The Evangélicos - Time Magazine

Notes from: The Evangélicos - Time Magazine cover story on The Latino Reformation, Issue of April 15, 2013

Que Dios te bendiga - May the Lord bless you.

Trumpets sound and guitars jam the alabanzas, Spanish songs of praise

Gloria a Dios! Praise be to God!

Born-again, Bible-believing, Latino Protestants represent one of the fastest-growing segments among America's churchgoing millions.

According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, more than two-thirds of the 52 million-plus Latinos in the U.S. are Catholic; by 2030, that percentage could be closer to half. Many are joining evangelical Protestant congregations.

The Latino Protestant boom is transforming American religious practices and politics. Christianity Today, the country's leading evangelical magazine, is preparing to publish in Spanish this year. Record labels in Nashville are beginning to sign Spanish Christian-music groups.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest evangelical denomination in the U.S., hopes to make a place for these new believers, setting a goal of 7,000 Baptist Hispanic churches by 2020. Today, they count 3,200 but statisticians may be missing some.

There are also 2,500 Latino Assemblies of God churches and 40,800 member churches in the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Evangélicos are socially more conservative than Hispanics generally, but they are quicker to fight for social justice than their white brethren are.

Catholic Latin America experienced the first inklings of the 16th century European Protestant Reformation only in the 1970's and '80's. One attempt to keep Latino Catholics in the fold has been the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement.

By the year 2050, projections are that Latinos will make up nearly a third of the U.S. population.

THANKS FOR SHARING!

I didn't realize that it had hit the Time Magazine. Thank the Lord that it is becoming even noticeable to a secular magazine that the gospel is having an effect in the Hispanic community in the U.S.A.

My ministry is primarily amongst Hispanics in the Monroe LA area. We need your prayers for the great need here in the U.S.A. One of the great things is that many of them are more than willing to fast and watch and pray once they have been converted. It is more natural for them to cry out to God. Many of them have lived in such poverty for so long that it is much more natural for them to linger in the presence of God awaiting an answer from heaven. They haven't been as spoiled to the push-button luxuries of life that have ruined the perseverance quality that Americans once knew.

There is also a sad thing happening amongst Hispanics in America. Many are being infected by the same deceptions that have turned many American English speaking churches into refrigerators instead of incubators.

Please pray that the fire and warmth and love for holiness that many of them know will not be extinguished by the watered down religion in our country.

Thank you for sharing also.

I heard stories earlier this summer of prayer and preaching on a public bus in Nicaragua and of the faith of poor people there.

I am reminded of "Hearken, my beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those that love him?" (James 2:5). There is also the extended passage on the rich later in the Book of James that begins with "Come on, you rich ones, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." (James 5:1).

I was glad to hear about your experiences. Church growth that includes conversions, faith and persevering prayer is always great to hear about. Thank you.