Committed to Multi-Cultural Ministry

Inventory the opportunities and resources within your church and community

A – Resources in your church or community (people, skills, money, time, etc)

• Who has a vision for Hispanic outreach or ministry? Who is praying about it?
  • Start a pray-and-plan team to brainstorm about ministry opportunities.
  • Ask your pastor and elders and other church leaders to pray with you.
• Who has God brought to your church who can speak Spanish or teach English?
  • Will they teach some key Spanish phrases to others in your church?
  • Could they or others help teach English as a second language?
• Who has experience in cross-cultural ministry? How can they help?
  • Find out what skills or resources they can provide.
  • Follow up on other contacts they recommend.
• What specific resources are available or can be obtained? How & when?
  • Make a list of your resource assets. Pray about how to use them. People: Skills: Facilities: Money: Other:

B – Needs of Hispanic people in your area (physical, spiritual, etc)

• Organizations, agencies or churches working with Hispanics.
  • Find out who is doing what, and why, and how it is working!
• Observations of people in your church, community, schools, and elsewhere.
  • Get as many perspectives as possible to understand the needs!
• Opportunities that your church could uniquely or quickly address.
  • Make a list of specific needs that your church could meet soon!
  • Practical needs (housing, food, clothing, language, etc)
  • Spiritual needs (prayer, counseling, parenting, marriage, etc)

C – Data & information about Hispanic people and needs (statistics, surveys)

• Job prospects and projections
  • Whats the job outlook for Hispanics in your area?
  • How are Hispanic businesses growing in your area?
  • What is the Hispanic income level, and need for assistance?
  • What can you learn from area Spanish-language newspapers or radio?
• School enrollment information http://www.iowa.gov/educate/ & http://nces.ed.gov/
  • How are your area schools changing? http://www.iowa.gov/educate/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=346&Itemid=299
• Population growth and outlook http://data.iowadatacenter.org)
  1. How will the Hispanic population of your city or county grow?
  2. What other census or survey data can you reference? http://www.seta.iastate.edu/
  3. Hispanic population http://data.iowadatacenter.org/datatables/CountyAll/coracehispanic20002005.pdf

Challenges: What Barriers do You Face?

Identify challenges to tackle and specific resources you need to address the opportunities

A – Language – do you need bi-lingual people or language materials?

• Can you check with local schools, colleges, agencies, businesses, etc?
  • TESOL
  • Rosetta Stone

B – Resources – what other skills, finances or resources do you need?

• What specifically do you need? and when do you need it?
  • Welcoming New Iowans: A Guide for Christians and Churches
  • Bible studies
    • Next Step Resources
    • Equipping the Saints
    • e3 Resources
    • Multiplication Ministries
    • Freedom in Christ Ministries
    • Crossway
    • Awana

C – People – what other human resources would help you meet the needs?

• How can you encourage and train people for cross-cultural ministry?
  • Hispanic Church Planting CAMINO Global
  • Ethnic Harvest
  • Iowa Latino Heritage Festival

Latino ministry in the EFCA

• Latino Family Camp—weekend for families
• Adding Salsa to the Table: Reaching out to Latinos, audio CDs by Alex Mandes
• Que Pasa: What’s happenin’ Hispanic ministry
• Gateway EFCA Extension Theological Training

Mission and outreach in the EFCA

• EFCA Leading Edge Volume 7 Number 4 – April 2006 “Biblical Pattern of Diversity”
• Diversity Change
• Heart For The Often Forgotten People
• Compassion and the Poor
• Mission & Evangelism
• Evangelistic & Missional Church

Healthy churches in the EFCA

• Embrace Change

Other church planting resources

• Center for Intercultural Training
• Church Planting Resources
• Esperanza USA
• A Guide for Citizens & Communities (pdf)
• The Charitable Choice Handbook
• MultiCultural Toolkit
• World Impact
• Leadership Network

Publishers & Other Publications

• CAMINO Global bookstore
• Equipping The Saints
• Multi-Language Media
• Mensaje De Vida
• Desiring God
• Being Latino in Christ – Finding wholeness in your ethnic identity, by Orlando Crespo, InterVarsity
• One Body, One Spirit – principles of successful multi-racial churches, by George Yancey
• The Hispanic Challenge – Opportunities confronting the church, by Manuel Ortiz, InterVarsity
• One New People: models for developing a multiethnic church, by Manuel Ortiz
• Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America, by Juan Gonzalez
• Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: North America and Beyond, by David Hesselgrave
• Hispanics building bridges with Anglos
• Cross-Cultural Servanthood, by Duane Elmer, InterVaasity
• Cross-Cultural Conflict, by Duane Elmer, InterVaasity

Information that may fuel your fervor for multi-cultural outreach and prayer

Hispanics Lead U.S. Population Growth

• Minorities are coming closer to becoming a majority in the United States, with Hispanics as the fastest-growing group, according to recent Census Bureau statistics. Hispanics born as American citizens accounted for more than a third of the population increase in 2005. Hispanics are the largest minority group at 42.7 million. Blacks represented the second-largest minority group, with 39.7 million people. They are followed by Asians (14.4 million), American Indians and Alaska natives (4.5 million), and native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders (990,000).Census statistics also show that 45 percent of children under age 5 are from a racial or ethnic minority. The overall U.S. population totaled 296.4 million in 2005; 33 percent of that number, or 98 million, were minorities.

A Picture of Poverty in the U.S.

• More than 37 million Americans live in poverty. Individuals under 65 earning less than $9,800 a year are considered poor. The average percentage of those living in poverty by race are: White 8%, African-American 24%, American Indian/Alaska native 24%, Asian 11%, Pacific Islander 13% and Hispanic 22%. (Newsweek, September 2005)

Unchurched Numbers Hit 76 Million

• One-third of the U.S. adult population—76 million adults—has not attended any type of church service or activity, other than a special event such as a funeral or wedding, during the past six months, according to research from the Barna Group www.barna.org

Hispanic statistics and analysis from national surveys conducted by Barna Research

• One third of Hispanic adults (32%) are born again, compared to 59% of black adults and 48% of whites. (2006) About 3% of Hispanics are classified as “evangelical Christians” (2006)
• Only one in four Hispanic adults (27%) claims to be “absolutely committed” to the Christian faith, significantly below the 65% of blacks and 58% of whites that reported likewise. (2006)
• Hispanics are no different than adults nationwide when it comes to the importance of their faith plays in their daily life. 89% of Hispanics say that their faith is a very important part of their life compared to 85% of adults nationwide. (2006)
• 62% of Hispanics believe that the Bible it totally accurate in all of its teachings, compared to 68% adults nationwide, (2006)
• Like adults nationwide, 37% of Hispanics believe that they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with other people. (2006)
• 43% of Hispanics believe that when He lived on earth, Jesus Christ was human and committed sins, like other people, statistically identical to 41% of adults nationwide. (2006)
• 69% describe God as the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of the universe who still rules the world today. (2006)
• 64% of Hispanics believe that Satan is just a symbol of evil and not a real living being (a belief held by 55% of adults nationwide). (2006).
• Hispanics are more likely than the average adult to believe that you can earn your way to Heaven, with 65% of Hispanics believing that if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven, compared to 54% of adults nationwide. (2006)