Acts 2 Journey Impacts Hispanic Church
The Acts 2 Journey isn’t just for English-speaking churches — as Ciudad De Esperanza (City of Hope) AG and Pastor Armando Doblado have recently discovered.
Pastor Doblado participated in the Acts 2 Journey sessions with pastors and leaders from a number of churches from the Southern Latin District. Through the experience, the Acts 2 Journey provided Pastor Doblado and City of Hope AG (a four-year-old church plant) with a checklist and a strategy to focus on critical issues to keep them moving in a healthy direction.
“The Acts 2 Journey challenged me as a leader and as a servant,” Doblado says. “It pushed us as a leadership team to go further, do things differently, and be open to change and new ideas.
The leadership worked to improve three main areas at their Atlanta, Georgia, church: training for hospitality workers, increasing and retooling space for children’s ministry, and making each Sunday an “experience” that begins as soon as someone opens their car door in the parking lot. And with the aid of a larger building, the church has seen attendance increase from the mid-50s to more than 80.
"Acts 2 has also challenged churches in our district to look at ministry from a different perspective and help us embrace change,” Doblado says. “Church cannot continue business as usual. Although the gospel message does not change, our methods must change!"
At least 730 AG churches, including City of Hope AG, in 25 AG districts have participated in the Acts 2 Journey. More than half of those churches received scholarships to enable them to participate, thanks to the support of AGTrust donors.
“I’m so thankful for the vision of Dr. George O. Wood and the support of AGTrust partners who recognize the need that so many of our churches have for the Acts 2 Journey,” Doblado says. “We are grateful to you for pouring into us both financially and spiritually to build the kingdom of God. We couldn’t do this without you.”