Church of the Brethren Newsline
October 20, 2017
by Daniel D’Oleo
The board of Renacer Hispanic Ministry has developed and adapted a new strategy plan to widely reach the denomination. The new strategy plans has three foundational components:
a. Leadership development: The ministry will continue developing Latino leadership gatherings such as “Para su Gloria” during Annual Conference and in different districts of our denomination. Last year, Renacer held three of these gatherings, one during Annual Conference and two hosted by Atlantic Southeast District and Southern Pennsylvania District. The ministry also will seek to develop an online Spanish Bible academy fully developed and taught by our Latino leaders, and will seek to establish the first national Latino Brethren leadership conference by 2018.
b. Church planting: Renacer will continue to assist districts and congregations that express interest in reaching the Latino community. For that purpose, demographic studies, a list of potential church planting sites, church planter screening tools, and a church planting manual will be developed totally in Spanish. For the last several years, Renacer has had conversations with congregations and/or church development committees of the following districts: Illinois and Wisconsin, Atlantic Northeast, Virlina, Shenandoah, and Mid-Atlantic.
c. Network: The ministry will begin to gather significant information about the present and future of our Latino congregations. Our web page will be in Spanish and will connect all our congregations as well as establish more communication among them. The ministry also will develop its own blog in Spanish with translated articles, essays that would highlight our leaders, their stories, and their ministries.
Renacer Hispanic Ministry has been active for about eight years, and thanks to the support of several districts, four congregations have been developed: Renacer-Roanoke, Renacer-Floyd, Renacer-Leola, and Nuevo Comienzos. Renacer became a registered 501c3 non-profit organization ministry in June 2014.
As a ministry, we realize that we cannot do all this alone, we ask the Church of the Brethren in general to support our vision with prayer as we continue reaching and ministering to the Latino community.
— Daniel D’Oleo is a leader in the Renacer Hispanic Ministry and an ordained minister and pastor in the Church of the Brethren. For more information about Renacer Hispanic Ministry, go to www.facebook/MinisterioHispanoRenacer or call 540-892-8791.
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