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The SBTC’s multiethnic ministries office is well aware of the cultural changes in Texas, and among Southern Baptists in Texas.
Jesse Contreras, multiethnic ministries associate, works with the convention’s network of Hispanic churches and helps coordinate numerous Spanish-language events. The multiethnic ministries office also links consultants such as E.W. McCall, who is a liaison to African American churches, and Hyoung Min Kim, a Denton pastor who works with Asian congregations, to a growing diversity of churches around the state.
Contreras said a friend recently commented to him that she observed in a well-traveled hallway on a Texas college campus not a word of English spoken for several minutes as students meandered between classes.
“Perhaps she had caught a glimpse of what it means when people say, ‘the nations have come to us,’” Contreras commented.
“Our multiethnic ministries department welcomes the challenge to come alongside our churches to help them engage their ever-changing multicultural community around them. Most of these churches want to share the love of Christ to their neighbors but are simply at a loss as to how to take the first steps to reach them.”
Contreras said churches should intentionally celebrate an ethnic presence and purposefully communicate the gospel in the language of the hearers.
“ESL, after-school programs, child care, computer training are just a few of the ways that churches can take the initial steps in being the hands and feet of Christ without speaking a different language or knowing the complete intricacies of a specific culture,” he said.
“How fitting to think that after several rebukes and corrections the apostle Peter with all of his background, stereotypes, and partiality towards the Gentiles declares, ‘I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right’ (Acts 10:34-35),” Contreras wrote.
Amid the diversity, the need for specific ethnic group ministries is still needed but it should not be understood as an ultimate goal, he added.
“Rather, it serves a strategic purpose in reaching the nations for Christ that are in our own backyard and incorporating them into the life of the larger body of Christ across ethnic, cultural, social, and demographic lines.”
Contreras said SBC resolutions and actions aimed at responding to increased diversity encourage all churches to “touch the nations in culturally sensitive ways and encourage believers to become cross-cultural ministers at home and abroad.”
The multiethnic ministries office hosts four regional weekend Hispanic conferences across the state throughout the year, in a format similar to the SBTC’s Equip Conference with breakout sessions on various facets of ministry.
Also, there is an annual Pastor & Wife Retreat, statewide Hispanic men’s and women’s conferences, and the Alto Frio summer student camp, which attracts not only Hispanic students but also Asian, African American and Anglos.
There are Spanish-language events around the SBTC’s Bible Conference in the fall and the Empower Evangelism Conference in the winter. The department also facilitates gatherings for the African American Fellowship and the Asian Fellowship during those fall and winter events.
Contreras said the three-day Asian Family Retreat (scheduled July 23-25 at Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin) also attracts some Arab, Indian, Filipino, Nepalese, and Egyptian participants. SBTC has churches among those people groups, yet there is not enough representation to warrant a fellowship. So the Asian retreat is a venue to bring some of the groups into a larger fellowship as well, Contreras said.
