“When they leave our churches, they think it’s the language, but it’s [that] white does it better.”[1]
White does it better.
My breath caught at the statement. I glanced out the window of the Panera I sat in. Not even the warm Florida sunshine could touch the sense of burden I felt. I glanced at my skin, white. I thought about the lives and ministries of two of my closest friends. Their skin—brown. That’s when I knew that the work of Mission Talk and the passion in Agustin Quiles’ voice was critical to the Church, and I needed to get behind it.
Founded in 2016, Mission Talk is an annual gathering of Latino/a young adult church and ministry leaders. At its heart, Mission Talk is a network designed to intentionally equip the Hispanic church for community transformation and justice ministry. When you enter the Mission Talk conference, you will see Latino practitioners teaching Latino leaders. Latino founded, Latino hosted, Latino led —culture to culture, this ministry is equipping the Hispanic church to be the Church within its unique cultural context.
Mission Talk founder, Agustin Quiles, is a Latino ministry practitioner who caught a vision for the flourishing of his community. Born in Puerto Rico, Quiles moved to New York City in grade school, where he was one of five children raised by a single mother. Quiles got involved in ministry from a young age, which began shaping the passion he has today for church and ministry leaders within his cultural community. “I am a product of the Latino community and its disadvantages,” he explained as we chatted about the conception of Mission Talk. His awareness of his own culture, its strengths and weaknesses, informs his approach to ministry. Not only has Quiles identified a clear need within the Hispanic church, but with over a decade of boots on the ground ministry experience in Hispanic communities, he is prepared to meet the need he sees.
A Changing Landscape
Latino evangelicalism is receiving increasing attention in church studies, theology, and national religious conversation. Public Radio International reported last summer that evangelicalism in the US is no longer monolithic, of one culture (white), but that Latinos are the “fastest growing group of evangelicals.”[2] Pew Research data from the “Religious Landscape Study” supports this statement. This study compares data of Evangelical Protestant’s ethnic identifications from 2007 and 2014. As the chart outlines, in those years the evangelical Latino population grew by 4%, while the white evangelical population dropped.[3]
Racial and ethnic composition among Evangelical Protestants // Pew Research Center
With growth comes change. Millennials and Generation X Latino/as find themselves in an in-between world. Pew Research suggests that second generation Latinos are less likely to teach their children Spanish[4] and are often more educated than their parents.[5] A generation or two removed from their immigrant parents and grandparents these young adults tend to assimilate to white culture more than the previous generation. Quiles often hears from young adults, “We’re not Latinos and we’re not Americans.” This identity ambiguity leads Latino young adults to worship outside of their cultural communities, a choice which leaves a devastating gap in the Hispanic church. “A lot of Latinos are assimilating too much,” Quiles shared. “When they leave our churches, they think it’s the language, but it’s [that] white does it better.” Since the white church has resources, he points out, Latino young people leave their cultural places of worship: “[There is a] narrative, [that] they don't fit in in the churches they grew up in, so they [must] fit into white church culture.”
A Changing Ministry
The Hispanic church is not only experiencing generational change, but changes in ministry models. Historically, the Hispanic church has elevated preaching and singing ministry as primary, and when pursuing methods of outreach, she typically focuses on one’s relationship with Christ and compassion work, not community transformation and justice through policy reform or governmental involvement. However, the trend towards community transformation and justice, which Mission Talk emphasizes, is not completely unanticipated.
In the early 2000’s one renowned Latino pastor, spoke of an “emerging generation of Hispanic American Evangelicals.”[6] Contrary from the past, this kind of “new evangelical” would come from the “barrios of L.A. and the housing projects in Chicago more than from rural America.”[7] This evangelical would be a “hybrid” of sorts, a blend of Billy Graham and Martin Luther King Jr., specifically Hispanic, who would find a middle ground, a space of both righteousness and justice. This pastor envisioned:
“Forging the twin themes of righteousness and justice – not “either/or” – these evangelicals embrace a Kingdom Culture Biblical worldview. It has ramifications for social policy. They stand committed to eradicating al-Qaeda as long as we equally commit ourselves to eradicating AIDS … On cultural issues, the Graham-King hybrid generation stands unequivocally as a vigorous pro-life movement that extends from womb to tomb. This new pro-life movement does not regard health care, education, and poverty-alleviation as secondary issues to sanctity-of-life and marriage but rather as top-tier extensions of a truly pro-life platform.”[8]
The Hispanic church this church leader and others saw emerging is the Hispanic church of today. Evangelicalism is paying attention as the Hispanic church leads the way between the polarity which divides Western Christianity. Community transformation and justice matter to the Hispanic church, as does righteousness and right theology. However, the question of Latino young adults remains unanswered. Will this dynamic part of the Body of Christ lose its cultural bearings and its young people through white church integration? Does Latin identity matter for these believers? Quiles and the Mission Talk team are fighting fiercely to say yes, identity matters.
Creating a New Way
The work of Mission Talk is one of space making. Meeting young adult leaders at a variety of stages in their journey of grappling with Hispanic identity, Mission Talk creates a space for these ministry leaders to reconnect with their cultural roots and rediscover the beauty in what it means to be Latino/a. “Reinforcing their identity as Latinos is crucial and key to this conference,” Quiles explained, sharing that at the conference they have salsa and merengue, infusing the experience with Latino culture through music, dance, and retelling of history.
After creating a space, Mission Talk exposes and educates church and ministry leaders to Latino derived resources. The goal is to facilitate the movement from compassion-based outreach to community transformation/justice-based work. This is accomplished primarily through bringing in Latino/a practitioners, men and women of God who are in the trenches of ministry to Hispanic communities throughout the world, bringing about community transformation and justice for the sake of the gospel. “We bring practitioners,” Quiles emphasized, “not celebrities.” These individuals are experienced and respected in all kinds of justice ministries in Hispanic communities, addressing issues such as poverty, hunger, immigration, mass incarceration, human trafficking, social entrepreneurship, ethnic diversity, and racial reconciliation, to name a few. Stepping beyond mere exposure to ideas, these practitioners train and equip conference attendees for the work, teaching biblical theology, ministry models, and ministry skills for Latino/as to return to their native communities and minister well.
As I listened intently to Quiles share his heart for the Hispanic church, I came away challenged. He desires to welcome Latino/as home, for the gap that was created in the Hispanic church to be filled by its own. Rather than relying on Anglo church resources and culture, he champions the Hispanic church for what it is, a dynamic and influential part of the Body of Christ that must be functional for the Church at large to effectively operate. “What I see,” he concluded, “is raising thousands of young people who are able to shape the church through culture.”
For the Latino/a believer, Quiles extends a call to re-engage. While acknowledging the challenge and pain of assimilation and cultural ambiguity, he calls the Hispanic church home. As an Anglo believer, Quiles gave me a personal challenge: “Help remind us that God made us Latino for a purpose.” Doesn’t this statement itself hold the key to the strength of the historical, global, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, cross socio-economic, two gendered church? The key is the sovereignty of our God over us. With intent, He made each individual and placed them within a time and culture. It is up to us to steward our cultural identities in a way that preaches the gospel—and to help each other do the same.
About Emily C. Alexander
A first generation college graduate of a rural working class family, Emily C. Alexander recently completed her undergraduate degree in Ministry to Women at the Moody Bible Institute. Emily lives in Chicago where she enjoys long walks admiring architecture and pondering theological and sociological issues. Her hope is to impact the lives of women and the flourishing of the church through thoughtful theological engagement.
Footnotes
[1] Agustin Quiles, interview, March 7, 2020.
[2] “Megachurches, Home Churches, Podcasts: American Evangelicals Are ‘Not a Monolith,’” Public Radio International, accessed April 1, 2020, https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-08-14/megachurches-home-churches-podcasts-american-evangelicals-are-not-monolith
[3] “Evangelical Protestants - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics,” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project (blog), accessed April 1, 2020, https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/evangelical-protestant/#racial-and-ethnic-composition-trend
[4] “Hispanic Parents’ Spanish Use with Children Falls as Generations Pass,” Pew Research Center (blog), accessed April 1, 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/02/most-hispanic-parents-speak-spanish-to-their-children-but-this-is-less-the-case-in-later-immigrant-generations/
[5] “How the U.S. Hispanic Population Is Changing,” Pew Research Center (blog), accessed April 1, 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/18/how-the-u-s-hispanic-population-is-changing/
[6] “The Latino Transformation of American Evangelicalism | Reflections,” accessed April 1, 2020, https://reflections.yale.edu/article/who-my-neighbor-facing-immigration/latino-transformation-american-evangelicalism
[7] Rodriguez, 2008.
[8] Rodriguez, 2008.