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CHAPEL HILL -- Pastor David Mateo stands before five members of La Iglesia Unida at the United Church of Chapel Hill on a Sunday morning. He wears a long-sleeved dress shirt -- top button undone. An acoustic guitar hangs from his neck.
About 80 percent of the congregation is traditionally Catholic. But the service differs from Catholic Mass: No wooden cross at the front of the room. No hymn books under chairs. No pews or holy water.
Instead, a large screen covers most of the front wall. Loudspeakers stand in each corner. Mateo uses YouTube videos to illustrate his sermons.
And every word he speaks is in Spanish.
La Iglesia Unida is one of only a few local alternatives for Spanish-speaking Latinos who suffer a disconnect from the Catholic church or want to explore other options.
For more than 10 years, La Iglesia Unida has been part of the United Church of Chapel Hill, Mateo said. But it has gone through different stages. Most recently, the Sunday service moved from 5 p.m. to 11 a.m. to attract more members.
"It's hard to grow, I tell you," Mateo said. "It's very hard."
In its heyday, La Iglesia Unida had 80 regular members. Now a good day will bring in 25 to 30 worshipers, and on other days Mateo preaches to fewer than five.
"You never know when they will come," he said, adding that it all depends on work schedules. Since many Latinos work on the weekends, they can't always attend a Sunday service.
Forming a solid group of church-goers out of immigrants means trying to form ties between people who are constantly on the move. The Latino community is transitive. The economy pushes and pulls them. For a non-Catholic church, this translates into a fluctuating congregation.
Latinos who feel a strong connection to Catholicism will do anything to find a Catholic church when they arrive to the U.S., Mateo said. They'll drive long distances and make great sacrifices.
"But if there's any other group that is exploring their faith, they will have a hard time," he said.
Mateo wants to reach this group.
But he said many Latinos feel like traitors if they don't attend Sunday Mass.
"Latinos, we are very fundamentalists," he said, pointing out the difficulties Catholic Latinos encounter when trying to part with tradition. "I have seen Catholics very, very devoted to their traditions. So immediately they're coming here to find a Catholic church. To establish this church has been difficult."
As a member of La Iglesia Unida for nine years, Claribel Arias said she has talked to many Latinos who feel that attending a Protestant church would mean a change in religion.
"We aren't changing our religion," Arias said. "Because God is everywhere. But they don't think that."
When she first moved to the U.S. from Colombia, Arias attended St. Thomas More Catholic Church, one of the only Catholic churches in Chapel Hill offering Spanish Mass. After two Sundays, she discovered La Iglesia Unida.
Now she said her brothers and sisters who have moved from Colombia go to the Sunday service with her. And she has told her daughters in Colombia to look for a Protestant church for her to attend when she returns.
"Since I found this church I feel closer to God," Arias said. "I feel a peace in me that I didn't feel before. Here, I've learned to forgive others, to be at peace with others, to be at peace with myself as I am with God."
Mateo estimates that 90 percent of immigrants in Chapel Hill come from Mexico and from a strong Catholic background. Their parents practice Catholicism, so they feel they should, too.
To make Catholic members more comfortable, Mateo lights candles at the start of every service.
"We try to cover their needs in some way," he said, referring to Catholic members who are hesitant about attending a non-Catholic service.
But Arias said she learns more from La Iglesia Unida than from the Catholic church.
"In the Catholic church, you go, you listen to the priest," she said. "And sometimes it's so complicated you can't understand the message, and you leave, and you forget what you heard."
Arias said the lessons of La Iglesia Unida, on the other hand, stay with her throughout the week.
The sermons use modern interpretations of the Bible to make its lessons applicable today, said Angela Marles, who recently joined La Iglesia Unida as a regular member.
Marles and her family live in Holly Springs. They travel about an hour to Mateo's service every Sunday.
Though Marles has attended numerous Catholic churches, she said none fulfilled her as much as La Iglesia Unida. Plenty of people go to mass. They kneel. They pray. But for what? Marles asks.
"I come here because I feel it, and my husband feels it, and even my daughter asks to go to church," she said.
While the overall message of the service is the same as that of other churches, the approach is different. La Iglesia Unida uses music, examples and techniques that relate to issues and trends of the Latino community.
Last Sunday, Mateo showed a YouTube video of a comic from a Mexican film to illustrate his sermon.
He strums his guitar throughout the service to incorporate music with a Latin rhythm. The beat is faster-paced than Catholic hymns. And the lyrics are simple.
As a part-time pastor, Mateo collects stories and examples from the Latino families he works with during the week at the Children's Developmental Service Agency of Chatham County.
"All my sermons are based on the needs of the people I know," he said. "Our sermon is more directed to the needs of the Latino community."
After an hour and a half, the service at La Iglesia Unida ends. Members turn to one another and embrace, giving kisses on the cheek and filling the room with chatter. An upbeat Latin tune wafts from the speakers.
"I think these people, they deserve to listen to a different voice," Mateo said, putting down his guitar to chat with his brothers and sisters. "I have a commitment to tell them, 'Hey, you're not alone.'"
Editor's note: All of the interviews for this story, except that of Pastor Mateo, were conducted in Spanish and translated from the original by the writer.
