For several days in January, pastors, elders, and others interested in reaching their own ethnic groups in North America for Christ met at Iglesia Comunal Cristiana, a Grace Brethren church in Tampa, Fla., for the first-ever Ethnic Leaders’ Consultation. Among those attending the event, which was held from January 11 to 14, were individuals affiliated with Hispanic, Haitian, African American, Native American, and Japanese returnee ministries.
For many, it was their first opportunity to seriously address the need to cooperate in reaching the growing ethnic population of North America, according to Dave Guiles, executive director of Grace Brethren International Missions. The goal was to encourage key ethnic leaders to create fraternal networks and begin dreaming together about ways to make more disciples among the 120 million non-Anglos in the United States.