Finding faith and family: Iglesia Electric City church welcomes Hispanic community in Scranton

Jim Lockwood, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·3 min read

Jul. 2—SCRANTON — Pablo and Lauren Gutierrez started Iglesia Electric City church in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to help local Hispanic immigrants find faith and a new "family" in their new country.

The Baptist church initially held services at the NEPA Youth for Christ office at 1613 Jackson St. in West Scranton.

Last year, the fledgling Iglesia Electric City got its own building. The pastor of the former Community Worship Bible Church at 1019 Wood St. retired and moved away, and gave that church building to Iglesia Electric City, to help the Gutierrezes solidify Iglesia's presence and grow their congregation.

Iglesia Electric City had a grand opening at 1019 Wood St. on June 26, 2022.

On Saturday, Iglesia Electric City hosted at Weston Field a "Dia en la Familia" (Family Day) with children's activities and games.

Iglesia members hail from several Spanish-speaking countries, including Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia and Spain.

"We would like to serve the Spanish-speaking community and show the love of God," said Pablo, who serves as pastor of Iglesia Electric City. "We can see the families feel alone in this country. We try to give them a community, a family."

Lauren added: "We just really see the need for families in this community because almost all of these people have left their country and don't have their family necessarily here in the United States or near them. We really wanted to do something different and be a family away from home for them."

The daughter of Frank and Kim Passetti, Lauren Gutierrez grew up in South Abington Twp. and graduated from Summit Christian Academy. After high school, she studied in Argentina and met Pablo there. They married and lived in Argentina for several years before relocating to the United States in 2017, partly to be close to family here. They have four children, Briel, 11, Misael, 8, Keziah, 4, and Averlee, almost 2.

Iglesia Electric City — "Iglesia" is Spanish for church — is the latest denomination to occupy 1019 Wood St., which has a cornerstone engraved with "St. Paul's Ev. Lutheran Church 1906."

Upon getting the church building, the Gutierrezes immediately set about to replace the roof, which was in dire need of repair. Word went out to friends and other churches and within three weeks they had enough funds contributed to redo the A-frame roof and the roofs of two steeples. The roofing was done in August. The rest of the building was in good shape, given its age, and only needed some painting and freshening up, Lauren said.

Iglesia Electric City's slogan is "Una Luz En El Ciudad," which means "A Light In The City."

"We've had a lot of people say to us, 'This is really like a home. This is like our second home,'" Lauren said. "Obviously, we want people to learn about God, we want people to grow in that, but we also — as a community — want to grow."

Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.