I. Every Church with an Effective Spanish Ministry Has Done Away with the Hindrance of Resentment

It is important to recognize that Hispanic’s greatest need is Christ. This is a given, is it not? Unfortunately, this truth is sometimes difficult to accept because of political and social concerns about the American Hispanic community. Immigration is a difficult issue since 1/3 of all Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. are here without adequate documentation. It is understandable to have anxieties and resentments with the politics and nuances of the issue. I have found that this resentment is the number one unspoken hindrance to churches being motivated to personally reach Hispanics. Sometimes the resentment is not left unspoken. Many people ask, “Shouldn’t they just learn English and attend our church?” The problem is, many do not speak English and it is our responsibility to go and reach them with the gospel.

Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well illustrates this truth. The Samaritan woman was one who was despised by the Jewish nation. The Samaritans were those who intermarried with gentiles and were the outcasts of the time. Furthermore, this particular woman did not have a good lifestyle. She had previously had five husbands and now was living with a man to whom she was not married! This woman was one that others avoided. My father preaches a message on this story and describes the woman as, “the one who others walk around.” Even the disciples wanted to stay away from Samaria as a whole. But what did Jesus do? He did not avoid her; neither did he allow the social issues to hinder the relationship or become even a topic of conversation. Instead, Christ immediately offered her living water.

I recently heard of a Mexican man who came to our country illegally. By God’s grace, the man landed in a city in Michigan where there is a solid and thriving Spanish-speaking church. The man heard the gospel and he was saved. As he grew in Christ he began to be convicted about his legal status and was confronted with the decision of returning home or staying illegally. This is a difficult decision for Hispanics to make! Often they are established in a job while their children are settled in the school system. Families like this left everything to come here and would leave all they accumulated to go back to nothing. With a desire to obey Christ, the man went back to Mexico now burdened to share his newfound faith with his former friends and family. In more ways than one, he was once a foreigner and a stranger but is now a missionary!

May God help us recognize the greatest need any person has is Christ. Leading a church into a Spanish ministry requires leading the congregation to do an honest heart-check by asking some tough questions, “Are we truly concerned with the spiritual needs of our entire community?” and “What are the hindrances in our own thinking that would keep us from effectively reaching it?”