THE INCREDIBLE GROWING CHURCH IN THE Dominican Republic

By Julie Z. Lee

The year was 1992. Gabriel Paulino was 15 years old and had only been a Seventh-day Adventist for less than a year when he first heard about Maranatha.

“I had visited a church that had been built by someone named Maranatha,” recalls Paulino, who lives in the Dominican Republic. “And it was a nice experience to be there, to see that new building. Then I was invited to another meeting in another church that had also been built by that same person named Maranatha.”

“And I became interested in knowing who is this person called Maranatha?”

Of course, Paulino later learned that Maranatha was not a person but a ministry, and this ministry had just completed an effort called

Santo Domingo ’92, during which 1,200 volunteers converged in the Dominican Republic to build an unprecedented 25 churches in 70 days. It was a watershed moment for Maranatha’s mode of operation, and it changed the way the ministry organized mission trips. It was also a watershed moment for the Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic, a country on the brink of exploding in faith and growth. Little did either group know that 1992 would be such a pivotal year for the future of both entities.

Fast forward to 2021. After years of pastoral experience, Paulino was now president of the Adventist Church in the southeast region of the Dominican Republic, which he says currently has 58,000 members and 372 churches. (Overall, according to Paulino, there are more than 321,000 members and 1,536 Adventist churches in the Dominican Republic.) But he was in a predicament.

Members at the Agape Seventh-day Adventist Church worship on Sabbath under this plastic tarp. They own a property but have been unable to build—until now. Maranatha is hoping to provide them an actual sanctuary.

“The Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic is very active. They are very dynamic, very missionary, and that makes it possible for the church to grow so much. And that is why, in just a few years, the church is multiplying, multiplying,” says Paulino.

“In the last few years, the Adventist Church in the Southeast Conference has created over 100 new congregations. Many of these churches are daughters of temples that Maranatha has built in the past. And this growth has made it necessary to build new churches.”

But how? According to Paulino, most of the members live paycheck to paycheck or rely on assistance from family members who live abroad. There is little money left to donate toward the construction of a church, although people certainly try. Groups do manage to purchase plots of land but often have no funds left for construction.

“The condition in which many of our members adore God is very deplorable. We have members who worship under trees, under tents, in very, very precarious conditions, which hurts our hearts to know that they have no way of solving these needs of building a worthy house of God on their own,” says Paulino.

With the need for churches rising and no immediate solution available, Paulino decided to step out in faith and start making contact with ministries in the United States. In 2021, he ended up in Orlando, Florida, at the Adventist-laymen Services and Industries (ASI) annual convention. It was there that he ran into Don Noble, the president of Maranatha.

“And in my poor English I said, ‘Hey Don Noble. Do you remember me? I need to talk with you,’” says Paulino. “And that is why Maranatha has now, once again, come to the Dominican Republic to help us build the Kingdom of God with the construction of new churches.”

Multiple conversations, many meetings, and much prayer later, Maranatha kicked off the first project in its fifth effort in the Dominican Republic in December 2022, where volunteers constructed La Caleta 5. The current scope involves nearly 40 projects, ranging from churches to a large school campus, and even water wells. Most of the projects are offspring of churches that Maranatha built during past efforts, where members split off to plant new groups in neighborhoods without an Adventist presence. In the Dominican Republic, there are generations of churches born from a single mother congregation.

One of the most iconic examples of this multiplication phenomenon is the original La Caleta. More than 30 years ago, La Caleta was a congregation of Adventists meeting at a park under trees. While idyllic in the most perfect conditions, hot or rainy weather coupled with noisy neighbors could ruin worship. When Noble learned of this group in the early 1990s, he quickly added their name to the list of 25 churches to be constructed during Santo Domingo ’92.

Since then, La Caleta has birthed 32 churches that can trace its lineage back to this first, outdoor group. Many of these offspring churches have received Maranatha churches during followup efforts in the Dominican Republic, and there are at least two that are receiving a new church this time around.

Among them is La Caleta 4. Alessandra Montero de Alcántara was a member of La Caleta 3, many years ago. But when the group got too large and the distance too far to travel, in 2011, Alcántara and others started a church plant in their neighborhood. They started by meeting in someone’s house, then hopped from home to home to home until they found a space to rent. It’s not a proper church building by any means–it’s meant to be a store–but it is a place with four walls, a sliver of space for a children’s Sabbath School room, and a bathroom.

The problem is that it’s too small for the growing congregation. It’s also very noisy because of its location on a busy street corner. Motorbikes whizz by often, drowning out the sermon or any conversation for several seconds at a time.

Alcántara said the congregation began looking for a property on which to build, and searched for 5-6 years before finding a plot, just a few blocks from the current rented space. They managed to purchase the land with the conference’s help, but it left them no money with which to build a temple. Then, Maranatha announced its fifth effort in the country, and La Caleta 4 made the list of congregations to receive a building.

“I am very grateful to God for Maranatha,

MULTIPLYING CHURCHES:

1 The original La Caleta Adventist Church, built during Santo Domingo �92, is still thriving and full on a Sabbath morning.

2 Alessandra Montero de Alcántara is one of the founders of La Caleta 4, which grew out of La Caleta 3 when it became too large.

3 Members of La Caleta 4 meet here in a rented store. It is small and the design isn’t conducive to serving as a place of worship.

4 La Caleta 5 church was constructed in January and utilizes a new design. There are three church sizes being offered in the Dominican Republic, and this is the largest one, seating about 150 people.

for the dream come true that you have made in our lives,” says Alcántara.

With multiple efforts and more than 200 Maranatha churches constructed in the country, La Caleta isn’t the only story of church multiplication. Most congregations in the Dominican Republic end up planting daughter churches. More than an hour’s drive away from the cluster of La Caleta churches, the Agape Adventist Church is also rejoicing in Maranatha’s arrival in the Dominican Republic. Agape started 12 years ago, born from an existing congregation. Five families took on the effort to plant a church in this new area, where there was zero Adventist presence, and they started meeting in a school classroom. After the group outgrew the space, they bounced from rental to rental, before finally purchasing a plot of land. But like so many other groups, the membership had no money to build, so they improvised with whatever they could afford.

Today they meet on the property under a tarp. They’ve moved pews and chairs onto the land and created spaces for small groups under the sparse shade of trees. What’s been difficult for this group is security. Despite their best efforts to build a corrugated metal fence, they are still wary of thieves. Plastic chairs are tied up with thick metal chains. Sound systems are stored at a neighbor’s house. Other items have to be hauled back and forth from member homes.

No matter the challenges, members are finding joy in their community. “It’s a matter of faith. People really want to come and worship, and we feel joyful here because we know that we have a vision, and it is to preach the Gospel to every creature,” says Juan Martinez, Agape church member.

In the meantime, they kept fundraising and praying for a church. Then, they heard about Maranatha. “We began to pray and look for a way to contact Maranatha,” says Martinez. Finally, their local pastor got in touch with Paulino, who facilitated a conversation with Maranatha. Now, they are slated to receive a new church.

“It is our desire to make a temple for the glory of God, and we are grateful to

Maranatha for reaching out to us,” says Martinez. “[We want] this church to be a light in this world where we are, in this sector where we are, and everyone is welcome to come. We thank God that Maranatha has at last noticed us and that they have given us the opportunity to be part of the history of Maranatha with the construction of this blessing, of this temple.”

La Caleta 4 and Agape are just two of nearly 40 projects that Maranatha has committed to completing over the next few years. These are just two of the dozens of stories that share a legacy of Maranatha churches past and a deep passion for sharing the Gospel. And just as others have in the past, these projects will blossom into more, over and over again, as the new churches invigorate and empower members to share hope and faith with its communities. It is the challenge of working in the Dominican Republic, where one project can grow into six, immediately creating more need. It’s a blessed challenge to have and one that Paulino is ready to take on with Maranatha. Already he’s worked as a volunteer on a project, and he’s eager to join another. For him, his spiritual experience has come full circle. He discovered Maranatha as a kid, soon after becoming an Adventist. Now, he is part of the top leadership team for the Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic, and he’s back to where he started–fully immersed and fully blessed by the mission of Maranatha.

“As a child, when I started hearing about Maranatha, I thought that Maranatha was a person. I came to discover that Maranatha, more than a person, is a group of people. It is a group of volunteers who work to build the kingdom of God,” says Paulino. “I never thought that I would work together with the volunteers, and I feel that God has given me the greatest privilege that a human being can have–to work together in a ministry that loves the cause of God, that loves the house of God, and that makes it possible for the house of God to be built.”

Maranatha is building multiple churches in the Dominican Republic and a large school campus (see page 25). These projects are in need of funding. If you are interested in helping a project in the Dominican Republic, please send a donation in the envelope provided, give online at maranatha.org, or call (916) 774-7700

Waiting For A Church

1 Youth with the Agape Adventist Church have to meet under a banana tree because they have no actual church building.

2 Members of Refugio Celestial meet in an existing patio that they scrimped and saved to buy. But they now have no money to build a real church.

3 Members of Trinitarios 2 pray for God’s leading in their need for a church. They currently rent a space that is too small for the 60 people who attend.

4 Members of the Luz de Sión church meet in this tiny, nondescript house that doesn’t even have a sign in the front.