Our city continues to grow. According to research by the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston is the fourth most populous city in the United States. Various reports and analyses in recent years have named Houston among the most diverse cities in the US—often placing Houston first in terms of diversity.
In a presentation at a recent Houston Church Planting Network gathering, Dr. Josh Ellis shocked us with the realities of our city in numbers:
1. Houston receives approximately 2,403 people weekly.
That’s one megachurch of growth—per week!
2. Hispanics are the fastest-growing group in our city and state.
Today, more than ever, we must revisit the biblical passages reminding us of the Great Commission:
Matthew 28:19–20 —Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Mark 16:15–16 — Then he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Luke 24:48–49 — You are witnesses of these things. And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.”
John 20:21 — Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”
The common message of each of these passages is that we are all sent to continue the MISSION OF JESUS, to spread the gospel everywhere, and to make disciples who are baptized and reproduced in others who continue the mission.
The Book of Acts follows the history of the church that was born on the day of Pentecost and challenged Judaism, Greek philosophies, and the power of the Roman Empire.
In Acts, we see the early church went from being a handful of people to becoming a great movement of believers who made disciples and planted churches in all the cities, towns, and villages where they went. Nothing stopped them.
Many times, they were forced to make disciples and plant churches because of persecution. Other times, they did it intentionally, as we see in Paul’s example on his missionary journeys.
A Hispanic Church Planting Movement in Houston
Church planting is an essential element in the fulfillment of the great commission. Understanding this reality of Hispanic growth and the mandate of the great commission, The Union Baptist Association collaborated with local churches and Texas Baptists to start the Training Center for Hispanic church planters in 2019.
Most of our Hispanic churches need contextualized training in the urban context, so we took on the challenge of preparing an autonomous curriculum for the urban context. We made sure to include all the necessary tools to equip men called for this arduous task of planting new Hispanic churches in our city.
Over the course of these four training cycles, we have graduated 26 planters/replanters, 16 of whom have gone on to plant or replant churches.
Still Work to Do
“We dream of a church planting movement in our city, where each of our existing churches identifies those who have the call of God and sends them out. ”
But, even so, we believe that the task is just beginning. We dream of a church planting movement in our city, where each of our existing churches identifies those who have the call of God and sends them out.
Together, we can start a Hispanic church planting movement where every man, woman, and child can hear the gospel and turn to God. We can start a movement where each church plant seeks the SHALOM (peace) of its community and the city, proclaims the gospel, serves its community, and multiplies new churches.
Our desire and prayer is that God will continue calling men with the desire to prepare for the arduous task of church planting. We pray that God calls churches to engage with us in this noble but essential task. We will begin a new training cycle at the Hispanic Planter Training Center in October of this year.
If you are a pastor and have a leader in your church who knows that God is calling him, talk to us. If you are a church leader who feels called, talk to your Pastor. You can contact Victor (832) 969-7952 – victor@ubahouston.org or Livan Quintana (832) 805-8677 – livanqp@gmail.com.
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Equipping African American and multicultural leaders for gospel work