing believers’ gifts took longer than expected.

Still, they persevered.

“The vision for the first daughter mission of [our first church plant] actually came from the men and women who wanted to reach out to a neighboring community,” said Marcia Geurink.

“These same men and women teamed up with us to help start another church.”

Now, the Geurinks have joined with the pastor at Alas de Aguila to do a Bible study and conduct leadership training and different types of discipleship for church members.

They are also mentoring the pastor to help him as he continues to develop himself in the CRC ministry.

“Working here has been a blessing for us,” said Scott Geurink. “We see ourselves as church developers, using many of the things we learned in Mexico in this setting,”