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Ministry Continues After Philadelphia Pastor's Death

May 3, 2017
Pastor Nate Morris, Sis, and Kurt Riexinger and his daughters, Abigail and Emmaline, stand on porch of Germantown Peace Church .

Pastor Nate Morris, Sis, and Kurt Riexinger and his daughters, Abigail and Emmaline, stand on porch of Germantown Peace Church .

Chris Meehan

Memories of Manny Ortiz, the founder and longtime pastor of Spirit and Truth Fellowship in northern Philadelphia, Pa., remain painful but inspiring and even comforting for the people who knew him.

Considered by many a pioneer in urban ministry in the Christian Reformed Church and beyond, Ortiz, 78, passed away in March as a result of complications from knee surgery and influenza. Although he had slowed down in recent years, he remained active, making plans for the church and its many ministries, until his health failed.

“Manny Ortiz has many lessons to teach us in the Christian Reformed Church,” said Moses Chung, director of Christian Reformed Home Missions.

“He took being the church in the neighborhood seriously and devoted much of his time to building up young leaders to lead the many ministries he helped to start.”

Ortiz’s office in the Joy in the City center, located just across the street from the Spirit and Truth church in Hunting Park, is still intact. Books on mission and spiritual growth spill from the shelves; his desk is piled with papers and stacks of folders. Photos hang on the walls. From the looks of it, Ortiz, who was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Harlem, might have just gone out for a cup of coffee and would be expected back soon.

“We miss him so much. He had so many ideas and dreams for the church,” said Sue Baker, Spirit and Truth’s ministries director, who worked for more than 30 years with Ortiz. They began serving together when Ortiz was pastoring and planting churches in Chicago.

“Right now, we are stabilizing and reevaluating where we are. Manny left us with a strong foundation to build on.”

Spirit and Truth Fellowship is located in a largely Hispanic/black area in Philadelphia. Neighborhoods of rowhouses are interspersed with a few grocery stores, bars, restaurants, quick-cash centers, and cell phone shops. Colorful murals decorate many businesses and empty buildings, a move the church supported when it opened more than 20 years ago and helped begin a beautification effort.

Today, much of this area has been touched by the church, which has launched or partnered in a range of ministries, including a health center, a grade school, after-school and arts education programs, a sports ministry, and a handful of church plants staffed by people who were trained by Ortiz and who worship in buildings within a mile or so of what people call “the mother church.”

While the ministry remains vibrant following the death of Ortiz, a shadow of sadness, colored by rich recollections of what he meant to people, moves through the lives of those carrying on after his death.

“I grew up in this neighborhood. I was baptized at Spirit and Truth when I was 17,” said Benjamin Soto, who serves as associate pastor at By Grace Alone, one of the church plants.

“Manny had a way of bringing the gospel and showing us how it interacts with the brokenness in our neighborhood. He cast a vision and showed us how the kingdom of God could be lived in our lives.” 

Ortiz, he said, encouraged him to study for the ministry, “and he walked beside me through the bumps and bruises of the journey.”

After having Ortiz as a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and training at Spirit and Truth, Taehoo Lee knew he had a calling to work with the poor in the community. And Ortiz suggested he move into a rowhouse in a neighborhood filled with drug dealers, crime, and desolation.

On a recent evening, Lee stood outside of his house and recalled how Ortiz brought him down here and said this is where he needed to be.

Instead of starting a church, for more than 10 years Lee has essentially been a pastor to his neighbors, shoveling snow for the elderly in the winter, turning the entire block into a camp for kids in the summer, handing out turkeys at Thanksgiving, visiting members of his “parish” in the hospital, and, when needed, accompanying them to court.

“I had no idea what I was getting into when I came down here, but Manny told me to be a good neighbor,” said Lee. “One thing led to another, and things have evolved. I’ve always sensed that God is up to something around here. What I’ve done is practice ministerial presence here.”

Down the street is a two-story building that once housed a store and a few apartments. Right now, it is dilapidated, the walls sagging, the foundation crumbling in places. But Lee and people in the neighborhood are raising funds to refurbish it and turn it into a community center.

The following morning was Sunday, and Lee preached at Spirit and Truth, starting out by giving tribute to Ortiz, his mentor and friend. Then he spoke about the need, as Paul writes in Philippians 2:12, to “work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling.”

Lee also added, echoing theology that Ortiz had taught him, “Salvation is not a ticket to heaven. Salvation is alive and in process. We are called to allow God to work in our lives in order to help increase his kingdom and shalom in the world.”

At Spirit and Truth, he said, God’s shalom is evident in its ministries, in a legal clinic, in the grade school that meets in the church, in the nearby health center.

“So many people are being blessed by God through us,” he said.

Later that day, Nate Morris sat on the front porch of Germantown Hope Community Church, watching traffic flow down the street, along which were scattered other churches, several boarded-up buildings, and a few businesses and homes.

Morris said he first met Ortiz while working as a facilities director in the Joy in the City center.

Ortiz had asked Morris if he’d wanted to attend Spirit and Truth, which he and his wife ended up joining, and eventually had said he thought the Lord wanted him to study for the ministry, which Morris did.

“But I never considered becoming a pastor of a church,” said Morris. “I thought I’d work with ex-offenders.”

Ortiz, however, had other ideas, seeing in Morris more than the man saw in himself. Besides helping to train him for ministry, Ortiz helped Morris with his marriage.

“Manny pulled me back and got me on course,” he said. “Manny was a father figure to me, a pastor and a shepherd.”

As he stood on his porch, Morris waved an arm, saying he saw the two square blocks on each side of his church as his mission field. He and others take prayer walks in the area, hold a Wednesday Bible study, offer a meal, and open the church, founded on Easter Sunday, 2003, for people who are recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.

“Our church is part of all aspects of life here,” said Morris.

Barbara Weidman, an associate pastor at Spirit and Truth, said Manny Ortiz began to place more emphasis on spiritual growth and development in recent years and began a counseling program for church members to help them get through hard times and move closer to God.

“As Manny got older, he saw the need for spiritual development for himself and the church as well,” she said. “We want people to grow and to reflect on spiritual practices. We are here for them if they find themselves in a harmful place.”

Frederick Harvey III is training to be an elder at Spirit and Truth. He is also helping the church as it looks to the future of its spiritual journey, first defined and guided by God through Manny Ortiz, he said.

“Just as Manny helped me to discern and discover my gifts, I’m helping us look at what our next 20 years will look like,” said Harvey, an ordained Baptist minister who is now seeking to be ordained in the CRC.

“Our founder has gone to be with the Lord, but he taught us to always be seeking God, to repent when necessary, and to be willing to take chances in following the mission of God,” said Harvey.

Click here to see a Home Missions video featuring Ortiz and Spirit and Truth Fellowship.