The
Colombian man works a late shift washing dishes in a busy restaurant
surrounded by Bengali people. He has picked up a few words of their
slang and they treat him like a brother simply because he knows what
it is to be foreign in an English speaking world. For sixty hours a
week, between loading and rinsing dishes, he works with them, side by
side, and talks with them, bit by bit, and slowly gets to know them
and their families. He knows the one who has a son who is struggling
in school. He knows the other whose wife is nearly sick with
depression from being so far away from everything familiar. He knows
the young one whose mother is on the other side of the world and a
scratchy phone call does little to bring her close. More than that,
he knows what it is like to experience all of those things since he
himself has the same troubles. They are all Muslim and have never
experienced freedom from darkness, but the Colombian, he is Light.
The
Hispanic Church in the USA is a sleeping giant.
There
are many Hispanic Christians in America who live and work side by
side with people of different faiths. Even though they are passionate
about Christianity, they may not have realized the full potential of
their position in this country as a way to fulfill the Great
Commission. Often, Hispanics in the U.S. view missions as reaching
out to other Hispanics or returning to their home countries to do
orphan care ministries and other humanitarian aid. Even though these
things are a great blessing, and often needed, it is different than
fulfilling the Great Commission of going to those who have not yet
heard the Gospel. One
of the greatest tools used by God over the last few decades to help
people understand their role in missions in the Perspectives on the
World Christian Movement class (perspectives.org)
put out by the US Center for World Mission. The Perspectives course
is more than a missions mobilization course; it helps people get in
touch with God's heart for the world, and also the Biblical mandate
and reasons for mission, to "Declare his glory among the
nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples." (Ps. 96:3)
Hispanic Christians naturally live between two cultures, and have
thus been equipped by God to usually have an easier time relating and
being sensitive to people from other cultures and to do
cross-cultural outreach. A Spanish Perspectives course is all about
helping them see the opportunities that God has uniquely gifted them
to take hold of, catching the vision for their role in God's heart
for all nations, and to encourage them to boldly proclaim His truth
to the unreached world all around them. This course, along with other
shorter seminars and group studies, have the potential to empower a
huge evangelical force.
Translating
Perspectives into Spanish has only been completed in the last few
years, and now, for one of the first times in America, the entire
fifteen week course is being offered completely in Spanish. Here, in
New York City, pioneering Hispanic pastors, lay leaders,
professionals, and blue collar workers in a variety of ages and
representing more than eight South and Central American nationalities
are learning about God's great burden for the people who have never
heard His name.
They
are learning and they are doing. Even now, small groups from Hispanic
churches are being driven to pray for their unreached neighbors
living in their own communities. Even now, Hispanic Christians are
being moved to train others to reach out to Muslims. Even now, this
great sleeping Giant, is being wakened to fulfill their roles in
God's grand rescue plan for all the nations of the world.
The
Colombian man recognizes his Bengali co-workers, his Algerian
neighbors, his Senegalese friends, and many others, as people whom
the Lord has been longing to draw to His eternal kingdom. Through the
Perspectivas course, he has studied the truth of God's word and found
therein all the boldness he needs to declare God's glory among the
nations. He is a Christian from Colombia, English is his second
language and America is his second home; and in so being he is
uniquely equipped to reach out to the unreached in his midst. May
this city, and many other American cities, teem with other Hispanic
and non-Hispanic Christians who are so compelled.
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