St. John’s, Melbourne, has some exciting plans to minister to Spanish-speaking people in the year ahead. “We hope to launch weekend services and gatherings in January 2021,” said The Rev. Eric Turner, rector.

This new outreach will be much more than a Spanish ministry merely using the church’s facilities, Turner said. “Folks who become part of this ministry will be members of St. John’s, and there will not be a separate budget or vestry.”

While the church will offer separate worship services and educational opportunities in Spanish, St. John’s hopes to have joint outreach ministries, fellowship events and parish leadership representing all parts of the congregation. Church leadership hopes to have occasional joint worship services as well.

The church’s vestry has been thinking and praying for some time about new opportunities to show the love of Christ. The group decided on Hispanic outreach because the growing Hispanic population in  Brevard County has to travel a long way for Episcopal services. “The closest Episcopal Hispanic ministries are in Kissimmee (55 miles away) and Port St. Lucie (65 miles),” Turner said. “Brevard County demographics indicated at least 15,000 Spanish-speaking folks.”

The Rev. Canon Luis de la Cruz and The Rev. Jose Rodriguez are helping the parish explore the new ministry. De la Cruz, who comes from the Dominican Republic, and currently serves as the Hispanic missioner at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kissimmee. Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican, is vicar of Iglesia Episcopal Jesús de Nazaret in Orlando. Both are members of the Hispanic Commission of the Diocese of Central Florida.

“At the August meeting with  Canon Luis, we agreed that he would bring a team back in early October to directly explore the possibilities of a Hispanic outreach in our area,” Turner said.

A team of eight Spanish-speaking clergy and laypeople from the diocese visited St. John’s on Oct. 10 to help the parish research Hispanic churches and outreaches in the area, finding very little. They visited restaurants, stores and other businesses that target the Hispanic population. They also distributed flyers written in Spanish and talked to people in the Hispanic community.

“Canon Luis has followed up on contacts made that day, including a woman wanting to have a child baptized,” Turner said. “He is making a special trip to meet with her about this possibility.”

De la Cruz and his team will be back in early December for more canvassing and surveying.

“The parish has been extremely receptive and excited about the idea,” Turner said. “I have been delighted with the openness and support! Even with the pandemic, they have the desire to build something new and reach a new community.”