How a Spanish-language assessment opened new doors for church planters

You could feel the passion — no, you could feel la pasiòn — at Converge’s most recent Church Planting Assessment Center for one reason: It was Converge’s first-ever assessment center conducted entirely in Spanish.

Seven couples from three Converge regions, including four people from Puerto Rico, spent August 7-10 with trained assessors. They aimed to discover who God had called and prepared to start a church. 

Walter Angelica, who pastors Iglesia Ciudad Jacksonville (Florida), has previously translated between Spanish and English speakers at assessments. But this Spanish-only assessment marked the first time he saw potential church planters fully express their identity and passion. 

Marlan Mincks, Converge’s national director of church planting, has been involved in assessments for more than 20 years. He saw an energy and brotherhood among his Spanish-speaking colleagues that seldom happened when Spanish speakers were assessed in English. 

Both agreed that enabling Latinos to experience the assessment in their heart language made the difference. The challenges of discussing theology or expressing values, mission and strategy in English disappeared at the event’s first word. 

But this assessment is only the beginning of Converge’s commitment to planting more churches so more people follow Christ. Mincks said the movement of 1700 churches will host more assessments in Spanish. 

“This is the first step, and it’s going to open the door to a level of church planting we haven’t seen,” Mincks said. “We’re going to catch up to God and what he’s doing in that culture.” 

Converge’s support for church leaders of every tribe, tongue and nation goes beyond assessments. He said this Spanish-only assessment offered Latino churches the wisdom, resources and best practices that primarily English-speaking churches have gained over the last 20 years.  

Angelica and Mincks agreed the Spanish-speaking church planters loved getting the tools. And Spanish-speaking Converge assessors and pastors worked like a team to make this assessment possible.  

In the future, Mincks and Angelica will work hard to help all Converge regions find qualified Spanish-speaking candidates. 

Reaching that goal can happen because the United States has 65 million Latinos. Millions of these Latinos follow Christ, creating a passionate group of believers who can help America avoid Europe’s decline into a least-reached condition. 

“The Latinos want to keep planting churches,” Angelica said. “We have to take advantage of that.” 

Converge's 10 regions have committed to deploying 312 church planters before 2026. Read more inspiring church planting stories and learn about the goal to send out 312 church planters in five years.