With the Hispanic population booming in the U.S., one prominent evangelical believes Hispanics will be the “lifeguards for Christianity in America in the 21st century.”

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez made the comment to The Christian Post on Tuesday in response to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, released last week, which revealed that the Hispanic population has grown to 50.5 million, or roughly 1 in 6 Americans.

That marks a 43 percent growth over the last 10 years. The Hispanic population growth accounted for over half of the 27.3 million increase in the total U.S. population.

Reflecting on the massive increase, Rodriguez, president of America’s largest Hispanic Christian organization, The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, talked about the impact from a church perspective.

It has “two powerful impacts” on the church, he said.

Firstly, “it forces the Anglo-Saxon American churches to expand their outreach in their communities.”

He explained, “Previously, the Anglo-Saxon church was able to survive by reaching out exclusively to its own people, but now it can no longer do so.”

Secondly, the Hispanic church is experiencing the fastest growth in history in such a way that the largest denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention, Assemblies of God, Churches of God, and The United Methodist Church, among others, have confirmed that their growth comes largely through Hispanic churches.

“In other words, without the Hispanic population the evangelical church in the U.S. would decline,” he observed.

According to the U.S. Census report, the non-Hispanic population grew only about 5 percent over the decade. And within the non-Hispanic population, the number of people who reported their race as White alone grew by just 1 percent. When measured against the total population, the non-Hispanic White alone population declined from 69 percent to 64 percent.

Additionally, while the majority of Hispanics in the U.S. are Catholic, the percentage of those who affiliate with evangelical Christianity is growing, with many converting from the Catholic tradition, according to The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

With excitement, Rodriguez predicted that Hispanics will help revive the evangelical Christian movement in the United States.

Read More: http://www.christianpost.com/news/hispanic-population-helping-us-christianity-thrive-49641/