Their pastors are mostly evangelical, sometimes bivocational, and eager for additional workers and funding to better serve their communities.
Pastors of Hispanic Protestant churches in the United States maintain immense gratitude for their role, but many face financial struggles. Their congregations reflect diverse worship styles, but they have a unified desire to reach and serve their communities.
Lifeway Research partnered with numerous denominations and church networks to survey Hispanic Protestant pastors in the United States for a study sponsored by Lifeway Recursos, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and Samaritan’s Purse. This study follows a Lifeway Research study of US Hispanic Protestant pastors last year focused on the congregations and their evangelistic outreach.
“The response from pastors and leaders about the first study we did last year was overwhelming,” said Giancarlo Montemayor, director of global publishing for Lifeway Recursos.
“The goal with this second study is to dig deeper into some of the nuances of the Hispanic church in the US, such as worship and outreach. We also wanted to pay close attention to the particular needs of the pastors serving in these communities who often struggle with cultural and political issues that are not present in an English-speaking church.”
Pastoral perspectives
The average Hispanic Protestant pastor shares many similarities with other Protestant pastors while also having some unique characteristics. Participating pastors are overwhelmingly evangelical, with 82 percent identifying as such compared to 17 percent who say they are mainline Protestant.
Seven in 10 have some type of higher education, including 44 percent who have a graduate degree. In terms of their theological education, almost half have completed Bible institute training (47%) or seminary courses (46%).
More than …