Tierra Nueva (New Earth) is a Christian ministry located in Burlington, Washington, that seeks to share the good news of God’s freedom in Jesus Christ with people on the margins (immigrant, inmates, ex-offenders, the homeless) and mainstream people through its five ministries. We are dedicated to proclaiming the Good News of God's reign (on earth as it is in heaven) with the oppressed for our mutual liberation, healing, empowerment, and total salvation.
Tierra Nueva began in 1982 as God brought Bob and Gracie Ekblad to work and learn alongside poor campesinos in Minas de Oro, Honduras. Seeking to address the poverty that belied the regional wars and conflicts in Central America. Bob and Gracie learned and taught sustainable farming, nutrition, and preventative health. As they read the Scriptures alongside their Honduran neighbors—many of whom were excluded from the local churches—they began to discover Good News for themselves.
After pursuing graduate studies in theology in Montpellier, France, Bob and Gracie moved to the Skagit Valley in Washington State in 1994, a valley with rich agriculture that attracts a large number of migrant farm workers from Mexico and Central America. Here the Ekblads established Tierra Nueva del Norte and began to do legal advocacy and accompaniment of migrant workers and chaplaincy in the Skagit County Jail. These two ministries continue to be the anchors of Tierra Nueva, along with theological training through The People’s Seminary for mainstream people wanting to work with people from the margins.
In this past decade many people have been attracted to the ways they discover the Good News of Jesus through the work of Tierra Nueva and have come to stay. Along with their passion and energy, they have helped birth new ministries such as Skagit Gang Initiative, New Earth Recovery and New Earth Works, seeking creative ways to see God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
Tierra Nueva began in 1982 as God brought Bob and Gracie Ekblad to work and learn alongside poor campesinos in Minas de Oro, Honduras. Seeking to address the poverty that belied the regional wars and conflicts in Central America. Bob and Gracie learned and taught sustainable farming, nutrition, and preventative health. As they read the Scriptures alongside their Honduran neighbors—many of whom were excluded from the local churches—they began to discover Good News for themselves.
After pursuing graduate studies in theology in Montpellier, France, Bob and Gracie moved to the Skagit Valley in Washington State in 1994, a valley with rich agriculture that attracts a large number of migrant farm workers from Mexico and Central America. Here the Ekblads established Tierra Nueva del Norte and began to do legal advocacy and accompaniment of migrant workers and chaplaincy in the Skagit County Jail. These two ministries continue to be the anchors of Tierra Nueva, along with theological training through The People’s Seminary for mainstream people wanting to work with people from the margins.
In this past decade many people have been attracted to the ways they discover the Good News of Jesus through the work of Tierra Nueva and have come to stay. Along with their passion and energy, they have helped birth new ministries such as Skagit Gang Initiative, New Earth Recovery and New Earth Works, seeking creative ways to see God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
