LAKELAND — Florida’s Hispanic population grew by more than 70 percent during the 1990s, becoming the state’s largest minority at nearly 17 percent of the total population.

That’s a community Florida Conference churches and ministries have been working hard to reach, and two new ministries were recently added to the list.

Two existing congregations in the Orlando District have formed a unique partnership to launch a Hispanic congregation, and in Deltona a new Hispanic ministry was planted through the combined efforts of two districts and the Florida Conference.

Cristo a las Naciones is a new mission in east Orlando that is the result of a partnership between University Carillon and Faith United Methodist churches, both of which had been working to develop their own Hispanic ministries. University Carillon had the resources and passion to start the ministry, but the neighborhood surrounding the church had few Hispanics. Faith is surrounded by Hispanics, but the church did not have the resources to reach that population. The two decided to join efforts.

Jaime FaberllÈ is leading the new mission. He was the youth minister at University Carillon for four years. The Rev. Joe MacLaren, senior pastor at University Carillon, said FaberllÈ was planning to leave the church, but church members wanted him to stay and offered him the job of assistant pastor.

“We kept him on as assistant pastor and hoped he would start a Hispanic ministry,” MacLaren said.

FaberllÈ did start a ministry in response to the growing number of Hispanics in the Orlando area and attracted about 20 worshippers each week.

“We have enough Hispanics [in the Orlando area] for 10 churches,” he said, adding many are being drawn into churches with less theological and doctrinal strength than the United Methodist Church.

MacLaren said University Carillon’s ministry did not grow because of a lower density of Hispanic households around the church. “…We’re not in their driving pattern. They wouldn’t even know where our church is,” MacLaren said.

The community around Faith United Methodist Church has as many as 50 percent Hispanic households, according to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections.

The Rev. Deborah McKown, the church’s pastor, said church members had a vision for reaching new people. “Our congregation—the leaders—identified that there were people in our community we weren’t reaching effectively,” she said.

Nearly half the new members Faith had received over the past two years had Hispanic backgrounds or family members who spoke Spanish. Several members started a Bible study in Spanish to begin reaching out to the community.

“We wanted to do it; we just didn’t know the steps,” McKown said.

MacLaren and FaberllÈ heard about the need at Faith and met with McKown to begin developing a cooperative ministry. “We are paying Jaime’s salary and all costs incurred by him, including publicity, supplies…,” MacLaren said. “Faith has given us the space. It’s costing us and not benefiting us financially. Our part is doing something great for Jesus.”

McKown said her church’s leadership is “100 percent behind” the mission and has found ways to be in ministry with the Hispanics. “We’re now able to do things we only imagined doing before,” she said. “Children and youth ministry is now actually possible because we’re stronger.”

FaberllÈ now has a congregation of more than 40 people each Sunday, and the mission recently started a Tuesday night program for children. He said he hopes this ministry serves as a model for other United Methodist churches. “It’s something I hope becomes the norm—larger churches with resources helping out other churches,” he said. “Ultimately, we’re trying to do a kingdom thing, regardless of culture or language.”

Ginny Pearcy, wife of the Rev. Robert Pearcy, said the new Hispanic ministry at First United Methodist Church, Deltona, is the result of a lot of visioning and dreaming and a few miracles.

While attending Asbury Theological Seminary’s Orlando campus Pearcy said she read that Deltona was 20 percent Hispanic and no major denomination was making any effort to reach that population. She immediately began to envision a Hispanic ministry at her church and wrote letters to the DeLand District, Florida Conference and Asbury Seminary looking for help.

“They told me to keep visioning, thinking, dreaming,” she said.

A visit to the Brazilian mission at First United Methodist Church, Kissimmee, last fall helped Pearcy’s vision become a reality. “I ran into [the Rev.] JosÈ CarriÛn, the pastor at the Hispanic mission there and told him my vision and dream,” she said. “It really was a miracle I was at that church.”

CarriÛn, the Orlando District’s Hispanic ministry coordinator, said he knew a local pastor from the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, the Rev. Lydia Solis, who lived in Deltona and was looking for a church to lead, according to Pearcy.

Pearcy worked through her district office and the Florida Conference’s office of New Church Development to secure funds to pay Solis’ salary.

“She’s been here since November,” Pearcy said.

The mission held its first worship service on Easter and had more than 40 people in attendance, including a group from the Kissimmee mission. Solis is now teaching both English and Spanish and is leading Bible study and citizenship classes.

Pearcy said it is an amazing experience to see how people from throughout the conference are working together to make this ministry possible.