“We need to conceptualize (the gospel) for them so they understand it … and connect to it,” said Luis Mendoza, a church planter in Kansas City and a field assistant with the MBC. “We can’t reach them the way we deal with Anglos. Their worldview is different.”
Ken McCune, head of ethnic church planting at the Missouri Baptist Convention, says the world has come to Missouri, according to a recent article in The Pathway, the official news journal of the MBC.
Southern Baptists have started new churches for decades upon an expectation that these so-called “church plants” should be autonomous within three years. The time needed for an ethnic church to achieve independence varies, but one thing is certain: the world has come to Missouri, according to Ken McCune, head of ethnic church planting at the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC).
McCune said the ethnic population in the state grew 53.8 percent between 2000-2010 and that 45 percent of the ethnic population came here since 2000.
He said the MBC currently has about 65 ethnic churches and more are planned. Because of mobility in and out of the state and for other reasons, tracking ethnic groups is sometimes difficult. However, Darren Casper, who works with the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association in planting ethnic churches, said there are about 100 people groups in his ministry area.
Ethnic church planters naturally talk about the differences between those congregations and the traditional Southern Baptist church. However, Casper said Missouri Baptists should focus on important commonalities among all people.
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