Posted: 1/21/05
Hispanic but multi-ethnic
By Sarah Farris
Special to the Baptist Standard
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Just because a Texas Baptist church calls itself “Hispanic” doesn't mean its members are all Mexican-American. Just ask Rolando Lopez, pastor of Northwest Hispanic Baptist Church in San Antonio, who says his congregation has anywhere from seven to nine nationalities represented.
“Each country has a different way of doing church–different idiosyncrasies, but we can all worship together,” he said.
Fredy Pavez, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Fuenta Viva in Amarillo, leads a church made up of people from Chile, Mexico, Cuba and Honduras.
Pavez explained that in each nationality, subtle variations in the Spanish language can at first make communication tense. Differences in each culture also can cause well-intentioned communication to be taken the wrong way.
“It took years for (church members) to understand each other,” he said. Now that they do, they have a strong community where they know each other and spend time together.
Because an individual's immigration status and documentation is considered private, it is not a point of separation within the church, the pastors said.
“We don't ask anyone if they are documented,” Lopez commented. “That is not what we're here for. We minister to people, no matter who they might be.”
A ministry at Iglesia Bautista Fuenta Viva that provides free advice from immigration lawyers to church members and the community halts tension before it starts by offering help to anyone who wants it, Pavez said.
He cautions Hispanic churches to not measure growth by the number of people who come for aid, but by the number of people who become active members of the church.
“People will be there for the programs, but maybe only one family will join the church,” Pavez said.
He advises pastors who are new to working with immigrants to attend a BGCT immigration seminar and to use multimedia to advertise the church and its programs.
“We have people who live near the church that have no idea about our services because they are scared to leave their house,” he said. “But they do watch TV and listen to the radio.”
Additional Resources on Immigration:
• Proposed federal Legislation to Legalize Undocumented Farm Workers: The Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2003
• Undocumented Immigrants: Fact and Figures from the Urban Institute Immigration Studies Program, 2004
• The Border Security and immigration Reform Act of 2003, section by section summary
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