Iglesia de Cristo de Las Casitas

Hours for Services
• Sunday 9:30 AM
• Wednesday 4 PM
• Friday 4 PM

Our first monthly Spotlight is on a mountain congregation located 1-1/2 hours East of Catacamas. Las Casitas, which means "the little houses" in English, is a community of approximately 300 homes, located on a beautifully scenic stretch of mountain.

The church has only been active here for about 10 months, since Jorge Vargas accepted the invitation of a long-time church member, Visitación, to come and pastor the flock there. Visitación became a Christian 28 years ago, but there was no congregation meeting within an hour of where he lives.

Jorge had been teaching a 4-month weekend seminar for women in Culmí, 4 kilometers (a one hour walk) from Las Casitas when Visitación approached him with his request. Jorge says he loves the work in Las Casitas and he loves the people there.

The church already has 4 strong male leaders, and Sunday morning services average 50 adults and around 60 children in attendance. They meet under tarps at the home of Visitación. A recent joint Sunday service between Las Casitas and Culmí, hosted at Las Casitas, brought such a large crowd that they could not fit under the three tarps stretched to capacity against the daily rains of the season. Many of Culmí´s members walked over an hour to be in attendance. A Journey Mission group performed a VBS and puppet skit for the children that was enjoyed by the adults just as much.

Because of the growth of the church, land has already been purchased next to Visitación´s home and that of his extended family. The foundation for the church building has been started, and the church members have been making the cement blocks by hand that will be used to finish the project. A visiting group from McAlester Church of Christ in Oklahoma used the blocks that were made to start the walls. Members of the church continue to make blocks.

Jorge shows a movie most Friday nights for the community´s entertainment. It is viewed on a white sheet attached to the outside wall of Visitación´s home, and is a great tool for evangelism and for becoming familiar with the location of the church´s services. A worship service held before the movie on Friday, July 25, 2008 was attended by 60 persons and the attendance at the movie is usually too large to count. Jorge takes several minutes before the movie to talk about the gospel to those who come just for the movie.

Most of the families within sight of the church building are already members of the body, and the work continues to grow. 5 baptisms on Sunday, July 27th, 2008, make a total of 15 baptisms at the church in the past 2 weeks.