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Burnaby, B.C.
Esperanza means hope


Another new Mennonite Brethren congregation began meeting at the beginning of July in Burnaby, B.C. – Esperanza Multicultural Church (“Esperanza” is Spanish for “hope”). The church is actually 20 years old, but for the last 17 years it has functioned as a subcongregation of Willingdon Church in Burnaby. From its beginning, Esperanza has served people of Hispanic background (there are about 15,000 Hispanic people in the Greater Vancouver area). It fit well into Willingdon, which is one of the most multicultural churches in Canada. Willingdon has three Sunday morning services in English in its main sanctuary, but serves a variety of other language groups – Cantonese, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Romanian, Russian, Spanish – through simultaneous translation (via headsets) of the main services and through smaller language-specific worship services, Sunday school classes and fellowship groups.


On June 30 Willingdon Church sent the Esperanza congregation off with its blessing, and on the first Sunday in July Esperanza began regular services in Marlborough Elementary School in Burnaby. The location, just two blocks from Metrotown, an important transportation hub, is important because many of the church members commute in from various parts of the Greater Vancouver area. Esperanza has about 90 members, and attendance while the church was part of Willingdon averaged about 220. In its new location, attendance has started off at about 180, as some members have chosen to remain with Willingdon and others have sought other options.

The majority of the congregation is Hispanic, coming from Mexico, Latin America and South America. Therefore, the Spanish language is a common denominator, and the church will likely always have a Latino flavour. However, there is a real sense that the congregation is multicultural. The members come from five races and 19 countries. Included are people from Chinese, Japanese, African and southern European backgrounds who speak Spanish or a language close to it.

The decision to leave Willingdon was made earlier in 2002 and was based on a number of considerations. For one thing, the rapidly growing Willingdon was becoming more crowded. and it was becoming more difficult to schedule meetings. Willingdon was also working toward a model which stressed long-term integration of its cultures. While this worked well for some groups, it was not working well for the Hispanic congregation. Many of the members were coming primarily because of the Spanish language and resisted the pull toward integration. The younger people especially were having trouble making the transition from the small Spanish-language community to the larger multicultural body. The church was facing a danger that many ethnic churches in Canada have faced – losing its young people. In its new location, Esperanza not only has its usual Spanish worship service at 11:30 Sunday morning but has also added an English-language Bible study/worship service at 10:00 a.m. (Spanish Sunday school meets at 10:00 and English Sunday school at 11:30.) The church feels the addition of an English service (while still retaining much of the Latino culture) will allow it not only to keep its young people but also to reach out to people of other ethnic groups.


Pastor of the new church is Rob Brynjolfson. He and his wife Silvia have been involved with the congregation since before it joined Willingdon. However, they subsequently served as missionaries in Spain and Africa. Since they returned to Canada in 1993, Rob has been working as founding director of Gateway Missionary Training Centre, a division of WEC International, in Langley, B.C. For the last three years, Rob and Silvia have served as co-pastors of the congregation. Since July 1, Rob has been serving as full-time pastor, while continuing to work part-time with Gateway.

 – jc

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Last modified December 16, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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