|
|
Inside
this issue:
|
The PCA is committed to reaching the
nation’s fastest growing population by planting churches
in Hispanic communities. For examples of progress, read
about church plants in El Paso and Laredo, Texas.
|
|
MNA:
Reaching North America with the Gospel...
to Reach the World
Winter
2000 / 2001
|
|
Reaching
a Growing Hispanic Population with the Power of the
Gospel.
In
a recent article entitled, “Latino Americans, The Face
of the Future,” Newsweek reported that the current
Hispanic population in the US is 31 million and
projected to reach 96 million by 2050 — an increase of
more than 200 percent. As early as 2002, Hispanics are
expected to be the largest minority population in the
US.
In
view of this remarkable growth, MNA is thoroughly
committed to planting many more Hispanic churches in the
years to come. Such an endeavor, however, presents
considerable challenge, not only because of the size of
the Hispanic population, but even more because of the
complexity of the culture.
Consider
this: Hispanics in the US have roots in Mexico, Puerto
Rico, Cuba, Central and South America. Even within these
nationalities, there are further cultural and
socio-economic divisions. For a glimpse of the Hispanic
diversity, look at the contrasts between two border
cities, Laredo and El Paso, Texas. Both have majority
Mexican populations and both adjoin Mexico, yet their
cultures and economies are quite different.
Laredo,
in southwest Texas on the Mexican border, is home to
nearly 200,000 people, of which 94 percent are of
Mexican descent. Spanish is the primary language; the
workforce is mostly blue collar and the median income is
$24,000. A fast growing city, Laredo is recognized as an
important manufacturing and trading center and expected
to reach nearly 250,000 by 2010. While the Roman
Catholic Church has a strong presence, Catholicism has
more to do with the culture than with religion, and many
“Catholics” attend worship only twice a year.
Hundreds
of miles to the west is El Paso, three times the size of
Laredo with a population of 606,000. Situated in the
Chihuahuan Desert, adjoining New Mexico and Mexico, it
is the largest international border community in the
world. Seventy-five percent of El Pasoans are of Mexican
descent (including many second and third generation); 23
percent are Anglo and 2 percent African American and
Asian. According to PCA church planter Aaron Zapata, who
leads a Spanish-speaking congregation in El Paso, nine
different cultural sub-groups exist among the people of
Mexican origin.
Since
the 19th century, Mexicans have been community leaders.
And while Mexico’s rich culture pervades everything in
this colorful city, English is the chief language. El
Paso, which boasts an economy with high potential and
above-average median income, is the home of such
industries as computer manufacturing,
telecommunications, consumer products and plastics. The
area’s largest employer, Fort Bliss, is the reason why
most of the city’s Anglo population is transitory.
Another is a large population of middle managers
employed by private businesses and offices of major
corporations.
El
Paso and Laredo have three PCA churches that clearly
demonstrate different approaches to planting churches in
majority Hispanic communities.
Divine
Providence in Laredo
Divine
Providence is led by church planter Carlos Ireta who,
with his wife, Adela, and young daughters, moved from
Mexico in 1997. “When I prayed for the Lord to send us
to the US, He chose Laredo,” says Carlos.
This
Spanish-speaking congregation, which held their first
public worship in June, 1998, now numbers about 40
members, the majority of them new converts. All are of
Mexican descent, except for one Anglo who is married to
a Mexican.
In
spite of the predominance of Roman Catholic churches in
Laredo, 80 percent of residents are unchurched. “I
find it most rewarding,” Carlos points out, “to
teach the Bible because many of these people lack
knowledge of the Scriptures. Those with Roman Catholic
backgrounds often say they don’t know what it is to be
a Christian — they’re surprised to learn the truth
of the Gospel.”
The
Iretas say the church is so named because “Divine
Providence has given us everything we have. The Lord
deserves all the praise.” One example of God’s
providence is a new church building. When Carlos
approached a local construction company to ask about
having a church built, the head man asked Carlos how
much money he had to put down. “I have no money,”
Carlos said, “but I have faith that if you build the
church, we’ll have the money to pay for it.”
Impressed
with Carlos’s faith, the man agreed to start
construction. Four months later, the church had obtained
a no-interest, one-year loan from Covenant Presbyterian
in Harlingen, TX. Later, a loan was obtained from the 5
Million Fund, a lending source managed by MNA that makes
loans to PCA churches to finance their initial building.
Last
June, the new sanctuary was ready for the first service.
In the following months, church members added rooms for
children’s Sunday school and space for after-school
tutoring, which is planned as a community outreach.
Concerned
with creating unity among Protestant churches in Laredo,
Carlos organized a city-wide event last year and invited
pastors, staff, and members of all the churches in the
metro area. A total of 1,500 assembled in the Civic
Center to hear Carlos speak, and the response was
excellent.
MNA
multicultural ministries coordinator Tim McKeown says
the greatest obstacle to planting Hispanic churches is
the shortage of church planters of the reformed faith
with the necessary training and gifts. “I receive
calls every week from people who want a PCA church plant
in their area. We need both English-language and
Spanish-language Hispanic churches.”
Tim
asks that you pray for more Hispanic church planters and
for MNA to facilitate many additional churches to feed
this growing population.
Report on church plants in El Paso. |
Church
planter Carlos Ireta (far left) and his wife, Adela
(seated right), have been assisted by other PCA
congregations in Texas. Shown here, members of Bay Area
Presbyterian, Houston, who helped construct Divine
Providence’s Sunday school building in Laredo.
The
Spanish language congregation at Divine Providence is
growing steadily, and Carlos is preparing four men to
become elders.
Considered
a "gateway city," Laredo is a principal port
of entry into Mexico and operates four bridges across
the Rio Grande. Each day, a large number of Mexicans
cross the bridges into Laredo — some as workers in
this thriving city and others as tourists.
Jointly
with MTW, Divine Providence is starting a mission in
Nuevo Laredo. Shown here, they worked with mission
members in planning a vacation Bible school. The Laredo
church also supports a PCA missionary in Houston and
hopes to plant other churches in the city.
Within
ten months after it started, Divine Providence had a
building. Carlos convinced a construction company to
begin work on the strength of his faith, rather than a
down payment. In a few months, the church received a
one-year loan from another PCA church and later a
long-term loan from MNA’s 5 Million Fund. |
|
|
Campus
Scenes |
|
The Life of the
Intern
Starting this past fall
semester, 29 young men and women reported for duty on 21
university campuses to intern with Reformed University
Fellowship (RUF). RUF interns fill an important function
in assisting campus ministers, but the primary purpose
of the internship is to learn. Through a study program
as well as through firsthand ministry experience,
interns increase their knowledge about who God is, about
His Word, and about ministering for His Kingdom. It is
an ideal way for a young man or woman to consider a call
to full-time ministry, and to gain a strong
 |
|
Mississippi
State University |
biblical foundation for
the future, whatever the ultimate career path.
“It is a blessing to
witness an intern come to see the Lord’s impact in the
lives of students and the privilege of being part of
that,” said Jonathan Vaughn, intern administrator. “It
is truly amazing to watch God mature and sanctify the
interns through RUF; to see philosophy become reality as
they work through faith to minister to college students.”
Each intern completes 15
hours of study per week, which is overseen by the RUF
campus minister, and also ministers to students daily
through one-to-one meetings, Bible studies, and other
RUF events. A two-year term is ideal, although only a
one-year commitment is required.
To qualify, a candidate
must be a recent college graduate, member of a PCA
church, and willing to raise his or her own support,
which typically comes from individuals and the intern’s
home church. Each candidate must be recommended by his
or her pastor and undergo a comprehensive application
and interview process.
Samantha Bryant, intern
recruiter for Reformed University Ministries, attends
RUF conferences to meet with interested candidates. “Over
the past two months, we have been meeting with potential
interns for fall of 2001,” she said. “It is exciting
to meet with so many students who have developed a
burden for ministry and a heart for the lost through
their involvement with RUF as undergraduates.” Those
interested should contact Samantha at RUF@pcanet.org
or their campus minister for information.
|
|
|
Left
to right: RUF interns David Simmons, Auburn;
Charlotte Donell, South Carolina; Amanda Milton,
Tennessee-Knoxville; John Sweet, NYU; Michael
Craig, Clemson; Beth Dodson, Harvard; Dominique
Eudaly, Mississippi State. |
|
|
El
Paso:
Two
PCA Churches Serving Diverse Hispanic Cultures |
|
El Paso has 348 churches
representing 60 denominations. Two of them are PCA works
whose mission is to reach Hispanics. The first began in
1996, when Aaron Zapata moved with his wife, Leticia,
and their children, to this border city to start a
Spanish-speaking church that now meets at an elementary
school in a middle- to upper-income suburb in West El
Paso. Over the past four years, the church has been
forced to move several times. “Hispanics dislike
relocating — they tend to identify with a building,”
Aaron explains. “so we’ve lost a few members each
time we moved, and we’re anxious to settle in a
permanent location.”
Currently, more than 50
attend regularly; 95 percent are of Mexican descent and
about half are new converts to Christianity. Recently,
Aaron has been encouraged by signs of more consistent
growth and also by the formation of a steering committee
of four men now preparing to become elders.
He’s also enthusiastic
about a husband and wife from San Salvador, both
psychologists, who joined the congregation last March.
“They’re experts in working with young adults,”
says Aaron, “and wonderful at leading our church’s
youth group.”
In the past four years,
several members of the congregation learned about the
church through the youth group and were converted. Case
in point: the Flores family who moved to El Paso from
Juarez several years ago. Teen-aged daughter Liza began
attending youth meetings and influenced her family to
come for worship, including her mother, father,
teen-aged brother and sister. All had been members of
the Roman Catholic Church. “I had felt something was
missing in my life,” said Liza, “now I have true
communication with God, and my life has really changed.”
From the beginning, the
church was called Iglesia Presbiteriana. Last summer,
members added the word, Oasis, significant because it is
an acronym for five Spanish words that mean prayer,
adoration, salvation, instruction, and service. Aaron
also relates the word to El Paso’s desert location and
to the verse, “We find our rest in Him.”
The second PCA church
plant in El Paso is Christ the King Presbyterian, an
English-language church reaching non-Hispanics as well
as Hispanics, particularly those who have lived in this
city for most or all their lives. It began a year ago
when Tom Johnson, his wife, Johanna, and their young
daughter, moved to El Paso. Well-qualified for the job,
Tom is fluent in both English and Spanish and has a
strong background in the Hispanic culture.
Although
separate from Oasis, Christ the King meets in the same
elementary school in West El Paso, which is home to
about 80,000 people and almost a city unto itself. “Our
vision is to become an anchor church with ministry
resources to plant other English- and Spanish-speaking
churches in cooperation with the Southwest Church
Planting Network and BEAMM,” Tom explains. “Long-range,
we hope to initiate five to six church plants over the
next ten years.” Members of PCA churches in nearby Las
Cruces and Alamogordo, New Mexico, Tom was told, had
been praying 3O years for an English-language PCA church
in the area.
According
to Christ the King’s Web site, the church had its
start in spring, 1999, when several families gathered
for a Bible study because they wanted “a church that
was driven by the wonder and power of the Gospel.” The
first public worship was in January, 2000. Now there are
more than 60 committed congregants, including families
and singles. Tom describes the congregation as “
multicultural and multigenerational.” Evangelistic
community groups, modeled after Redeemer Presbyterian in
New York City, reach out to unbelievers.
Ranging from the totally
unchurched to people with various Protestant and Roman
Catholic experiences, the congregation includes only two
people with a PCA background. “What’s most exciting,”
says Tom, “is that these people are growing
spiritually and are hungry for the Word. We have the
opportunity to change the lives of unbelievers, and we’re
dedicated to developing evangelistically minded
servants.”
|
The
fourth largest city in Texas, El Paso is more affluent
and more cosmopolitan than Laredo. Although the
population is majority Mexican, the primary language is
English. A large percentage of El Paso’s Mexican
descendants have lived in the US for three or more
generations and many are community leaders. But even
within the Mexican culture, there is broad diversity.
Mision
Presbiteriana Gracia y Paz (at right) was started by MTW
in Juarez, just across the border from El Paso. Also in
Juarez is Seminario Theologico Presbiteriana San Pablo,
a seminary for Hispanics, which was jointly launched
last August by BEAMM (Border Evangelism and Mercy
Ministries), MTW and MNA. Aaron Zapata and Tom Johnson
both teach at the seminary and often meet with BEAMM
pastors.
The
rapid growth of Hispanics in the Southwest was one major
reason for establishing the Southwest Church Planting
Network in 1997. “Through this organization,” says
network director Brad Bradley, “30 PCA churches from
three presbyteries (Southwest, North Texas, and South
Texas) have made a firm commitment to plant many new
churches and RUFs to reach Hispanics as well as other
groups.”
|
|
Church
Plant Highlights
PCA
Church Planters Conference: Praying, Planning,
Worshipping
“The Church Planter:
A Worshipping Leader” was the theme of the National
Church Planters Training Conference sponsored by MNA
last August. The meeting, held at Simpsonwood
Conference Center near Atlanta, was attended by about
150, including church planters and their wives.
 Keynote
speaker Skip Ryan, (pictured above), senior pastor of
Park Cities in Dallas, Texas, taught and preached each
night. During the day, there were workshops and
seminars led by veteran PCA church planters, with
practical training on various facets of starting a new
work. Rounding out the schedule were periods of
worship, prayer, and fellowship for pastors and their
wives.
MNA coordinator Jim
Bland said, “It’s important to bring together
church planters from all regions for a conference at
least once a year. I am very thankful for the response
of church planters to the keynote speaker, the
seminars, and the workshops. Their enthusiasm for the
work of the ministry was contagious.”
|
Multiply is published by
Mission to North America
1852 Century Place, Suite 205
Atlanta, GA 30345
Phone: 404-320-3330
Fax: 404-982-9108
E-mail: mna@pcanet.org
Address comments to Fred Marsh,
Managing Editor / Photographer. Assistant Editor:
Ashley Brown. Design: Studio Supplee. Copy
Editor/Writer: Joan Quillen. Material in Multiply may be
reproduced with permission.
|
|