(AgapePress) - Shantytown huddles under a lengthy, elevated expressway near downtown Buenos Aires. Small fires dot narrow spaces around crowded huts fashioned of cardboard, tin and other scrap materials. Children play in brown dirt, and adults loiter under the sounds of busy traffic overhead.

"About 200 families live here under the bridge," Pastor Marcelo Robles tells his guests. "They are the poorest of the poor, ostracized even by their own. We have a soup kitchen here to feed them." Marcelo is pastor of La Mision, an inner-city church which ministers to the city’s down and out.

La Mision is an Evangelical Presbyterian church of 250 people. Their vision is not only to serve the needs of the congregation and community, but also to train teams for planting churches and help finance new churches. They are looking for ways to provide more permanent homes for the families of Shantytown.

Marcelo and his wife, Miriam, are spending a Saturday morning giving visitors a tour of neighborhoods that are touched by the work of La Mision. Marcelo grew up in Buenos Aires except for a few years in Paraguay where his father, also a pastor, was imprisoned for his Christian faith.

With the passion of advocates and the humility of servants, Marcelo and Miriam make time spent with them seem like a worship service. At Shantytown, Marcelo adds as an afterthought, "Oh, yes, we also have a men’s cell and a women’s cell under the bridge."

The church has 30 cells which meet weekly in members’ homes. Some cells are for men only or women only, while some are for families. Cell leaders direct a study time focused on the Scripture text and Marcelo’s most recent sermon.

A Sending Church
"We are committed to be a sending church," says Marcelo. The pastor, who holds a Ph.D. from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, values education. He teaches church leaders classes in Greek, Hebrew and Bible. His students may receive credit at four different seminaries in Buenos Aires.

"We have an agreement that we can offer the things they have and they give credit," he says. "I believe the pastor needs to know the Word and the original languages."

Porfirio, a construction worker, is one cell leader. He welcomes guests in a room where his cell meets behind the family’s small bakery. Porfirio also mentors other men preparing for cell leadership. He says his dream is to go to his native Paraguay to start a new church.

Marcelo then drives to an area where broad avenues serve professional offices, trendy shops and apartments. Even there, the homeless abound, some pulling carts with all their belongings, pausing to scavenge through garbage heaps or bins. Marcelo says Argentina’s unemployment rate is about 25%. Economic problems affect the church and the family structure because men often have to leave home to find work.

"Some of the street people come to La Mision," Miriam adds.

Still farther on, he gives a nutshell history of Lugano 1 and Lugano 2, where 200,000 poor live in towering apartment complexes. Juan Peron built the apartments to settle blue collar workers near Buenos Aires’ thriving factories.

"You can help us pray for this neighborhood," he says. La Mision is committed to pray for the spiritual and physical needs of Lugano families.

Home Base
La Mision meets in an inner-city storefront building. Current remodeling will give the church a distinctive facade that still blends in with the neighborhood. The project is under the direction of Carlos, a Christian architect and teacher. Each morning, he leads a Bible study with his workers -- his students and church members.

Marcelo and Carlos are committed to creating a functional facility at minimal expense. Many building materials are salvaged at little or no cost through contacts Carlos has in the construction field. For example, he wanted small, cathedral-shaped clear glass windows for the front of the building, but they would have cost $1,000. Carlos contacted a friend at a commercial construction site, and for $50 bought broken pieces of huge plate glass windows, enough glass to cut what he needed for La Mision.

In the base of each of six inside columns, the church is placing a Bible, symbolic of its spiritual foundation. The entire renovation will cost about $20,000, but will yield added value at many times that amount. The project is about half done, and the church needs $5,000 to complete the job. La Mision receives support from the U.S. through Global Outreach International.

Marcelo says the church’s motto is Luke 4:18: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed."

La Mision’s ministry clearly reflects its leader’s vision -- advocacy and humility firmly rooted in God’s Word.