US Hispanic Protestant church is young, growing, effective in evangelism, study shows

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A new study shows that the Hispanic protestant community in the US is flourishing, with a rapidly increasing number of churches, a strong base of young congregants and first-generation American citizens, and a strong record in effective evangelistic outreach, Lifeway Research reports. The study was sponsored by Lifeway Recursos, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and Samaritan’s Purse, and surveyed 692 pastors of congregations that are at least 50 percent Hispanic.

The study found over half of Hispanic Protestant churches (54%) have only been established since 2000, including 32 percent founded in 2010 or later. Just 9% of the churches were founded before 950, Lifeway said. Notably, the study found that a significant number of Hispanic Protestant congregants (58%) are first-generation Americans who were born outside of the US.

The study showed that the substantial figure of 35% of Hispanic Protestant congregants are under the age of 30, including 18% who are younger than 18, Lifeway said. A further 38% are aged 30-49, and 28% are 50 and older.

A large majority (79%) of Hispanic Protestant churches said they regularly organize evangelistic outreach activities, Lifeway reports. In particular, 86% said congregants invite people to church, 74% use social media to advertise church events, 59% hold special events for children, 58% organize community outreach such as food distribution and clothing giveaways, and 56% of congregants share the Gospel in conversations.

The study showed that Hispanic Protestant evangelistic outreach is effective, as nearly half of the churches (47%) said at least ten new people had put their faith in Christ in the last year. Just 9% of the churches reported no new commitments, Lifeway said.

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