Hispanic ministry gets new boost in California

United Methodists in the California-Pacific Annual (regional) Conference are determined to boost their Hispanic ministry. This year, the conference named the Rev. Emilio Müller director for Latino Ministries. Müller has 30 years of pastoral experience and has been with the denomination’s National Plan for Hispanic-Latino Ministry since its beginning. Müller launched his ministry by organizing a consultation May 30-31 at Maywood (Calif.) United Methodist Church in the Los Angeles area. The meeting was designed “to gather pastors and lay leaders, as well as members of the cabinet and the bishop, to grasp together the comprehensive view of what the NPHLM (National Plan) has to offer and to engage in a process of envisioning and sharing,” Müller said. “This will enable us to begin the process of recruiting, training and deployment of teams of lay missioners and pastor-mentors to implement a new vision for the California-Pacific Conference some time at the end of this year.” Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, who leads the Cal-Pac Conference, said the meeting was one of “numerous signs of hope” that she is seeing. “The deep commitment of district superintendents, pastors and lay people is a sign of hope,” she said. “The coming of Emilio to work with us is another sign of hope. Our whole conference board of congregational development and their commitment, that’s another sign of hope. So there are several signs of hope of people really willing to invest time and learning and resources to lead towards the future that we dream of.” The dream includes starting three Hispanic congregations in each of the conference’s eight districts.”*

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