Contents

• Nonhispanic Local Churches are Reaching Hispanics
• Upcoming Events
• Scheduled Workshops for Lay Missioners and Pastor Mentors
• Newsbriefs-Novedades
• Vision of Opportunity for Ministry With Hispanics Becomes a Reality

NONHISPANIC LOCAL CHURCHES ARE REACHING HISPANICS

The General Conferences of 1992 and 1996 approved the National Plan for Hispanic Ministry as the first coordinated and comprehensive effort of The United Methodist Church to develop and strengthen ministries with Hispanics. The Plan calls for the whole denomination, Hispanic and nonHispanic local churches, to respond to the challenge and opportunity that the growing Hispanic population represents.

For the consultations, the Office of the National Plan was able to identify 100 nonHispanic local churches involved in some type of ministry with Hispanics, but the Coordinator believes that there are many others yet to be identified. While representatives from 35 of these local churches were invited to the consultations, fifty-four persons representing 33 churches and 22 annual conferences actually attended. The following is a breakdown by jurisdiction of the local churches identified and actually participating in the consultations:

The purpose of the consultations was to:

• provide opportunity for dialogue about Hispanic ministries among nonHispanic local churches
• share models being used by nonHispanic local churches
• clarify the experiences of nonHispanic local churches
• identify the needs of nonHispanic local churches for resources, training and networking in order to be more effective in developing ministries with Hispanics
• formulate recommendations to the general program agencies and the Committee on Hispanic Ministries

Participants found the National Plan a helpful guide, particularly the concept of teams of lay missioners and pastor-mentors, the training opportunities and the resources developed, as well as consultations on ministry with Hispanics. Participants consistently found most helpful the commitment and support from key conference and district leadership. Other helpful forces that they listed included funding and support from their own annual conference, particularly financial commitments for a number of years. The vision, persistence, passion, spiritual grounding among conference leaders were also helpful forces identified.

The participants reflected that developing a support base within the congregation, and ministries that flowed out of a vital congregation rather than as survival strategy were important and helpful strategies for developing Hispanic ministries. Other positive factors named were building and maintaining a sense of partnership relationship between nonHispanic and Hispanic leaders, using an intentional planning process, intentional bridging of cultures, finding a starting point to engage ministry with Hispanics. The participants noted that fostering a "shared ministry" mentality, rather than a "shared facility" one, enhanced developing ministry with Hispanics at the local church level.

Members of the national Committee on Hispanic Ministries and the directors and staff of the four general program agencies provided leadership for the consultations. These leaders met last March in Newark, New Jersey, to analyze the learnings from the consultations and clarify the recommendations coming from the five consultations.

Three recommendations resulted from this process:

• Production of a manual to assist nonHispanic churches to begin ministries with Hispanics
• A National Training Event for pastors and laity from nonHispanic local churches
• Regional Training Events for key conference leaders and Cabinet members

The Committee on Hispanic Ministries through its Coordinator, and in collaboration with the program general agencies, will be following these up.