1) Establish connections with the existing ministries and organizations serving the Hispanic/Latino community.  During the first months we meet with leaders of organizations such as El Apostolado Hispano, The Daughters of Charity, Peoples’ Programs, Bilingual Solutions, Common Ground Clinic, and some pastors, community leaders and lawyers.  This was an important step for us as new people in this community and we try to continue with this process as an effective way to get current information of the social services and programs we have in the community.  We understand that this is a continuous process that eventually will decrease as we get more familiarize with the organizations and ministries in the community. 

2) Preparation/training of the congregations where the centers are being localized.  The idea behind this other goal is to prepare the congregations to experience a cross-cultural ministry and develop ownership of these ministries.  We believe that the local congregations should be directly involved in the developing of these ministries to create the welcoming environment necessary to have a successful ministry.  We trained Covenant UMC with a series of three conferences/sermons.  The answer of the people has been enthusiastic and we are optimistic about the church becoming more and more open to the Hispanic/Latino community and other ethnic groups.  We continue with the contact with the people of Covenant and we would like to see them getting more involved with the Hispanic/Latino ministry.  In the First Grace case, the development of the Hispanic/Latino ministry has been different.  The people of First Grace just celebrated their merged last year and the environment for a Hispanic/Latino ministry is more intentionally open.  As you know the most of the new congregation is committed to be more inclusive and open to new groups in the community and this is very helpful to successfully accomplish our goals.

Rev. Sam Calvo, pastor of El Mesias in Kenner, is shown during a recent Baptism at the church. The mainly Hispanic /Latino congregation, is part of a growing Hispanic ministry in the Louisiana Annual Conference. The state has experienced a significant increase in its Hispanic/Latino population due to Hurricane Katrina and other factors

3) Continue developing English and Spanish classes.  The classes are the first social ministry we offer to the Hispanic/Latino community.  We are already offering English classes at Covenant UMC twice a week.  The next step here is to grow in the number of the students we serve right now (22-25) and to include more students willing to learn Spanish from the church and from the community.  If more people are willing to join the classes we will reorganized the groups and look for more instructors.  At First Grace UMC the English and Spanish classes started on January 22 and will follow the interaction model where the English and Spanish students interact for an hour and practice with real people the language they are learning and teaching their native language.  In addition to these 2 places the Aurora and St Matthew UMCs will launch English and Spanish classes very soon.  We have been meeting and planning these classes with Rev. Henry Stone and Rev. Simon Chigumira.  We hope more churches in the Mission Zone area will follow this model to serve the Hispanic/Latino community.  We are willing to offer some training, guide and support to these churches willing to reach out the Hispanic/Latino community.       Covenant UMC            Fridays    7:00 to 8:30 p.m.  (English)           Sundays   6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (English)      First Grace           Tuesdays  5:00 to 7:00 p.m. (English)           Tuesdays  6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (Spanish)

4) Establish Bible Studies.  For the last month we have been studying the Bible in Spanish at Covenant UMC.  Friday evenings we come together at the church and present the Good News of Jesus Christ to a group of 8 to 10 Hispanic/Latinos who are hungry for the teachings of Jesus Christ.  We are visiting the people in the area and inviting them to be part of this ministry.  At First Grace UMC the Bible Study started on January with a group of 8 to 10 people willing to learn more about the teachings of Jesus Christ. 
     Covenant UMC -  Fridays, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. 
     First Grace - Wednesdays, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

5) Establish a Bilingual Worship Service at Covenant UMC.  On January 6 (Epiphany), 2008 from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. we had our first bilingual worship service. There is a small group of enthusiastic people from Covenant UMC who joined us.  The invitation is to the whole community in Chalmette to experience the power and joy of diversity and commonality.   The idea is that we need to create a worship service that really blends the cultures to be represented in the group and not only to translate the words from one language to the other.  At First Grace UMC we are inviting the people to join the morning Worship Service and provide translation to those who need it.  We believe that we will reach out Hispanic/Latinos from different generations.  This means that many Latinos are not going to need translation because they have been here for generations and will join the church without many major adjustments.  Nevertheless, we are sure we will reach out Hispanic/Latinos who have been in the area or in the States for a few years or even months and they will need translation or even to worship entirely in Spanish.      Covenant UMC - Sundays, 4:00 p.m.      First Grace - Sundays, 11:15 a.m.

Faith Communities.  Faith communities are being born at Covenant UMC in Chalmette and at First Grace UMC in New Orleans.  According to the National Plan on Hispanic/Latino Ministry Report to the 2004 General Conference “faith communities meet informally in homes and other non-church settings as they engage in Bible study and fellowship” (pp.6-7)  This Faith Communities should be organically related to existing churches (Hispanic/Latino and/or non-Hispanic/Latino) until such a time as they may develop into chartered congregations, become integrated into existing congregations, or become missions (a step between faith communities and chartered congregations).   We thank God for the opportunity to develop these faith communities in such a short time.  We are aware of the cultural differences but we emphasize unity and commonality in these faith communities and celebrate multiculturalism and bilingualism. 

Special Celebrations.  A couple of Posadas (Mexican Christmas Celebrations) were celebrated on Saturday and Sunday December 22 and 23 at First Grace and Covenant.   We attracted some Hispanic/Latino families and we are working with them.  We included other Christmas cultural aspects from other countries to make the people feel welcome and at home.  We received some help from the Hispanic/Latino community (a restaurant donated a couple of piñatas and some ladies helped with the decorations) to help us with the expenses.  We are sure that these events will become a tradition among the Hispanic/Latino community in these areas.

Trainings.  We (Juanita and me) got the training on Medical Interpretation offered on November 8-13.  The Luke’s House Clinic paid for the training and we are serving as interpreters for them every Tuesday evening.  We will be training other volunteers to serve as medical interpreters too.  Juanita Maribel and Dr Martha received a training on immigration in El Paso, Texas on February 8-10, 2008.

Multicultural Training.  On January, we (Dr. Martha Orphe, Rev. Juanita Ramos and Rev. Oscar Ramos) offered to the churches in the Mission Zone a multicultural training (In Our Own Languages) to help them use the multiculturalism as an asset in their ministries.  We will be offering this training again in the near future.    College Fair and Motivational Conference.  On February 16 we offered a College Fair and Motivational Conference to Hispanic/Latino students and their families as a respond to the need of our youth to continue studying after High school.  Hispanic/Latino students have the highest drop out rate in the nation complicating many other areas in the life of the Hispanic/Latino families and in the community as a whole.  We will be offering another College Fair at the end of fall this year.

Lay Speaking Certificates being awarded at El Mesias UMC

     

Youth Ministry.   As a result of the College Fair and Motivational Conference we are organizing a Youth Bible Club on Thursday evenings at First Grace UMC.  The group will try to respond to the spiritual, educational and social needs of the Hispanic/Latino youths.  Young adults from First Grace Church are interested in helping with this ministry.
Thursdays 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Hispanic/Latino Centers.  We are in the process to formalize a 501c3 organization and create the structure that will help us accomplished our goal to better serve the Hispanic/Latino Community in this area.  The Hispanic/Latino Task Force will focus its attention on this area in the next meetings. 

We didn’t mention anything from El Mesias and Maribel Calvo’s ministry due to this ministry is considered outside the Mission Zone area and the ministries are considered independent from each other.  Nevertheless, we believe that Missionary Maribel perspective will give you a better picture of the Hispanic/Latino Ministry in the area.
 
Hopefully this is helpful to you and to the rest of the people at the Multicultural Committee to better understand where we are at this point and where we are going to. 
Shalom,

Oscar and Juanita Ramos