National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry

Any vision that would reshape our current and future ministry with the Hispanic and Latino communities in the U.S. begins with two facts. First, one in five U.S. Hispanic residents is here without official governmental authorization. Second, a fair number of those unauthorized Hispanic residents of the U.S.A. will continue to reside here in the shadows for a long time to come.

Duke Divinity School student Adrian Federico Apecena has shared an excellent paper titled “The Undocumented Immigrant and the Implications for Christianity in the United States.” Below are some excerpts from it that we hope will give us pause to reflect and share. In the text that follows, we have added parenthetic content to demonstrate the continuity of Mr. Apecena’s argument.

“The church in the United States has been divided in regards to what it means to view and deal with this in a Christ-like way. Should (our church treat) one who trespasses these immigration laws… as a criminal, even when it is an issue of their very survival?”

“My quest is to aid in educating the Christian community on what its role should be in this matter…. The question here would be: who is my neighbor? Does a legal document define who our neighbor is? Or does language? Particularly, if we are referring to those who are also Christians, are they not our neighbors? Should we… consider them (not to be) part of the body of Christ because they are in a country without permission of the government…?”

“An analysis of Romans 13: 1-7 is valuable in this discussion…. The first verse (says)… ‘Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God….’ To be ‘subject’… means primarily… that one is in a position of subordination to the governing authorities….”

“An example of this subjection, though not one of obedience, can be found in the Book of Acts: ‘So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, <Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard>…. (Acts 4: 18-20) For them, there is a higher authority than that of the men who put them on trial…. I believe there is something important happening in this passage that must be pointed out. The apostles are not arguing that their incarceration is unjust…. They face the Jewish authorities and they subject their lives to them, yet they openly express that they are not willing to obey their orders…. We see a similar type of occurrence, to a more extreme measure, in the Old Testament with Daniel and his three friends…. Despite their disobedience to (K)ing Nebuchadnezzar, they remained subject to his authority and accepted their punishment, the consequences of their defiance.”

“The focus now turns to what Jesus’ life demonstrated for us in regards to this matter and how he acted in relationship to the foreigner/stranger. Let’s take a close look at the situation between Jesus and the woman from Samaria in John 4: 1-42… he was talking with a woman with the burden of a bad reputation. This is a burden that undocumented immigrants carry today because they have no ‘papers.’ Most of the time, (they’re) not given the opportunity to show that they, as we… see with the Samaritan woman, have value in the eyes of the Lord and could be a great gift to other believers and to their community.”

“Many in the church are of the understanding that we must care only for the widow and the fatherless…. James expresses very clearly what religion should look like, ‘Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.’ (James 1: 27) If this is (all there is to) Christianity, (then) it makes sense that a big number of Christians do not see caring for the stranger or foreigner as God-ordained…. We cannot read Scripture as thousands of separate precepts… as if they each were separate from one another…. Throughout the Old Testament we see how God cares for the foreigner…. It is God’s desire that we not close the door in the face of those that are what Israel once was.”

“When they (Peter and John) faced the council they said that there were two authorities, one was God and the other was the council, but it was God’s call they were following. In the same way, presently in the U.S. we have two ruling authorities…. Sometimes when we are obedient to God’s will for our lives, we could end up in a situation in which we must face seemingly unfair treatment from earthly authorities, to whom we are called to be subject.”

At the end of the day, the church is not called to reenact within its own body the divisions of the cultural politic. Rather it is called to view the scriptural and historical struggles with this issue within the church, and then to act as logically and practically as we can – as the church.

When we consult together as a church, how shall we envision a future that includes these strangers and sojourners?

The makeup of the Hispanic and Latino community today is very different from the images of it carried in the minds of United Methodist laity and clergy. Too often, an uninformed understanding of this community leads to inaction by local churches, their members and their leaders. The four graphics below should give you enough information to reflect upon the current state and future vision of United Methodist ministry with this rapidly growing U.S. Hispanic and Latino population.

While the number of U.S. foreign-born Hispanics and Latinos has flattened out over the past 10 years, due in part to increased U.S. border enforcement and removal processes, the number of U.S. born Hispanics continues to rise sharply. Those born and raised here are automatically U.S. citizens, their first language is English and they are cultural products of the U.S. educational system. They are also part of the standard U.S. workforce. They are bicultural Americans.

These are the percentages of Hispanic and Latino adults in the language categories. 44% (16 million) speak mostly or only English. 56% of the adults (20.3 million) speak only or mostly Spanish. Over the next 2 years, 2.7 million English-speaking Hispanic teenagers will become adults. Five years later another 4.8 million will become adults. Given that the U.S. is now experiencing a net loss of Hispanic and Latino foreign born, within 7 years there should be over 4 million more English-speaking U.S. Hispanic and Latino adults than Spanish-speaking ones. We are turning a big corner on language.

17% of people in the U.S. are Hispanic or Latino. One-tenth of one percent (0.1%) are Hispanic or Latino United Methodists. And yet, language and citizenship are no longer overriding factors in most cases, and many United Methodist churches in the U.S. now find themselves in neighborhoods that are now or are becoming multicultural.

This graph shows the 7 categories of people appointed to serve United Methodist churches, including the Hispanic ones. Most of our current pastors are Spanish speakers, because boards of ordained ministry and seminaries are not recruiting new Hispanic candidates in numbers commensurate with the U.S. demographic reality described above.

An invitation to reflect further

How are so many businesses able to effectively recruit bilingual and English-speaking Hispanic workers? What can the church and its clergy community learn from them?

With 2 out of every 3 Hispanic and Latino people in the U.S. being U.S. citizens, what will local churches need to overcome in order to reach out and include them?

What will it take to get to a point where 25 to 30% of United Methodist laity are Hispanic and Latino?

 

 

Hispanic Nativity Shift: Pew Research

Language Usage: Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Hispanics within the UMC: GBHEM

Clergy Demographics: GBHEM

We hunger for a different kind of sacred time and space together, one in which this generation can engage in risky conversations about visioning through creative dialogue. But in order to do this, we need to think and act more as “we” and less as “me.” So, the risky conversation begins as each of us is invited to become vulnerable, transparent to all of us. Vulnerability is not a part of the way culture and society form us; but it is something that Christ modeled on both the cross and the way. At this moment in time, he gestures for us to follow.

The verb “consult” means “to call together.” A consultation is a moment in which a community gathers to ask for advice or seeks guidance from someone. Who is consulting? In this case, it’s the National Plan for Hispanic and Latino Ministry, of which we all are members. With whom are we consulting? We seek the advice of the Millennial Generation currently veiled within and beyond our church and its Hispanic and Latino communities. They are a generation already living in the future for which our church desperately longs, but still cannot see.

The only way to become Christ’s body in the future is to be now what we want the world to become. So, the first thing to admit among ourselves is that no one of us has all the answers that we’ll gather to seek, because those answers must be forged in the crucible of community. The moment we believe that we, or anyone, has all the answers, we become followers of an expert and consumers of right thinking, rather than a community a disciples. In community, each voice carries equal weight, and therefore must be heard. Some special friends will come to share with us what they have learned about the emerging church and society; but such facts in themselves are like jigsaw puzzle pieces. They must be added to the pieces that each of us brings, and then assembled around the common table before a beautiful picture can appear. Only through communal thinking, praying and acting, does a new vision become reality.

Meanwhile, we may just chance upon a rare opportunity to encounter God’s spirit stirring among us, offering us a glimpse of God’s preferred future – the reino de Dios – and beckoning us to walk together toward it. This is our prayer. The time has come for the Millennial Generation to “realizar” its leadership. This is the aspiration of the team setting the table for the community that will assemble at Duke. Taking care of the details for such an event is a labor of love whose purpose is to free the consultation participants to seize upon a holy moment.

Through this Friday blog and the eight that will follow it, our aim is to help this community tone up its spiritual muscles for centering, listening, dreaming, analyzing and dialoguing. So, what are our aspirations for this assembly? What will it take from each of us in order to go from 175 individuals to one communal vision and a handful of first steps that we can all take? We invite your responses to each other.

An Invitation to Reflect on our Practice of Ministry in the 21st Century

The most recent US Census (2010) reported that the Hispanic/Latino population is becoming the largest minority group in the United States. This is a sensationalist claim, but not because the population projections aren’t true. While Hispanic and Latino communities keep growing in numbers, this increase in population is not being driven by migration, as many people assume. Instead, it is attributable to a younger population and higher birth rate.

The US Census Bureau reported that, by the end of the year 2012, 63 out of every 100 Hispanics living in the United States were between the ages of 18 and 27. Living in a predominately English-speaking society, cross-cultural children born in the United States naturally become bilingual, with English as their primary language. This shift from immigrant to native born was already apparent as early as the year 2000. It is now reshaping the composition of the Hispanic/Latino population in the United States. This shift in the population is challenging the current strategies and outreach programs of The United Methodist Church.

A Changing Landscape

It is almost impossible for The United Methodist Church to maintain its institutional relevancy if it continues to rely on the ministerial paradigms of 100 years ago. Unfortunately, many of our denominational leaders show a lack of awareness about this new profile of Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States. Some persistently invite foreign pastoral leaders—whose practice of ministry is mainly in Spanish—to found and shepherd new US Hispanic/Latino congregations. However, these pastors all too often lack the basic cross-cultural and theological training needed for the task. Often they desperately try to mirror a core of doctrines and liturgical acts that are significantly different from our Wesleyan tradition.

Just as members of the mass media are beginning to show a disposition to reinvent themselves in order to survive and thrive, the church also needs to respond effectively to the spiritual needs and expectations of our Hispanics and Latinos, who together represent 17 percent of the general US population. Flexibility, veracity, and respect are key ingredients in any type of relationship. Becoming flexible enough in our perception and understanding to embrace the new, distinctive, US-born Hispanics and Latinos will empower us to strengthen our relationships with them as individuals, parents, educators, and religious leaders, both within our own communities and with the rest of society.

Taking Meaningful Steps

As this new ethnic reality arises, it parallels the needs and expectations of The United Methodist Church in the United States for church growth. As a result, the National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry must redirect its creativity, energy, and resources to meet the spiritual needs of Christians in the United States today. The National Plan needs to increase its scope, reinvent its methodology, and contextualize its mission and role in society.

As the National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry committee has reaffirmed, our commitment to annual conferences, districts, and local congregations continues. We will still provide the necessary and properly focused level of accompaniment for their Hispanic/Latino ministries. Yet, we are also mindful that the rapidly changing make-up of this young population is pressing us, as the body of Christ, to hold our third national consultation. So, from March 12 to 14, 2015, the III National Consultation on Hispanic/Latino Ministry will be convened at the Divinity School of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

The main purpose of this consultation is to provide the sacred space required to originate a communal process of reflection and dialogue. In this sacred space, in this new millennium—in light of the new composition of Hispanics and Latinos in the United States and in society in general—we hope to find effective ways to rearticulate our theological and ministerial understanding.