By Pastor Hugo Garcia 

God bless you. My name is Pastor Hugo García, and with my wife Ivania, we lead the Manantial de Vida Evangelical Mennonite Church in Camden in southern New Jersey. Recently, we celebrated thirty years of ministry. As pastors, my wife Ivania and I, along with the entire congregation, can say that since we responded to God’s call to this beautiful ministry, we have carried it out with great joy.

Throughout this period of service in the Lord’s work, we have seen many people responding to Jesus’ call to be saved. It is a profound and sacred moment when these individuals obey the ordinances established by God through the sacred scriptures, including fulfilling the ordinance of baptism, established by Jesus in The Great Commission of Matthew 28: 16-20 and also as established in article 11 of our Mennonite Confession of Faith. 

For this, we have established in our congregation to celebrate baptisms three times a year. We baptize during Holy Week (usually on Easter Sunday), which we celebrate in our church. In July, we perform another baptism service, which we do in a public place, such as at a lake.  The year’s final and third baptism service is celebrated on December 24, making it easy for those baptized to remember the date. 

Before baptisms, we announce to the congregation the upcoming baptism service, and pre-baptismal classes are taught to the candidates.

The minimum age to baptize a believer is 13 years old. We always baptize by immersion, except in special cases where we will baptize by sprinkling. If a person lives in a free union with his or her partner, we first encourage them to unite in marriage and then proceed to baptize them. We give glory to God for all who have responded to the call to be baptized.

Manantial de Vida congregation is a vibrant and diverse church located in Camden, New Jersey. Pastors Hugo and Ivania García lead the church, which offers various ministries to cater to the needs of its members and the community. As an Evangelical Mennonite Church, Manantial de Vida is committed to spreading the gospel and serving the people around it. The congregation is part of the Concilio Iglesias Evangélicas Shalom (CIES) District of LMC.