How can the Church thrive even in times of crisis? Roadblocks are nothing new to the Venezuelan church. In fact, they have been ministering through national crisis for years. We recently interviewed Pastor Jose Hernandez to ask how his pastoral ministry has developed as the layers of crises grew in his context. There is much we can learn more about how to minister from our Venezuelan brothers and sisters. The interview is partially in Spanish, but the conversation that follows is edited and condensed version that can be read in English.
Question 1- Introduction
Hi! How are you guys doing? My name is Pastor Jose Hernandez. My family is doing well, thank God, although we are currently in quarantine. We’re just trying to take safe precautions, that’s our motto around here.
Question 2- Profile
I’ve been pastoring Centro Evangelistico Peniel (CEP) for 4 decades. Prior to being a pastor at CEP, I was an itinerant evangelist for 7 years. After my time as an evangelist, my wife, Esther, and I planted CEP.
At first CEP was a community of believers that organized a series of evangelistic gatherings in Valencia, Venezuela in order to start a church and they invited me to come to preach. During the course of these gatherings, the organizers begged me to stay as their Lead Pastor because they had not found one yet (lol). It’s been a while and they still haven’t been able to find another Lead Pastor so I’ve stayed. Thus, I’ve been pastoring CEP since 1981; a church that has been influential in our city and a church community that has done a great job in developing pastors and ministries.
Question 3- La Crisis
The Venezuelen humanitarian crisis dubbed, ‘La Crisis’, has been in effect for a number of years now. Interestingly, ‘La Crisis’ helped both pastors and the church mature in Christ, but we must understand the dimensions of the crisis. First of all, ‘La Crisis’ has everything to do with political ideology. When the current governing authorities came into power, they entered a capitalist form of government but made it their agenda to install communist form of government. This created polarization between those who sympathized with the government and those who opposed the government; even between pastors and therefore the church. The tension was so tense in the church that many churches in Venezuela divided. Thus, pastors became a sort of ‘referees’ between both sides. That was our initial experience with ‘La Crisis’. Second, the conflicting worldviews of ‘La Crisis’ brought forth much societal strife, which impacted the economy. Because it impacted our economy, Venezuela then entered a humanitarian crisis.
In the midst of ‘La Crisis’, our church made many adjustments to our work. First, we had to adjust our worship services. For example, we used to have multiple services throughout the week, but now we only have 2 worship services. As a matter of fact, we have had to reschedule the days and times of our services. Another adjustment we had to make was in regards to the way we did discipleship. Our discipleship method used to be more centralized; we used to have discipleship classes offered on 2 different campuses. However, we had to decentralize these classes. Our people could no longer access our building due to the absence of public transportation. Furthermore, if public transportation was running, prices were too high to afford because the sector was experiencing an economic deficit. Hence, we’ve had to adjust in order to survive.
Although ‘La Crisis’ has impacted the church severely, it has not stopped the work that God has called us to do in Venezuela. This is very important to highlight because since ‘La Crisis’, the church in Venezuela has done more than ever before.
Question 3b-Ministry at CEP
CEP has been a church that has experienced significant growth. When we first planted CEP, we had 1 pastor, a leadership board, and the congregation. Later we grew into having a pastor, a volunteer ministry staff, and the congregation. Now my wife and I serve as lead pastors, we have a pastoral team, a leadership team, a volunteer ministry staff, and we have the congregation. This is to say that our leadership structure has grown as the congregation has grown.
The ministry philosophy of CEP can be summed up in one word: care. We believe that growth must give a great amount of attention to caring for the holistic needs of one’s humanity. This means we care for the family unit too: young adults, children, women, men, and youth. Up until this point, I’ve been speaking about our ministry within the church.
We also have ministry from the church to our wider community. We call this initiative, “The Church Outside the Walls.” This initiative does everything from street evangelism to creative intercessory campaigns; praying with the community and for the city. Also, CEP provides food for hospitals and jornada integrales in the poorest neighborhoods of our city [jornadas integrales are outreach fairs that include food distribution, medical help, evangelism, performances, and prayer]. In addition to this, we do cross-cultural missions to places in Venezuela that have indigenous/native populations.
Question 4- COVID-19 in Venezuela
To be sure, the COVID-19 pandemic has created chaos in Venezuela. It has produced significant changes in our context. Obviously the church has not been able to escape the realities of this pandemic. We are currently ordered to practice social distancing and to be in quarantine [per the government] to the degree that the church has not been able to gather in the same way as before. As of right now, our public worship services have been canceled. We are still wrestling with the prolongation of our canceled in-person services.
In facing this crisis, one of the essential practices that we’ve developed as a church is prayer. If there is 1 good motivation that has developed through this pandemic, it’s a motivation for prayer. And I’m not just saying this for just CEP, I am also noticing this among my pastoral colleagues and their churches. I’ve even noticed this motivation to pray on social media. So I would say that this has been amazing because this means the church is winning and will ultimately be victorious through this process of suffering.
The other essential practice we’ve had to adopt is to stay connected through social media as a church community. However, this is difficult because we have internet connection that is extremely slow and is unreliable. Yet we are doing everything we can to make things work.
Question 4b- Pastoral Development in Venezuela
My pastoral formation came about more than 40 years ago, and I’ve lived through various turning points in CEP and through various turning points in Venezuela’s history. With that said, I think pastoral formation must include a keen awareness of their particular social context. What I am about to say is different from when I was training for pastoral ministry. Current pastoral training must take into account that our pastoral theology remains, but our theology must work itself with a high capacity to engage sociological themes. More specifically, pastors need to know how to engage new ideas pertaining to sexuality and the breakdown of the family. Nowadays we need to put much emphasis on the character of the minister and integrity because we live in a world that is extremely broken. Furthermore, society can only be transformed if we have pastors that are holy and that really challenge hell.
Question 5- Ministry Practice in COVID-19
What I think is playing the greatest role in the church in Venezuela right now is social media. Social Media has helped us cultivate relationships even though we are not able to hold public services. In terms of church structure, every pastor is assigned a group of ministry leaders to provide oversight and care; every ministry leader has leaders under them; and then there are congregants. In this format, the lead pastor, which is me- Jose Hernandez, sends voice messages through Whatsapp that can be passed down through the chain… you know, these past few days I’ve been thinking about what I call, “Floaters.” I refer to “Floaters” as folks who are not as engaged with the church and more of Sunday attenders. These are the sheep that concern me the most. However, I’m glad because we have been able to connect with our cell groups via their leaders on social media platforms like Whatsapp. [Cell groups from CEP exist all over the city of Valencia.] So this is what we are doing to stay connected relationally.
The other thing I’m doing is preaching via live stream on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. I do this to orient people toward God, to teach God’s Word, to edify and to motivate. And this actually helps with relationship building because it helps us to mobilize our evangelistic efforts. As a matter fact, I was recently speaking to our church leaders via Zoom. I told them the church buildings are closed, but the church is still open, which means that the church is still speaking. Frankly, there is a voice that is speaking and that’s the voice of the church- the voice of every man and woman- that is speaking about Jesus in one way or another. We are preaching about the signs of the times, how we should live, and about deliverance from these times. That’s evangelism to the degree that the church preaches the Gospel to the greatest dilemmas of the world.
Hence, I believe that the church will come out strengthened because our leadership is already seeing it. We’ve heard from our ministry leads and cell groups that many people are coming closer to Jesus. Some have even placed faith in Jesus! Others have asked for prayer. What I’m saying is that the church is alive and active; praying, caring for one another, and preaching the Word of God.
Question 6- Lessons from Venezuela
Attempting to teach something to the brothers and sisters in America requires some good analysis and evaluation. Surely, it's one thing to speak of learning theology or evangelism, topics the church in the US played a role in shaping for the evangelical churches in Venezuela, given that we’ve received American missionaries for years. But, we are talking about ‘La Crisis’ and what it can teach Americans. Honestly, the situations are different, given that we have different cultures; Americans and just different than Venezuelans. Still, there is something that can be learned from us for the Americans.
For instance, speaking of cultural differences, the Venzuelan is very empathetic. We are a close people. We like to establish relationships, and enjoy a good deal of physical contact. This characterizes us. On the other hand, Americans seem to be more distant; they are not as interested in close contact. Maybe I am wrong, but that’s what I have seen during my visits. And, well, in a situation like this pandemic, where believers cannot meet in-person for their worship service, one of the main points of contact, American believers may have a harder time losing their main point of contact. But, for us, we hunt for ways to further connect because we are used to reaching out when we miss contact. So, when we see each other via zoom, social media, or these other social platforms, that generates great joy. When people write us or reach out, there is an expectation, an anticipation, of the contact that is coming. I think, if there is something we can project from our culture as a lesson for Americans, it is the need to grow in empathy - be friendlier, be closer, more communicative. I think that is important and it is something the American church can do. You guys depend a lot on the meeting for your only contact. I think this will be good. I think it will bring good in that it will develop closeness and empathy for your church.
So, how has ‘La Crisis’ prepared us? Well, it forced us, as I mentioned, went through some hard things that pressed us to change service schedules, our teaching styles, etc. When this pandemic came, we felt prepared to go through it, given all the changes we’ve made in the past. We have 20 years of economic, social, and public crisis. I’ve reminded my pastoral leaders, we are ready for this.
Question 6b- Lessons from the Past
I think my colleagues in the US should learn from this crisis to be more personal in their pastoral ministry, to get closer to the people. Sometimes there is a distance between the pastor and people caused by the pulpit, so sometimes we become distant pastors. I believe pastors should be as close to the people as possible. This is what we’ve learned from Christ’s ministry. Today more than ever, the pastor should be an open, close person. I imagine this isn’t possible for every member at the church, particularly for larger congregations, but at minimum, the pastor should be close to his leaders and empathetic with them because this will inspire them to be likewise with the rest of the congregation. And this is absolutely necessary given the way society works today. With all the different crises, growing loneliness, the fear of the future … today more than ever, people need both spiritual and emotional support. The pastor is an important figure that can bring that kind of help to people.
Obviously, this crisis has also changed the way we sing, the way we worship. I believe the content of the music that we are commonly singing today is mostly about adoration - by which I mean the recognition of who God is and the expression of our profound need for His presence. The other theme that comes up frequently is the theme of prayer because, of course, that is our greatest need. These make sense because they reflect our greatest need: to get close to the God who can do all things, confess Him to be the one who can do all things, and ask, from the depths of our hearts, for Him to intercede in the things we need to resolve this situation. The theological themes we’ve been preaching from the pulpit, even before the pandemic because of our other crises, has been the theme of hope and peace.
May we preach, sing, and provide hope and peace to churches and communities both in Venezuela, the US, and the globe.
About Pastor Jose Hernandez
English
Pastor Jose is the husband of Esther Hernandez and they have 1 adult daughter and 2 grandchildren. He has been in ministry since age 16. He has 2 bachelor degrees in social sciences and theology, a Masters of Pastoral Ministry, and holds a Doctor of Ministry from Logos University. He has been the senior pastor of Centro Evangelistico Peniel since 1981.
Spanish
Pastor José es el esposo de Esther Hernández. Tienen 1 hija adulta y 2 nietos. Ha estado en el ministerio desde los 16 años. Tiene 2 títulos de licenciatura en ciencias sociales y teología, una maestría en ministerio pastoral y un doctorado en ministerio de la Universidad Logos. Ha sido pastor principal del Centro Evangelistico Peniel desde 1981.