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 End of Summer - 2012 |
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End of Summer - 2012 |
 Greetings
from CHM Director David Byrne!
This has been an unusual year of travel as North American Hispanic Ministry has taken me to remote parts of the world to forward the cause of building Christ’s Church. Part of our mission is to work together with other Christians so that we can respond to God’s voice as one people, in spite of our cultural and linguistic differences. In Mexico City during our August conference of the North American Ministerial Alliance of Friends Pastors, our Mexican hosts arranged for an uplifting time of celebration for the growth in the Mexican Church and for our unity across borders and affiliations. Please pray with me for the increasing awareness in the Hispanic Churches of North America that its outreach is the world and that its partner is the entire Body of Christ. Pray too, that your place in that Body will continually reflect your Lord’s desire to heal, to save, and to rescue that which is lost.  Sincerely, Dr. David C. Byrne Director: CHM (--See a previous newsletter--) (For an easier to print & share "Acrobat Reader" Version of this Newsletter click HERE) |
CHM Board: Thomas Hoke Paul Feaster Jacob Estrada Kay Griffin Dora Gutierrez Kerr Dr. Karl Newman William Roeh Mark Rubash Eric Royle |
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Hispanic
Ministry in Africa
 It
was a privilege to participate and to serve as a translator/interpreter
in the FWCC World Conference of Friends in Kenya during April.
For a couple of weeks I worked with an accomplished group of language
specialists to make sure the conference could be accessed by all who
attended. In particular, I was encouraged by the many
representatives of "mission fields" who now have strong National Church
Organizations or Yearly Meetings like Rwanda, Burundi, Bolivia, Peru,
Central America, etc. Some wondered where the Evangelical Friends were
who sent the Gospel to their country. Their concern points to the
need for evangelical fellowship among Christ-centered Friends from
around the world.
 Sharing in
fellowship on a personal level between those of us who are Friends of
Jesus can inspire and instruct us all and we need venues for North
American Church members to commune with Christians from other languages
and cultures. It is not enough to have an organizational
affiliation or for our leaders to have occasional contact. When
believers come together to celebrate our common Lord and faith, we
grow. I pray that those of us who call Jesus "Lord" and "Friend"
will find ways to gather His body together for edification. Instituto ALMA News Continual improvements and updates are leading to more activity in the use of the Instituto ALMA leadership online classes. We have been able to complete some of the online questions that students answer as they view the video in order to reinforce the interactive learning. We've also been reediting and doing some "house cleaning" on some of the video sessions. We thank God for the way these classes are contributing to the ministries of those who use them. |
AMANA
Conference
(Alianza Ministerial de Amigos - Norte América) The North American Hispanic Friends Conference this year in Mexico City was only the second conference we've held inside of Mexico. The workshops, services and other presentations were challenging and inspirational as we considered the theme of "Christian  Holiness." It was an added bonus to be
able to celebrate Mexico's Olympic gold medal in soccer with tens of
thousands of Mexicans at the Angel of Independence as part of our
"field trip."Pastor Ernesto Ramirez and his wife, Elizabeth coordinated details on the local level superbly along with their leadership team and Pastor Angel Diaz the executive-secretary of AMANA (Alianza Ministerial Amigos de Norte America) assured the quality of the presentations.  The location of the 2013 conference has yet to be determined. Previous conferences were held at :
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 We give thanks to
the Lord for the life of our friend Hermógenes Méndez who
went ahead of us to his reward. Here is the write up from EFC-ER:Hermogenes Mendez, a faithful pastor of Evangelical Friends Church’s Hispanic ministry in Baltimore, Maryland, ended his earthly journey in June, 2012 after suffering a massive stroke in May. Hermogenes began his walk with Jesus in Guatemala in 1982 at the age of 36. The Lord saved this world-class soccer player from a tough life of hearty drinking, and he became a committed witness to Christ’s redemptive work. The following year he began a fruitful partnership with Alan Amavisca in church planting, beginning with a fellowship made up of 80% new believers. Hermogenes and his wife, Berta then immigrated to the US and planted a Hispanic church in Baltimore. He became a pioneer networker with EFC-ER and John Ryser, which opened the door to productive ministry with several more Hispanic churches. He served Jesus and EFC-ER faithfully in leadership for more than 19 years. He is remembered by the Baltimore congregation as:
From EFC-ER
Superintendent Chris Jackson
Please pray for Hermógenes wife
Berta, their 3 children and for the Baltimore Church.
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Thanks to all those
who are praying and giving. Finances are tight, but we recognize
God's provision. Pray about your involvement and keep sharing the
vision. |
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Pray about the
location for the AMANA conference for next year that it would be
somewhere where Hispanic Friends can bless and be blessed. |
| Dear Friends, Thank you for your interest in CHM and our ministries. Our hope is to inform you about some of the things that are going on in the Hispanic Churches and in our outreach in order for you to pray and get involved with the people from many cultures around you. Missions is not just something that is done far away. We can reach out in Jesus’ name to people from many different cultures who are living in our neighborhoods. In fact, that is our calling as Christians and in many ways, that kind of effort locally is more difficult than sending missionaries to do the work elsewhere because locally, we are all involved in welcoming the stranger and adjusting to his “strange” ways. The Coalition for Hispanic Ministries is your servant and the servant of the Hispanic Church in North America to help bring the training and resources needed for the task of building up Hispanic ministries. Please let us know how we can help you and your church to do Hispanic outreach and to partner with nearby Hispanic churches. The Coalition for Hispanic Ministries is a coalition made up of all those who want to assure that Hispanic ministries are going forward with the necessary tools and training, and now, more than ever, we need individuals and churches to join us to assure that this ministry continues. CHM is only a small part of God’s work among Hispanics in North America, and our primary work is to support others who are involved. If this seems important to you, we would like to hear from you. We hope that you will pray with us that God will unite His Son’s body to help us all proclaim that “Jesus is Lord” to the Glory of God the Father. Sincerely, Dr. David C. Byrne Director: CHM David@InstitutoALMA.org 713-922-3113 |