Ivette Moctezuma, outreach director at Mariners, found her heart for engaging with the Coastside community by watching her grandmother and mother serve here. “My grandmother was a fixture in her little home town in Mexico, and then here in Half Moon Bay as well. I grew up watching her and still admire her gift for serving and giving in the community,” Ivette said. “I saw my mother the same way. My Mom always gave back to her community.”
Ivette recalls how her mother worked with children, led community health initiatives, shared the traditions of her native Mexico at local festivals, and coordinated Easter dramas at church. “Watching all that gave me a heart for people and to give back, too,” Ivette said.
Community Outreach Vision
The goal of the Outreach ministry is to build bridges to the Coastside community at large to better serve all of our neighbors and grow a congregation that better reflects the area’s rich diversity. For example, 30 percent of the local population is Latino or Hispanic, and many of those individuals were born and raised and now work here as second or third-generation U.S. citizens. There also is a growing Asian immigrant community here. In addition, Mariners provides meeting space for several religious groups and secular nonprofits, and community engagement with the children’s ministry is growing.
“We want all the communities on the Coastside to know that Mariners is non-denominational and open to everyone,” Ivette said. “Coming here doesn’t mean you have to cut ethnic ties or even leave your home church. Our children’s, youth and other programs and resources are open to everybody.”
How New Wave Will Help
A larger worship space will provide the space to grow attendance at worship services. A larger lobby will allow us to better engage with visitors. More space for children’s programs will eliminate waiting lists for midweek programs and better tailor Sunday morning programs to age-specific needs. More meeting space facilitates relationships with Coastsidenonprofits and their memberships. “I see Mariners as being that church on the hill, the lighthouse, that church where everybody is welcome,” Ivette said. “We want to represent that we are this beautiful community in Half Moon Bay and at the center of it is love.”
Find out how you can be a part of New Wave by clicking here.
By Dan Page, Volunteer Storyteller
