Yakima Foursquare Church finally has a sanctuary of its own

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

-- Matthew 7:7, King James Bible

They're raising their voices and rejoicing. Their prayer has been answered. Their dream has come true.

No more renting. No more moving.

After 17 years of using someone else's space, Yakima Spanish Foursquare Church is no longer paying rent. The Spanish-language church, commonly known as Centro de Fe Christiano, Iglesia Cuadrangular, or simply Centro de Fe, finally has a sanctuary of its own.

"This is such a big thing for us," says the church's administrative assistant, Owens Barrios. "It's definitely been a long time coming."

"As tenants, we were always limited to certain restrictions," he says. "Now, that's gone. We're going to go full strength."

Along with a new sense of ownership and freedom is a sense of permanency, increased commitment, and pride.

"It's like buying a house," longtime church member Joe Marquez says in Spanish through a translator. "Now that we're owners, we feel very happy. At the same time, it's a lot of responsibility."

Buying the building at 1705 W. Chestnut Ave. was no small feat for Centro de Fe. The church struggled -- particularly in its early years -- with maintaining membership. In the beginning, many members were migrant workers who followed crops and didn't stay in one place very long.

Throughout the years, though, the congregation has grown and changed. Now, at 300 members, including children, Centro de Fe is the largest it's ever been.

Still, raising money to operate the church -- let alone make a down payment -- can be difficult. While not all members these days are farm workers, many are immigrants and most are part of the labor force: warehouse workers, landscapers, construction workers.

"No lawyers or doctors," Marquez says.

"That's the next generation," Barrios adds.

Meantime, this generation has made sacrifices, scraping together donations to give to the church while trying to make ends meet and provide for their own families.

"Most of our members are not part of the middle or higher class. They're working-class people," says Barrios, a 28-year-old probation officer who volunteers at Centro de Fe, where he's been worshipping for the past four years.

"I'm happy because we buy this building," says another longtime member, 47-year-old Roberto Perez.

Originally from Mexico City, the agricultural worker met Reynaldo Roman, founder and senior pastor of the church, at the mission and became one of the earliest members of the church. Today, he attends Centro de Fe with his wife and four children.

"When we rent this building, it's not the same," Perez says. "It's not yours; it's just renting. Now, we have this. Now, we own. That's good. Really good."

Thanks to the contributions of the congregation, "we're realizing one of our longtime dreams," the 48-year-old Roman says in Spanish through a translator. "We're very grateful for that."

So far, Roman says, members -- who come from Yakima, Selah, Moxee, Ellensburg, Wiley City, even the Tri-Cities -- have raised about $250,000 to buy and maintain the building, which the church is buying for $1.26 million.

Centro de Fe began a capital campaign more than two years ago, when the sanctuary at 1705 W. Chestnut Ave. was put on the market. Yakima Foursquare Church, led by senior pastor Dave Edler, the mayor of Yakima, was outgrowing the building and needed more space.

The Spanish language church had been a tenant of Yakima Foursquare for about 12 years. But before landing there, the congregation moved three times in five years, from rented space at another Yakima church to the second floor of the Valley Mall, then a warehouse off Fruitvale Boulevard.

Today, Roman recognizes Edler -- along with America West Bank -- for patience in making the dream of owning a church building possible.

He makes no bones about it: Centro de Fe grew from humble beginnings. Roman and his wife Doris, 42, moved in 1991 to Yakima from Wenatchee, where they were active in the River of Life Foursquare Church, to start the church.

It was their calling, they say. But it wasn't easy.

"It was definitely very scary," Roman says. "It was very difficult."

"You're compelled by the calling you feel," he says. "It's a calling that is impressed with fire on your heart, a calling that doesn't leave you alone. Sometimes, you feel disappointed. Sometimes, you feel like quitting. But seeing so many families in need gives us motivation."

The husband-and-wife team recruited the old-fashioned way, knocking on doors, spreading news of the new church by word of mouth.

"We wanted to make personal contact," says Roman, who also preached in jail and reached out to people in public parks and the Union Gospel Mission.

Their first recruits -- who have since moved on -- were a homeless family of six, living in Yakima's Miller Park at North Fourth and E streets. The Romans took them in, sharing their modest two-bedroom apartment with the family in need.

The couple knows what it's like to live with little and come from somewhere else. Like many of Centro de Fe's members, both are immigrants.

Roman, originally from Zacatecas, in the state of Zacatecas in northern Mexico, came to the United States in 1979. His wife is from Guatemala.

The deal closed in late May. Centro de Fe held a fiesta in early June to celebrate.

"It's closed. It's theirs," says Edler, Centro de Fe's former landlord. "We're very excited. It's a huge step."

"We wanted to make sure (Centro de Fe) got to stay in that facility," Edler says. "Now, they're extending the same grace that we extended to them."

Not only does Centro de Fe now own the building, it's transitioning from renter to landlord, renting space to the new Franklin Hill Foursquare Church. The "church plant" of Yakima Foursquare is officially set to open in October.

Centro de Fe is also looking to expand, grow its youth and couples' ministries, hold Christian music concerts, and make space available to the community.

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