Pastor Doug Logan and the Acts 29 team recently launched new initiatives, called "Acts 29 Español" and "Acts 29 Urban," aiming to foster a "diverse, global community of healthy, multiplying churches" starting in the urban context of the Hispanic community.
In his statement to CBN News, Pastor Logan said that this movement will focus on "the least, the last, and the lost of any race."
"The great commission says go to all nations," he said. "What it's going to reflect is God's heart for the lost of all nations."
"When we begin to reflect that," he continued. "And we don't have a messianic complex where we think our culture is elevated over other cultures, and we realize we sit under the living God who levels the playing field because sin has leveled us and grace has brought us into family and relationship, we then can begin leading the way in displaying the manifold beauty of the family of God."
CBN comments that the movement has come "at a most opportune time." The United States has been in a year of much "racial stress" following the George Floyd incident last year and the recent anti-Asian hate crimes.
Pastor Chuy Rodriguez, appointed head for Acts 29 Espanol, said that the initiative will address a great need in Latin America.
"As we all know the Hispanic population specifically, which is the area that I'm in charge of, continues to grow in the United States. If I'm not mistaken, in the last census, there were close to 60 million Hispanics in the U.S, " he said.
"Almost every single Latino country in the world is represented in the United States," added Pastor Rodriguez. "We have a prime opportunity to teach them, to train them, to disciple them, and to show them the gospel so that they can be light wherever they go."
Acts 29, which was launched in 1998, commits to "fully" support these Hispanic pastors in their efforts to reach their own communities including some trainings on how to effectively, but relationally engage people.
"We want to assess, bring them in, financially support, relationally connect with deeply," said Pastor Logan. "And we want to provide some conferences, some content, and some coaching and that coaching comes with the curriculum."
Seeing Acts 29's goal for a diverse faculty and staff, Pastor Rodriguez commented that "intentionally having courses for minorities is probably a perfect match for the next generation of pastors."
In their website, Acts 29 explained that a global family of churches couldn't be anything but "diverse, textured and multi-coloured" so that they will be "a prism of God's glory."
Surveys from The Pew (2014) and Lifeway Research (2019) state that 85% of Latinos have put their faith in God and that 94% Hispanic leaders are now overseeing their churches.
"We praise God that healthy, authentic, cross-racial relationships are developing in Acts 29, but there is still work to be done to foster these existing relationships and create new ones. As Director of this initiative, I will work hard to cultivate these connections within the family," said Doug when he explained their approach on their website.
(Update (April 13, 2021): Edited to correct wrong details regarding Acts 29's new initiatives. Acts 29, the movement, was launched in 1998. The team recently launched new initiatives "Acts 29 Español" and "Acts 29 Urban." We apologize for the confusion this might've caused.)
