Ride Nature Church

Finding a church in Nicaragua was an interesting experience.  Most of Central America is overwhelmingly Catholic.  Much like in the US where most cities and towns have a town square with a courthouse, the towns and villages in Nicaragua also have a town square only with their largest Catholic church in that Central Park (“Parque Central”).  

San Juan del Sur has at least two Catholic Churches and several more evangelical protestant churches (“Iglesias Evangelicos”), a Jewish synagogue, and even a Jehovah’s Witness (“Testigos de Jehová”) Kingdom Hall.  Although I was raised Catholic, Mary and I would probably fall into the “protestant evangelical” camp.  However, the evangelical churches here are very legalistic.  This includes the local Nazarene church which is only three doors away from our casita.

Relaxed and informal. Very cool.

One day while out walking in our village, we happened upon a Coffee Shop and Skate Park called Ride Nature.  As we were drinking our cappuccinos, we struck up a conversation with a woman named Demi Wagner who was working on her laptop at the next table.  She introduced us to her husband, Hans, who it turns out is the pastor of a local Calvary Chapel that is affiliated with Ride Nature, an “action sports” outreach ministry.  

How many churches have a surf board for a pulpit?

Needless to say, the Calvary Chapel style was exactly what we were looking for.  Imagine a church where  you can wear shorts and flip flops and where wearing “dress clothes” would stand out.  The services are held in the coffee shop on Sunday nights and are bi-lingual (English and Spanish).  We are excited to have found a nice church here in San Juan del Sur and look forward to making many new friends.