by Tobin Perry, posted Tuesday, September 10, 2013 (11 years ago)
ROSEVILLE, Minn. (BP) -- Fue Chee Her thought he understood God's faithfulness when he started Gospel Hmong Baptist Church in metro Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., where more Hmong reside than any other part of the country.
The Hmong people are an Asian ethnic group from mountainous regions of China and Southeast Asia who, in 1975, began immigrating to the United States following the communist takeover of Laos.
Photo courtesy Gospel Hmong Baptist Church
God's faithfulness, Her said, has become a visible reality since Gospel Hmong Baptist Church was planted at the outset of 2013, with Her having seen God meet an array of needs for the fledgling congregation. Southern Baptists across the country and in Her's own Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention have been a part of that story through their missions giving.
"We've worked as a team, reached out to people, and God has blessed us," Her said. "God has consistently answered prayer after prayer after prayer. Those [answered prayers] confirm to me that this is what God wants me to do. So, through God's faithfulness, I just have to trust and believe."
Her, a North American Mission Board church planter, said his call to church planting came gradually. As he looked around at his peers -- fellow second-generation Hmong-Americans -- he saw a growing spiritual void.
"Many of the [Hmong] churches are original to the youth and parents," said Her, who served previously as a youth minister before the church plant. "But there's that gap between the youth and parents. There's the college scene, the young couples' scene. There's me. I'm a young adult. I have a lot of peers who are struggling spiritually and are seeking spiritual help but there's not a church they can relate to."
Realizing that need helped clarify Her's sense of call to plant a church among second-generation Hmong.
"At Gospel Hmong Baptist Church, we're trying to create an atmosphere where we can go and support these individuals in their journey," Her said. "Even if it's in college, or post-college or when they have a young family and are in their careers, we're there for them in any crisis and in any need."
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 64,422 Hmong residents call the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area home. That's nearly six times the Hmong population of any other U.S. metro area -- and nearly a quarter of the total Hmong population in the country. Minnesota's Hmong population also is unusually young, according to a 2012 academic study ... Read More
