Help your congregation celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins September 15, and learn about Centro Familiar Cristiano UMC in Melvindale, one of our vital Hispanic congregations.

GLENN M. WAGNER
Michigan Conference Communications

Hispanic Heritage Month will be celebrated in the United States from Sunday, September 15, to Tuesday, October 15, 2024. This observance highlights the remarkable contributions that Hispanics (persons of Spanish-speaking ancestry) and Latinxs (persons from Latin America) have made and continue to make to our nation’s history, society, and local communities.

United Methodists join in this significant national observance with important witness for Christ that crosses language, history, and cultural boundaries. After giving an overview of Hispanic and Latinx heritage, this article will highlight resources from The United Methodist Church that churches can use during this annual celebration and then highlight the significant ministry of Centro Familiar Cristiano UMC in Melvindale, Michigan.

Hispanic Heritage in the United States

Hispanic heritage is an integral part of our national history and local communities. In the United States, 60.5 million people identify as Hispanic or Latinx, the largest ethnic group in the nation.

Here in Michigan, 550,000 people — 5.6% of the population — identify as Hispanic or Latinx. In Holland, known nationally for its Dutch heritage and annual tulip festival, nearly 24% of the population, over 8,000 people, are Hispanic. If all of Michigan’s Latinx population lived in one place, it would be Michigan’s second-largest city.

It is also helpful to remember that the terms “Hispanic” and “Latinx,” designations useful to our census bureau, represent a wide range of uniquely distinctive cultures and histories. Spanish is the primary or only official language in 22 countries worldwide. Click to learn more.

Resources for Hispanic Heritage Month

Just over 1% (80,968) of The United Methodist Church’s 6,671,825 members identify as Hispanic, and there are 284 United Methodist Hispanic/Latinx congregations and faith communities. Download this helpful infographic and share it with others. Of the denomination’s 37,009 clergy, less than 2% (708) identify as Hispanic or Latinx.

The United Methodist Church’s Discipleship Ministries offers free online resources to help local congregations observe Hispanic Heritage Month. These include worship and music suggestions, bulletin inserts, publicity flyers, and helpful ideas for community outreach. Click to learn more.

The General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) recommends the following resources for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month in our United Methodist churches:

• • Free, downloadable small group book study based on Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity by Robert Chao Romero. It offers a comprehensive and insightful exploration of the multifaceted contributions of Latinx Christianity to theology, social justice, and identity formation in the United States.
  • A new webinar series on Understanding AfroLatinidad is designed to illuminate the rich and complex realities of AfroLatines. This series will provide a critical space for reflection and education on Latinx anti-Blackness and the daily lived experiences of AfroLatines in the United States. The first webinar will be on Thursday, September 26.
  • Downloadable tips to celebrate Hispanic and Latinx people and their diverse cultures in appropriate and honorable ways.

Centro Familiar Cristiano UMC

One of the Michigan Conference’s vital Hispanic/Latinx congregations is Centro Familiar Cristiano UMC in Melvindale. Melvindale is a city of almost 13,000 people located about 10 miles southwest of downtown Detroit.

Centro Familiar Cristiano began in 2016 as a new church start following the closing of El Buen Pastor UMC. Rev. Patricia Gandarilla Becerra is the founder and current pastor of Centro Familiar Cristiano UMC.

In 2019, this congregation moved from Detroit to its present location in Melvindale.

Rev. Gandarilla Becerra has been serving Christ in ministry for 45 years, 24 of which have been as a United Methodist pastor. She served in Christian ministry in her native Mexico for twenty years before becoming a United Methodist after her move to the United States. She received advanced seminary education and certification from the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Rev. Gandarilla Becerra also serves as a facilitator and consultant for The United Methodist Church’s Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry, one of the six ethnic national plans. She is also a facilitator for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Pastor Patricia’s Melvindale congregation attracts participants who attend from different communities around Melvindale and includes persons from various Latin American countries. She knows compassionate listening and inclusive hospitality are key to growing a diverse and welcoming community for Christ in Melvindale.

Every Sunday following worship, her congregation gathers for dinner together. The menu varies weekly and features cuisine from Latin American countries. One week, the food may be Puerto Rican. Another week will feature Venezuelan dishes. The next week may feature Cuban cuisine. The menu rotation seeks to welcome each of the unique communities of people who attend the church. It has helped congregants grow together in Christ beyond their national cultures of origin by sharing a meal. Each person who eats is asked to contribute one dollar to help cover the cost because those welcomed at the Sunday meal often include persons of limited means. Pastor Patricia notes the congregation’s desire to keep the price affordable for all.

An important ministry of the church is the sewing classes offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, which teach women valuable life and work skills. The congregation also plans to offer English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to help newcomers adjust to the culture in the United States.

The congregation’s Sugar Crash ministry, an EngageMI ministry partner, is another outreach of the church that continues to have a significant impact for Christ. Watch this video (click to view) about Sugar Crash, which was shown at the 2024 Michigan Annual Conference. Named after a popular video game, this outreach ministry helps single parents by caring for children, ages 4 to 15, for six months in the summer. This ministry offers a safe space for children to play, learn, and be introduced to stories of faith and the experience of organized education. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the program also expanded internationally online to include children in multiple Latin American countries. Sugar Crash participants receive a pair of new tennis shoes and a backpack full of school supplies before starting school in the fall.

Another ministry emerged during the pandemic: a mobile food pantry that distributes food on the first and third Fridays of the month, reaching more than 300 people.

During Hispanic Heritage Month, a featured ministry is “Por un invierno acodeor fuera de casa (A Warm Winter Away from Home).” This outreach seeks to connect with newly arriving immigrants, asylees, and refugees in the winter months and offers important connections to social services provided in the community. It helps them to prepare for Michigan’s winters by collecting clothing and coat donations. Centro Familiar collects clothes and coats every Friday throughout September. This year’s event will take place on October 3 at 6 pm. The congregation’s observance of “A Warm Winter Away from Home” invites people to participate in their winter activities, concluding with a Posada Navideña, the annual celebrations of the Christmas story in December, and a traditional Hispanic holiday.

Visit Centro Familiar Cristiano UMC’s website (click here) to learn more about this multicultural Hispanic congregation and its many ministries in Melvindale.