Phil Guerena (pictured at far right) and the ministry to Latinos he conducts through Northwest Chapel in Dublin, Ohio (Terry Hofecker, pastor), was the subject of an excellent feature article in today’s Columbus Dispatch. Here is an excerpt–read the entire article by clicking on http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/04/26/religious_competition.ART_ART_04-26-07_A1_D56GL6P.html A shout-out of thanks to Mike Jentes of thequest for calling the article to our attention.
About 30 people from Central and South America gather in small groups at cafeteria-style tables to work on English vocabulary and grammar at their church.
Most of the Latino visitors were raised Roman Catholic. Northwest Chapel in Dublin, where they learn and worship, is far different from the churches they knew as children. For one thing, it’s Protestant.
“We have had about 1,000 people come for our services in Spanish,” said Felipe Guerena, pastor of Latino ministries at Northwest Chapel. Five years ago, the church didn’t have a Latino ministry at all.
Evangelical churches are experiencing an influx of Latino members as well. The National Hispanic Association of Evangelicals says that there are 15 million Latino Evangelicals nationwide. The association didn’t exist until 2001.
Latinos make up one-third of all Catholics living in the United States, according to a report released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center. But more and more Latinos are leaving the Catholic church for Protestant religions. About 20 percent of the Latinos surveyed said they were Evangelical or mainstream Protestant.