Elmore Association reaching Hispanics with team effort

Spreading the gospel to the unchurched can be difficult, especially if you’re ministering to individuals from a different country who speak little or no English. Many churches face this problem when establishing Hispanic outreach missions.
   
To improve its ministry, Elmore Baptist Association hired Alejandro Pajaro, a Hispanic minister from Colombia, to head the Hispanic mission of Riverside Heights Baptist Church, Tallassee, and there has been a great deal of success from its efforts.
   
“We feel very fortunate that God has blessed us by having a man like Alejandro to be with us,” said Jim Jackson, director of missions at Elmore for the past six years. “He has a good educational background and good experience. He has been in the States for 26 years and has worked with Hispanic ministries in four different states.”
   
Pajaro leads Sunday School, Sunday morning worship and the Wednesday evening service at Riverside and the Sunday evening service at Eastern Hills Baptist Church, Montgomery. During the week, he leads a FAITH group and ministers to Hispanics throughout Elmore County.
   
“Our goal here is to first develop some churches in the near future at least beginning with missions,” said Pajaro. “Later, we will try to open some kind of training for the young people who dedicated their lives to the ministry and help them be pastors and serve in all areas of the churches.”
   
Initially, Riverside’s goal was to assist LaMision, a Hispanic ministry in Wetumpka sponsored by Calvary Baptist Church, and to look for opportunities to serve other groups of Hispanics in the area. After only a year of service, the mission is flourishing. 
   
“The Hispanic population is growing throughout the state and sometimes we see it as a change or an inconvenience,” said Jackson. “As Christians we ought to see it as a missions opportunity to share Christ and minister to them.”
   
Both Jackson and Pajaro expect Elmore’s ministry to continue growing and meeting the needs of Hispanics in the area. Eventually, they would like to begin teaching English language classes and organizing home cell groups.
   
“The Lord has been blessing us,” said Pajaro. “We have seen a lot of people coming and giving their lives to Jesus. As long as they want to have this kind of ministry supported, I am ready to continue working.”