On New Year’s Eve 1871, more was on the horizon in the Pilsen/Little Village neighborhoods of Chicago than the dawning of a new year. On December 31, 1871, together, a group of German Lutherans organized one of the first Lutheran churches in the city of Chicago. St. Matthew Lutheran Church will celebrate its 147th anniversary this month.
Throughout their history, St. Matthew’s congregation has maintained a theme of loving and greeting their neighbors. In their early years, they welcomed many German immigrants as they arrived on the docks of Chicago. Later, they maintained a school building which served the Pilsen community for decades, and, for the past 26 years, they have operated a soup kitchen, un comedor popular. El Comedor San Mateo soup kitchen serves a free meal to all who are in need every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the year.
On November 6, 2016, Pastor Cesar Sifuentes was installed at St. Matthew as was his wife, Deaconess Elly Sifuentes, in June of the following year.
Pastor and Deaconess Sifuentes consider introducing themselves to people at gas stations, grocery stores, and during door-to-door visits to be essential to their roles at St. Matthew’s as well as to their roles within the community. While the demographics of the Pilsen neighborhood are rapidly changing–one third of the Hispanic population has moved out since 2000–the community still maintains its Hispanic majority. Pastor and Deaconess Sifuentes emphasized the importance in the differences of viewing a community as “that” community versus “our” community. They share that especially in Hispanic cultures, the sense of belonging which comes with “our” community is very important.
The culture change signaled by this descriptive change applies to El Comedor San Mateo soup kitchen as well. To Pastor and Deaconess Sifuentes, St. Matthew’s soup kitchen is not simply a ministry of St. Matthew’s. Rather, the soup kitchen is “their second congregation,” and everyone who walks through the doors belongs to it.
Pastor Sifuentes shares “this is a sacred place, not a regular restaurant. It is a compassion and mercy and love ministry, and we call one another brothers and sisters in Christ.” Before each meal, Pastor Sifuentes, or a pastor who is volunteering that week, prays over the group, shares a devotion, then the group sings–both in Spanish and English. Pastor Sifuentes shares “the soup kitchen is not just about food; the point is the soul.” On any given day the soup kitchen is in operation, veterans, individuals who are homeless, and people who are unemployed of numerous ethnic backgrounds hear the Word of God and experience his love through the care and compassion of the volunteers and staff at El Comedor San Mateo. In the past year and a half, four adults who initially walked through the doors of St. Matthew’s in order to be physically fed were deeply impacted by the ways in which they were spiritually fed and asked Pastor Sifuentes to baptize them. One of these four individuals shared, “I was homeless and coming for free food. Now, I am here serving as a volunteer.”
Several congregations in the Northern Illinois District volunteer at St. Matthew’s soup kitchen approximately once per month, including Immanuel, Mokena; Trinity, Burr Ridge; Trinity, Roselle; St. Luke, Itasca; and St. Paul, Matteson. One member from Trinity, Burr Ridge who volunteers at El Comedor San Mateo shared that her parents were married at St. Matthew, and she and her siblings were all baptized and confirmed there back when the congregation was still largely German Lutheran.
This is #OurNID.