page_title: Metropolitan New York Synod
section_title: Latino ministry
hierarchical_section_title: Metropolitan New York Synod / Policies and initiatives / Latino ministry
caption_attribution_description: English: The English Language Center at Ascension Lutheran Church, Deer Park
context_page_description: The Metropolitan New York Synod is one of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with about 3,5 million members. The ELCA has three expressions: over 9,000 congregations, 65 regional synods, and the churchwide organization. The Metropolitan New York Synod is the regional expression of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
context_section_description: The Latino community is: the fastest growing ethnic community in the ELCA; the largest growing ethnic group in the United States; and the largest minority community in the metropolitan New York area.
  In the Metropolitan New York Synod 14 Latino congregations are led by five full-time and nine part-time pastors, some of whom serve in a bi-lingual or tri-lingual context. These pastors come from eight different countries, and are assisted by 10 congregational or synodically-rostered deacons.
  Initiatives to support the development of this ministry include an English Language school run out of a Lutheran Congregation in Deer Park, Long Island where, with a sister group in Brentwood, church volunteers work with a partner to hold English as a Second Language classes on site.
  For ten weeks each summer, senior high school students teach free classes twice a week.The program has become an internship that has helped many get into Ivy League schools. The program also offers GED, computer and citizenship classes and, with its sister organization, serves about 80 students a year.
caption: The English Language Center at Ascension Lutheran Church, Deer Park
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