{"id":66404,"date":"2025-09-12T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/?p=50717"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:26:08","slug":"iglesia-local-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/iglesia-local-jacksonville\/","title":{"rendered":"Iglesia Local offers bilingual ministry at church plant\/celebrates first Sunday in new building"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: David Uribe is one of the featured church planters in 2025\u00a0<\/em>Maguire State Mission Offering<\/em><\/a>\u00a0resources. The statewide 2025 offering goal of $1 million is earmarked to help reach the 16.7 million Florida residents who do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, with 100% of all receipts designated to help launch church plants in the state.<\/em><\/p>\n

JACKSONVILLE\u2013When Pastor David Uribe planted the new church Iglesia Local<\/a> in Jacksonville, he wanted to reach the Hispanic community with a bilingual ministry that would have both multigenerational and multicultural impact.<\/p>\n

This bilingual approach of reaching speakers of Spanish and\/or English with the gospel has enabled the church plant to grow from the 10 to 15 people who started meeting at a park in 2022 to the current 130 to 150 who now meet weekly in the church plant\u2019s own building.<\/p>\n

Each week, Uribe preaches in Spanish, and his wife, Estefania, translates in English. This process enables them to reach the multiple generations that comprise the church\u2019s bilingual membership, especially the younger generation.<\/p>\n

The reality for many Hispanic churches in America, he said, is that the younger generation \u2013 the future leaders of the church \u2013 are leaving because they no longer feel they belong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can speak Spanish, but their heart language is English. They comprehend in English and relate better to English. But at church they never speak the language of their heart. They are Hispanic, and they feel Hispanic, and they want to be with Hispanic people. But if the Hispanic church does not build a culture to reach them, they will leave,\u201d Uribe said.<\/p>\n

For churches to grow, they need to have this multigenerational and multicultural approach, he believes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to build space for all of the immigrants coming to our country who have to be reached and build space for kids growing up in this country in Latino households. As a pastor, you want them to belong in your church because those are the future of your church,\u201d the 27-year-old church planter said.<\/p>\n

\u2018A burden for my community\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n

“God put a burden on my heart for the Latino church and the next generation, a burden for my community,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt the Lord telling me to go and do something about it. I felt God was calling me to ministry.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

David Uribe<\/strong>
church planter, Iglesia Local, Jacksonville<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\nAt the age of 17, Uribe came to America and began working in student ministry. While in college, Uribe worked as a youth pastor and began ministry for youth events for Hispanic churches. He organized larger youth events in Florida that pulled students from smaller Hispanic churches that enabled them to have community together.<\/p>\n

Uribe came from a large church in Mexico that was \u201cambitious, relevant and influential\u201d in the community, but he noticed those qualities lacking in America\u2019s Hispanic churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod put a burden on my heart for the Latino church and the next generation, a burden for my community,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt the Lord telling me to go and do something about it. I felt God was calling me to ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

He first felt God\u2019s call to plant a church after he got married and was attending the church his wife grew up in. That\u2019s when many of her friends, who were young adults like the Uribes, told them they were leaving that church because they felt they no longer belonged there, that there was no place for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hurt by that, and that sparked a burden in me and a need in our hearts. That\u2019s when I felt like the Lord was telling us to plant a church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0With approval from their church and the North American Mission Board<\/a>, they started a year of prelaunch in 2022 with a group of about 10 people meeting together in a park. Most of the group was the couple\u2019s family. But soon the group grew to almost 40 people, just inviting people from their own networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a legitimate church plant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018In agreement in asking God for a building\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The young church plant started renting an event space but soon outgrew the space as it began offering ministry to children. The church plant then began renting space from a local church and holding its worship service at 2 p.m. on Sundays with small groups meeting on other days at the church. \u00a0The church has baptized 35 people in the past three years and continues to grow.<\/p>\n

In January of this year church leaders and members began praying for the church plant to have its own building. \u201cIf two or more come to agreement and we ask, He will provide,\u201d Uribe said in quoting Matthew 18:20. \u201cWe should be in agreement in asking God for a building. We are growing. Our vision is to seek God\u2019s kingdom first in our local community and to bring transformation and joy to our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March, they learned their prayers had been answered with the offer of a church building from First Coast Churches<\/a>, the local Baptist association. Another local church was disbanding and offered its building and property back to the association, which then offered it to Iglesia Local.<\/p>\n

Bob Bumgarner, lead missional strategist for First Coach Churches, said Uribe is a good leader and a hard worker. He has been impressed with how quickly the church has grown and how young it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a church grows, it\u2019s God\u2019s favor of course,\u201d he said. \u201cHumanly speaking, God has brought a young man with energy and a great network and an ability to connect God\u2019s Word to shepherd a specific people group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The bilingual service at Iglesia Local in Jacksonville is spirited and unified as the church plant celebrated its first Sunday service in its new building Sept. 7.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Renovations on the church building began in the spring and continued all summer, thanks to support from Florida Baptists\u2019 Maguire State Mission Offering, First Coast Churches, other local Baptist churches and local businesses.<\/p>\n

The church held its first services in its new building on Sunday, Sept. 7, with 230 in attendance, and Uribe said, \u201cGod has blessed us in many ways! We are expecting a really exciting season in our church and we love it!\u201d He added that Iglesia Local leaders are already planning and praying about adding a second service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to keep that spirit of expectation. We don\u2019t want people to get comfortable. We pray that God will use and help us to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Pastor David Uribe planted the new church Iglesia Local in Jacksonville, he wanted to reach the Hispanic community with a bilingual ministry that would have both multigenerational and multicultural impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":66457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,18,19,49,939,22,23,353,45,25],"tags":[2849,2850,2851,832,459,370],"class_list":["post-66404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-espanol","category-multicultural","category-news","category-region-north","category-offerings","category-providing","category-sharing","category-state-mission-offering","category-statewide","category-stories","tag-bilingual-ministry","tag-david-uribe","tag-iglesia-local","tag-msmo","tag-namb","tag-send-network-florida"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66404"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67893,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66404\/revisions\/67893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}