‘We Are Just One Church’: Green Bay Congregation Grows Through Spanish Outreach
GREEN BAY, Wusc. — “Our God, He Is Alive.”
“Existe un Dios.”
On a recent Sunday, the Green Bay Church of Christ — just two-tenths of a mile off Packerland Drive — sang the unofficial anthem of Churches of Christ in both English and Spanish.
A typical Lord’s Day at the church, about 115 miles north of Milwaukee, starts with roughly 50 Christians worshiping in English. That’s followed by bilingual Bible classes and then a Spanish service that draws about 40.
Every few months, the entire congregation joins together to praise God.
“My biggest hope would be that we can work together and that we not separate or segregate the church,” said Diego Rojas, Green Bay’s Costa Rican-born bilingual preaching minister. “I’m optimistic that the church … will see that we are just one congregation that speaks two languages.
“Most of us really speak Spanglish,” he added with a chuckle, “which means that we speak both languages and sometimes in the same conversation.”
A change in emphasis
For decades, the Herald of Truth — the first national broadcast program among Churches of Christ — spread the Gospel on radio and television.
Launched in Abilene, Texas, in 1952, the evangelistic outreach ministry still endeavors to reach the lost, but its specific approach has changed.
Now the ministry focuses on empowering Spanish-speaking works in Cuba, Honduras and the United States — including places such as Green Bay. Technology remains crucial as the Herald of Truth helps churches create first-rate videos and use tools such as geofencing to connect with seekers.
“If you look around your community, wherever you live, you’re going to notice a huge influx in the Hispanic population,” said Chase Turner, the Herald of Truth’s president and CEO, who attends the White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ in West Monroe, La.
“There are 65 million Hispanics living in the U.S. right now,” he added, citing the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates. “It’s the fastest-growing demographic, and I haven’t seen a whole lot of organizations or churches doing an effective job in helping Hispanics reach Hispanics.”
The Herald of Truth dubs its new emphasis MESA, short for “Mission: Evangelize Spanish America.” Leaders — including Turner and Rojas, MESA’s national director — set a goal of planting or enhancing 100 Spanish-speaking ministries in the U.S. and Latin America by 2052. Since 2023, the program has established 40 such works domestically and started the process of working with 15 others, according to the Herald of Truth.
Turner, who earned a degree in Spanish from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., in 2006 and has worked in mission efforts to Spanish-speaking countries for two decades, points to Green Bay as a MESA model.
“I never thought about there being a lot of Hispanics in Green Bay,” he said of the city of 107,000, best known as the smallest home of a National Football League franchise. “But sure enough, there’s a lot of work up there that draws people to that area.”
‘Best thing … to serve the church’
The Green Bay church — established in 1952 — began as a domestic mission effort.
Catholic and Lutheran converts — along with a a few transplanted Southerners — made up the English-speaking congregation for decades.
“They’ve been through several different ups and downs,” said Caleb Wilson, a church leader whose work with an agricultural company brought him to Green Bay in 2021. “They got close to closing the doors a couple of times.”
Almost 1 in 5 Green Bay residents identified as Hispanic in the 2020 U.S. census.
A few years ago, a handful of Spanish-speaking Christians began showing up for worship.
“When I came from my country, I searched for a Church of Christ,” recalled Margoth Rivera, a Honduran whose 17-year-old daughter, Amy, interpreted her mother’s interview.
But fellow believers felt unequipped to serve the Hispanic population. Wilson, who knew Turner when both worshiped with the Jackson Street Church of Christ in Monroe, La., contacted his old friend to see if he knew any Spanish-speaking ministers who might move to Green Bay.
Turner told Wilson he knew someone, but he wasn’t certain Rojas — his former soccer teammate at Freed-Hardeman — would relocate.
After finishing his studies in 2008, Rojas preached in his home country for over a decade.
Then he returned to Freed-Hardeman, serving as an assistant soccer coach and the spiritual growth coordinator for athletes.
“One of the biggest things for us,” said Rojas, a legal U.S. resident, “is that we were close to reaching the time with Freed-Hardeman where they could do the green card for us. And coming to work here was giving that up and starting all over.”
That process can take two to three years, Rojas said. But he and his wife, Katherine, a fellow Costa Rican, prayed about the decision.
They felt God leading them to Green Bay.
“A lot of things happened that made us see that this was the best thing to do to serve the church,” said Rojas, father of Noah, 4; and Franco, 1.
‘Seeing Jesus in our lives’
Since the Rojas family’s arrival in September 2023, more than 200 Spanish speakers have visited the church’s services.
Besides the U.S., countries and territories represented by those guests include Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
Mission groups from two Tennessee congregations — the Mt. Juliet Church of Christ and the Concord Road Church of Christ in Brentwood — traveled 700 miles to help in Green Bay this summer.
Former Green Bay members Derek and Trisha Vaughn, who now live in the Nashville area and attend Concord Road, were instrumental in the Hispanic ministry’s founding.
Rivera, the Honduran Christian mother, welcomed the church’s embrace of Spanish speakers.
“The most important thing is to keep God with us,” said Rivera, who with her Mexican immigrant husband, Victor, started a commercial cleaning business. “He’s the reason why we’re here, and we should all go and find him for our lives.”
Ismael Águilar, 43, was baptized in his native Nicaragua but drifted away from church after immigrating as a teen. He’s now a U.S. citizen. His wife, Sugey, was immersed into Christ last year after they discovered the Green Bay congregation.
“We are so happy because our life is different than it was before,” said Águilar, a machine operator who leads singing in the Spanish assembly. “There are a lot of issues everywhere, so I want my daughters to go to church and learn more about the Bible, more about Jesus.”
Amid the federal crackdown on illegal immigration, MESA has organized training sessions to educate Hispanic church leaders on best practices and what to expect.
“We don’t ask whether they’re American or U.S. citizens or not,” Rojas said of those who show up for worship.
Along with its Sunday morning assemblies and Wednesday night Bible classes during the school year, the congregation has organized English as a Second Language classes.
Rojas stays active in the community, too.
The minister plays soccer with Hispanic guys every Friday night. He plans activities such as a recent group outing to the Packers’ annual family night.
Jesus connected with people like Zacchaeus and then went to his house.
“That’s also my approach,” Rojas said, “connecting with people, getting the friendship, building relationships. And then they start seeing Jesus in our lives.”
This article was first published by The Christian Chronicle.
Bobby Ross Jr. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at bobby@christianchronicle.org.