Hispanic ministries grow
with population trends

United Methodist News Service
When the Rev. José and Josefina Gonzalez started a United Methodist congregation in Buffalo, N.Y., more than 25 years ago, their beginnings were humble.
“It started as a mission in my home, in my living room,” José Gonzalez said. “After five years, we moved into a building. Then we organized the church. It has been an organized church for 23 years.”
Under the leadership of the Rev. Alberto Lanzot, Primera Iglesia Buffalo has about 100 members and is still growing.
Hispanic ministries didn’t receive much encouragement during the Buffalo church’s early days, Gonzalez said.
“At that time, in 1978, there wasn’t much support,” he said. “The support came after the church was formalized. Now the support comes from individual churches more openly. The community around us has been wonderful. They’ve really been a blessing.”
United Methodist congregations are increasingly opening their hearts, minds and doors to Hispanic ministries, church leaders say. The Latino population in the United States is growing faster than any other demographic group, and that trend has been mirrored in the growth of ministries in United Methodist conferences.
The Latino population growth rate for 2004 was 3.6 percent, compared with the overall population growth of 1 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
The Rev. Frank Ramos, director of Hispanic/Latino ministry for the Western North Carolina Conference, said he sees efforts both to bring Hispanics into the church and to push them away.
“I have seen how the Hispanic/Latino population has been rejected by the people who are commanded to make disciples and show love to your neighbor,” he said.
In 2004 Latinos accounted for more than 40 million of the overall U.S. population. Out of that, about 50,000 were members of the United Methodist Church, which has more than 8 million members in the United States alone.
Ramos has a theory about the low numbers of Hispanics in the church.
“I think the mistake was sending Hispanic leaders, pastors and lay, to do miracles out there alone,” he said. “We must understand that the Hispanic ministry is a ministry of The United Methodist Church. It is not a separate entity.
“We feel alone and sometimes even rejected from our brothers and sisters who are supposed to be embracing the Hispanic ministry as their own.”
The UMC’s National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministries was developed in part to answer that need. Established in 1993, it is an effort by the denomination to focus on and strengthen Latino ministry.
Bishop Minerva Carcaño, Desert Southwest Conference, is president of the National Plan. She said she has seen Anglos become more accepting through the years.
“I see more intentionality than I did when I first started in ministry in 1976,” she said. “In 1976, the assumption was that the Rio Grande Conference would be the body that was doing Hispanic work.”
Carcaño said she has seen many new strategies work for Hispanic ministry.
“What is working (in Desert Southwest are) those congregations and fellowships that are reaching out to the poor in their own language, in their own culture,” she said.
The Kansas East Conference is trying to expand ministries to the growing population of Hispanics in Kansas, said Gary Beach, director of connectional ministries.
Kansas East is implementing a curriculum called Pentecost Journey, offered by the National Plan, in 11 communities, Beach said.
“It targets non-Hispanic congregations to learn about Hispanic people and break through the stereotypes,” he said. “It encourages us to read about and get to know our new neighbors.”
Ramos said it is important for local churches to be involved with Hispanic leaders in doing ministry to the Hispanic population.
“To do ministry in the Hispanic community, we must send lay missionaries or pastors to spend the necessary time with the people by first winning their trust, second making disciples and third teaching them about the Methodist Church,” he said. “We must tell the real story.”