爱达荷州与犹他州西班牙语教会增长：爱达荷州会众从两间增至九间，西班牙语家庭会议吸引68人参加
爱达荷州西南部与犹他州北部的西班牙语事工这几年明显增长。10月15日至16日，大 Boise 地区两间西班牙语教会举办了一场以西班牙语进行的家庭会议，讨论婚姻、育儿与财务等题目，原本预计50人参加，实际来了68人。主办方是 Boise 郊区 Meridian 一带的 Iglesia Central Valley Español 与 Boise 的 Iglesia Gracia y Verdad。
会议结束时，5人决志信主，8人重新立志，35人与两间教会成员进行了福音交谈。讲员是北美宣教部 Send Network Español 的西区负责人 David Godoy。Central Valley Español 的牧师 Roy Vargas 说，这场活动原本只打算办给植堂培训项目的学员，后来决定向 Treasure Valley 的西班牙语家庭全面开放，目的是坚固社区家庭，并接触尚未信主的家庭。
会众数字同样在涨：爱达荷州的西班牙语会众从2020年的两间增至2026年的九间，犹他州从1995年的四间增至2026年的13间。增长背后有一套植堂培训机制：Tim Martin 于2025年创办西班牙语植堂者培训项目 Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias Hispanas，Vargas 任共同主任，这个为期一年的项目教讲西班牙语的学员如何亲近信仰、如何植堂或协助植堂。首届6人毕业，两人继续在 Gateway 神学院在线进修，第二届有4人在读。
2024年1月才成立的 Iglesia Gracia y Verdad，如今主日上午聚会平均超过50人，2025年有7人受洗，今年8月又有4人。Central Valley Español 已有13人受洗，在 Meridian 的 Central Valley Baptist Church 第二个聚会点，主日上午至少有80人参加，儿童事工也刚起步。Martin 说，这种增长是自然而个人化的，一位会友邀同事、同事邀家人，一环扣一环，他称之为「恩典之链」。
爱达荷州这股增长的根源在犹他州。犹他州 West Jordan 的 Iglesia Bautista Sola Gracia 牧师 Leonardo Lopez 说，1995年他们抵达犹他州时，全州只有四间西班牙语教会、爱达荷州只有两间，如今两地都在增长。他点名两个新植堂地点：犹他州 Magna 近四成居民是西班牙语人口，却没有一间浸信会教会；Herriman 西班牙语人口约占13%，也没有西班牙语浸信会教会。
北美宣教部的 Send Network Español 自2018年起推动西班牙语植堂培训，犹他州与爱达荷州两地项目至今已有35人毕业，其中11人已经开设教会，其余在支持新植堂工作。Godoy 说，对西班牙语家庭来说，家庭不只是一个社会单位，更是身份、信仰与跨代支持的根基，投资于坚固的家庭，直接坚固了整个社区的心。
Hispanic Churches Grow in Idaho and Utah: Idaho Congregations Rise From Two to Nine as Spanish Family Conference Draws 68
Hispanic ministry in southwest Idaho and northern Utah has grown markedly in recent years. On October 15-16, two Spanish-speaking churches in the greater Boise area hosted a family conference in Spanish covering marriage, parenting and financial issues. Fifty people had been anticipated; 68 attended. The hosts were Iglesia Central Valley Español in the Boise suburb of Meridian and Iglesia Gracia y Verdad in Boise.
By the end of the conference, five people had made a profession of faith, eight people had rededicated their lives, and 35 people had engaged in Gospel conversations with members of the two host churches. The invited speaker was David Godoy, Send Network Español's West Region leader for the North American Mission Board. Roy Vargas, pastor of Iglesia Central Valley Español, said the event was originally intended only for men training in the church planting residency, but the organizers decided to open it to all Hispanic families in the Treasure Valley, to strengthen families in the community and to reach families without Christ.
The number of Hispanic congregations reflects the same growth: from two churches in 2020 to nine in 2026 in Idaho, and from four in 1995 to 13 in 2026 in Utah. Behind the growth sits a training pipeline: in 2025 Tim Martin founded the Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias Hispanas, a residency for Hispanic church planters, with Vargas as co-director. The year-long program teaches Spanish-speaking men practical steps in walking closely with God so they can plant or help plant a church. Six men graduated from the first class, two are continuing their studies through Gateway Seminary's online program, and four men are studying in the second class.
Iglesia Gracia y Verdad, started in January 2024, now averages Sunday morning worship attendance of more than 50, with seven people baptized in 2025 and four more this August. Thirteen people have been baptized at Central Valley Español, at least 80 attend Sunday morning services at a second worship center at Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, and a children's ministry has just started. Martin said the growth has been organic and personal, one person inviting a workmate, who invites family in turn, a chain he called a "chain of grace."
The growth in Idaho has its roots in Utah's Hispanic churches. Leonardo Lopez, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Sola Gracia in West Jordan, said that when his family arrived in Utah in 1995 there were only four Hispanic churches in the state and two in Idaho, and that in the last eight years the work has multiplied in both states. He identified two additional sites where Hispanic churches are needed now: Magna, Utah, where nearly 40 percent of residents are Hispanic and not a single Baptist church exists, and Herriman, Utah, where Hispanics make up about 13 percent of the population and there is no Spanish-speaking Baptist church.
NAMB started Send Network Español for Hispanic church planting residencies in 2018. Since then, 35 men have graduated from the Utah and Idaho residencies, eleven men have started churches and the others are supporting new church plants. Godoy said that for Hispanic families, la familia is not just a social unit but the foundation of identity, faith and mutual support across generations, and that investing in strong families directly strengthens the heart of the community.
来源：美南浸信会新闻社
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：爱达荷州 Boise 的 Central Christian Church 资料图，非文中西班牙语教会会场。Tamanoeconomico 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Central Christian Church in Boise, Idaho (file photo, not a venue in this story). Photo by Tamanoeconomico, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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