Tag Archives: Bilingual

First steps toward becoming a bilingual congregation

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plansSo how would a non-Hispanic church move toward becoming bilingual? Some would argue that the first step is to hire someone from Latin America, set aside an unused room in the building and let them go to work. I’m not convinced.

The first step, I think, is for the congregation to make a conscious decision that they are willing to do what it takes to mix different languages and cultures. Some congregations, to be honest, aren’t willing to make that sacrifice. I think that many, however, are willing to do some things now to prepare for the future.

Next, the members need to become more aware of their Hispanic neighbors. Meet them, look for opportunities to form relationships, become aware of the make up of the Hispanic community where they live. Are they mainly immigrants? Is there a large concentration from a certain country? (We used to be able to assume they were mainly Mexicans here in Texas; that’s not always true today) Are you dealing with a Hispanic community mainly composed of long-term residents or have most of them moved to your area recently?

These questions help the congregation know if the outreach will be done primarily in English or in Spanish, if the community needs ESL classes and GED classes and citizenship courses, etc. It will also help, when it comes time to find someone to lead the outreach, determine the profile of the person you need. Bringing a preacher from Nicaragua may not be the best choice for a community made up of long-time U.S. residents. A Spaniard may not be the best for reaching a Puerto Rican community. Those sorts of things need to be considered.

Next week I’ll talk some about some of the decisions I think a congregation needs to make when moving toward being a multi-language, multi-culture body. For now, I’d like to hear some of your thoughts.

We’ve got to go bilingual…

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church buildingIt’s a firm conviction of mine that the only way churches in places like Texas will be able to really serve their communities in the future is for them to be bilingual. Not necessarily having bilingual services (I’ll talk about that in a minute), but being bilingual.

Why not just plant more Hispanic churches? That works well with an immigrant population, but over time Hispanic families want to be a part of “regular” society. Typically you have one generation that barely speaks English, their kids that are functionally bilingual, and the third generation that might understand some Spanish, but no longer speaks it. 60% of Hispanics in the United States were born in the U.S.; 60% of those consider English to be their primary language. Eventually, even Hispanic churches have to go bilingual, or they will lose their youth.

I’m convinced that Anglo churches need to be preparing themselves to go bilingual as well. That may mean holding a separate bilingual service. There is a church in Escondido that has “separate but equal” congregations of Hispanics and Anglos; they have separate auditoriums and say that the Hispanic auditorium is actually the nicer of the two. Or congregations can go the way that the Stockdale congregation has gone, being bilingual. [Another example is the Inland Valley congregation near Los Angeles which does EVERYTHING bilingually, including singing every song in two languages simultaneously]

In a future post, I’ll share my opinions about how we go about preparing ourselves to be bilingual.

Should we be preparing to be bilingual?

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Picture 2Yesterday I wrote about a successful bilingual church in Stockdale, Texas. As I look at the changing demographics in the United States, I can’t help but think that more and more churches are going to need to go that way. Many people agree to that in theory, but few congregations are doing anything to prepare for that.

Especially in the Southwest, Anglos are going to be in the minority soon. Maybe not this year nor next , but soon enough. So what will churches of Christ do? Content ourselves with primarily serving a minority population? Force Hispanics to adapt to our current way of doing things? Or is there something I’m not thinking of?

What, if anything, do you think our congregations should do to prepare for this cultural and linguistic shift in our communities?

Stockdale bilingual church

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I don’t know that I’ve written about the church in Stockdale, Texas. It’s a remarkable congregation that I had the privilege to work with for 4 years and have the special privilege of still being welcomed back every time I go.

In 2002, my family and I had decided to move to the United States. I didn’t really know what I was going to be doing, whether I would continue in fulltime church work or not. Among other places, I posted my resumé on the Abilene Christian University website. One night I got a call from one of the members in Stockdale, telling me that they had seen my information and wanted to know if I would be interested in talking with them about a job. It was a predominantly Hispanic church in a small town in Texas (population about 1400). I was too polite to tell them that I wasn’t interested in small towns nor Hispanic ministry, plus I’ve always felt that I should listen to every opportunity the Lord puts in my way. He’s surprised me almost every turn along the road, so I’ve learned not to rule anything out.

Several phone calls followed, including one where they offered to fly me to the States to interview. Seeing this as a chance to travel to the States and interview for some jobs I was really interested in, I agreed. But the people of Stockdale knew something I didn’t know: once I met the people of that congregation, no other place could have any appeal for me. They wanted me there on a Sunday and a Wednesday, which I now realize was an exceptionally long visit/interview (I was pretty new at all that, having been in mission situations before that). By the time I left on Wednesday, I was fairly convinced that I had a found a good place for our family to be.

We accepted the job in July, making arrangements to make our move in October (we were waiting on Carolina’s visa). During that interim, the congregation merged with the local Anglo congregation. It was a merger with lots of strikes against it: different cultures, language barriers, different worship styles, doctrinal differences… None of those could overcome the biggest positive these Christians had: they really loved the Lord and they really loved one another.

Today the Stockdale congregation is a healthy one. They’ve had plenty of trials over the last 6 years, but God has blessed them in many ways. It’s hard for me to describe all of the ways in which God has prepared this church for ministry. I’m proud to still be able to consider myself a part of that congregation, even though I’ve been away for 3 years now. I doubt there’s a healthier small town church in the country, especially a bilingual congregation. Others would do well to observe the things they’ve done to bring Christians together, especially those of different languages.

Prayer request

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hands2-by-jesper-noerI left last Thursday for Cuba on a Herald of Truth trip and returned yesterday afternoon (just in time to teach class at ACU). I want to tell you a bit about that trip, but I’ll wait until I have some pictures available. In the meantime, I wanted to mention about the bilingual group at the University church here in Abilene. For a number of different reasons, things are going very well with the group right now. Attendance is up, we’ve had several baptisms over the last few months, and the cohesion between members is stronger than ever. This Sunday, for the first time since I came to University three years ago, our group is getting to meet in the auditorium with the rest of the congregation. [Edit: This is the first time the service will be bilingual, not the first time we’ve met together.] I’ve been asking for this for over a year, so I’m glad that it’s finally happening.

So I ask you to pray for our gathering this Sunday, that it will be an encouragement to all involved. Above all, pray that God will be glorified.

(Photo by Jesper Noer)