Cooperation speeds Hispanic church plants in western N.C.

By Mike Creswell

BSC Communications

MARBLE - Seeing a mission challenge is not hard - just go to Wal-Mart.

Mitchell Shields says he first became aware of the rapid growth of Hispanics in western North Carolina while shopping at Wal-Mart. Shields is associational missionary for Truett Baptist Association, with churches around Murphy, Hayesville and Marble, where the associational office is located.

"Five years ago when I was in Wal-Mart I would maybe see a Hispanic person occasionally. Today I see whole families of Hispanics any day of the week. The numbers of Hispanics in our western part of the state have grown on a monthly basis. It's not only happening here in Truett, but throughout western North Carolina," he said.

The movement of Hispanic newcomers to the state's western areas seems to be part of a national trend. In recent years thousands of Hispanics have moved from cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York to smaller cities and towns in the east and southeast. That trend has led Hispanic populations to soar in some counties of Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee.

In North Carolina, Baptist leaders in the west see the arrival of Hispanics as a missions challenge. Talks were held with Baptist State Convention (BSC) workers, such as Larry Phillips, Hispanic consultant with the Convention's congregational services staff, and Ken Holland, consultant with the Convention's church planting team.

As they discussed the need for workers, it became clear that cooperation was essential, since many churches in this part of the state are smaller, reflecting the overall thinner population and smaller towns of the west.

"The Lord was working and opening our eyes to the fact that our culture - mountain culture - is changing. We're just trying to respond to that change," said Shields.

Shields became treasurer of a partnership effort that teamed Truett, Tuckaseigee, Tennessee River, Graham and Cheoah Baptist associations with the BSC workers. Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute also became involved.

The BSC's church planting team arranged for Robert Fernandez to branch out from his Hispanic congregation in Cullowhee to start a new Spanish language work in Robbinsville. Fernandez also has begun teaching Spanish-speaking students attending Fruitland as part of Fruitland's program of study in Spanish. That program is training Hispanic students for church leadership.

"The wonderful vision of Fernandez and the associational partnership is their goal of starting multiple new churches to reach the Hispanic community. It's not about one church; it's about multiple churches reaching the unreached people groups in different communities," said Mark Gray, leader of the BSC's church planting team.

"One of the keys to our effectiveness is the partnering of associations and churches with new church plants. These supportive relationships are vital in the new church plant getting off to a healthy start," he said.

Virgil Holloway, Tuckaseigee associational missionary, also has seen the rapid increase of Hispanics in his area.

"We have an obligation to reach them for the Lord. If they do go back to Mexico, maybe they can be great witnesses down there," he said.

Another Hispanic church plant was launched in July at Andrews, led by Alejandro Arriega, also a Fruitland student. That work is being sponsored by Truett Association and three Andrews churches: First Baptist Church and Valley Town Baptist Church, both Truett churches, plus Second Baptist Church, an independent congregation.

In mid-August Arriega and his wife, Maria, led two people to faith in Christ while doing home visitation; they have not yet started regular services.

The work with Hispanics in western North Carolina is part of a statewide effort by BSC workers to start new churches among all unreached people. In 2006 Convention-sponsored church planters started 88 new churches, including 16 Hispanic churches.

While many of the new Hispanic churches are understandably small and limited in resources, that is likely to change as the churches grow. Mount Sinai Baptist Church, a Hispanic congregation in Mount Olive, was one of the leaders among churches with fewer than 400 members in its increase of Cooperative Program giving for 2006.

That's a good indication that, as Hispanic churches grow they will do their part in helping meet the missions challenges Baptists are helping meet through their local associations and their Convention.