By Cameron Vickrey

When COVID-19 caused several members of Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo to lose their jobs and income, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship grant enabled the Fort Worth congregation provide relief to its community. 

CBF established the coronavirus fund shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began inflicting its wrath globally. The catastrophe particularly harmed immigrants, who live closest to their communities’ crumbling edges of vulnerability. In the United States, for example, many immigrants were the first to lose their jobs when the economy restricted. And although they pay taxes, they were not eligible to receive stimulus checks provided to citizens.

IB Victoria en Cristo received $3,000 from the CBF Coronavirus Emergency Relief Fund—part of a gift provided to Fellowship Southwest by CBF of North Carolina and N.C.-based field personnel Kim and Marc Wyatt.

The CBF coronavirus fund also distributed grant money to several other ministries in the Fellowship Southwest region—Hearts4Kids, La Puerta Waco and a ministry to bivocational pastors in Tijuana.

Anyra Cano, associate pastor to youth at Victoria en Cristo and executive director of Texas Baptist Women in Ministry, thanked CBF for helping the church bless its neighbors.

“We have seen God's faithfulness through CBF and the work they have helped us do during these hard times for our community,” she said. 

With the relief funds, the church covered neighbors’ electricity and water bills, that if left unpaid, would have resulted in disconnected services. 

Recipients of this gift were so grateful, they felt inspired to pay the generosity forward, Cano said. They promised to pay others' utility bills should the need arise, once they are financially stable. 

The federal government excluded immigrants—even though they pay taxes—from the COVID stimulus checks U.S. citizens received in the spring. This, in combination with loss of income and inability to work, put immigrants in more dire circumstances than most residents.

Victoria en Cristo used the CBF coronavirus funds to help a few immigrants in their community. The church paid tuition for an international graduate student from Venezuela who no longer could make her payments. 

The church also donated clothing and other essential items to a newly arrived immigrant family. The single mom with two sons and another on the way now is connected to the Victoria en Cristo community because of this gift, Cano reported. The church has embraced her and will continue to help her navigate living in the United States.

The coronavirus funds have provided great relief to the Victoria en Cristo community, Cano said. 

In fact, the church spread its blessings by allocating some of the funds to coordinate humanitarian aid for other churches in the area. Victoria en Cristo helped support the pastor of a small congregation who was impacted by loss of income and limited because of his immigration status. 

God has been at work through CBF and the generosity of donors, Cano insisted. The distribution of the grant money enabled the church to look creatively for solutions to help those in need, not just in their own neighborhood, but those around them, too. 

“Our prayer is that we can continue to impact those around us and continue the good work God has called us to do,” she said.

To support the CBF Coronavirus Emergency Relief Fund and support the Fellowship’s multiple ministries to immigrants impacted by the pandemic, click here. 

Cameron Vickrey is director of communications and marketing for Fellowship Southwest.