El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 2006.  Our history is inextricably bound with the history of Presbyterian Hispanic ministries in Forsyth County.
 
    In 1999 Salem Presbytery (PCUSA) formed a steering group to establish a mission to serve the rapidly growing population of Latino immigrants in its area. In 2001 Alfredo and Rosa Miranda accepted the invitation of the Presbytery to relocate from Mexico to begin a ministry of outreach to  Spanish-speaking families here. Sharing space with the English-speaking congregation then housed at the Old Town Presbyterian Church in northwest Winston-Salem, they began by offering recreation activities for the children in the neighborhood of the church.  When the Anglo congregation was dissolved in 2004, the Hispanic ministries were given full use of the facilities.  With the help of volunteers from Presbyterian congregations in Forsyth County, an after school tutoring program was begun for elementary students, and English language classes were offered to adults.

 

    Sunday morning worship services were begun at the church in 2005, and in 2006, when El Buen Pastor became a New Church Development  with Rosa Miranda as its organizing pastor, the existing tutoring programs became the foundation of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services and Rosa Miranda was elected Chair of its Board of Directors.

     The partnership with the Presbyterian congregations in the area remains strong, as dozens of volunteers from the churches serve in our various programs and share their resources with us, and as friendships have developed between individuals from the Latino and Anglo communities., to the benefit of all.