The Hispanic Harvest in the USA

 Born Bogotá, Colombia  Roman Catholic upbringing  Moved to Miami in 1979  Born again through the ministry of a PCA church  Planted two PCA Hispanic churches  Serving with Mission to North America since 2011

 Develop Leaders  Plant Churches  Nurture Existing Churches

 Producing Spanish language training resources  Recruiting potential leaders  Encouraging committed candidates during their ministry preparation  Placing trained leaders into suitable opportunities

 Organizing relevant training events  Offering Gospel centered mentoring and coaching  Resourcing

 Vision casting  Consulting  Assessment of potential church planters

“If you’re in a multicultural environment, there will be a moment when you feel at home, and then there will be a moment where you feel like, ‘Where am I?’ ” “It can’t be that one group always feels not at home and one group feels completely at home.” Bil Mooney-McCoy

 To gain a better understanding Hispanic culture.  To discuss ideas of how to build bridges to Hispanics.

Hispanics are actually not a single race but a mixture of many races and ethnicities and different levels of assimilation into U.S. culture.

There are 18 Latin Countries in South and Central America and each has differences in culture and language.

 First Generation  1.5 Generation  Second Generation(+)

 Foreign born  Immigrated to the USA as an adult  Strong family ties to their country of origin  Speaks mostly Spanish  Trying to figure out the “system” in the USA  Existential Question: Where am I?

 Foreign born  Immigrated to the USA as a child  Bilingual and bicultural  Understands the “system”  Existential question: Where do I belong?

 US born  English proficient  May not speak any Spanish  Strong family ties in the USA  Existential question: Who am I?

 Religious people  Family oriented people  Celebratory people  Passionate people

 Roman Catholic Part of who you are (culture).  Most educated in Catholic schools  Prominence of Mary  Biblically illiterate  No idea of how the church works (priesthood of believers, giving, etc)

 Family is the primary support system  The needs of the family are placed ahead of individual concerns  Prominence of the mother  Prevalent machismo  Decision making as a unit  Trust “confianza” driven

 Love “fiestas” ▪ Quinceañera ▪ Mothers Day ▪ Día del niño ▪ Cinco de Mayo  Many holidays  Work to live vs. live to work  Hospitality

 High emotional displays  Bright colors  Spontaneous  Closer personal space  Present time perspective; relaxed about time and punctuality

 Greet visitors (not just pass the bulletin)  Have the greeters stay in the back of the church until the time for the sermon  Have the bulletins in English and Spanish  Have the church web site in English and Spanish  Signs in English and Spanish  Weekly Communion  Include a Spanish word (ie: bienvenidos) when welcoming the congregation  Sing a few Spanish language songs (provide translation for all songs)  Have food after every service (include Hispanic foods like empanadas, pasteles…)  Invite people who visit more than once to your home

Jan:  Three Kings day – include a rosca de reyes Feb:  Dia del amor y la amistad Mar:  Ash Wednesday – Cauresma  Semana santa – Easter week April :  Dia del niño May:  5 de Mayo  Dia de las madres June:  Special Back to school prayer service July :  4 th of July Sept:  Hispanic Heritage month Nov:  Thanksgiving Dec:  Posada  Novena de Aguinaldo  Parranda

 Big celebration when you baptize a baby  Big celebration for Quinceañeras  Monthly special events to celebrate birthdays – include piñata  Regular time for testimonies during the service  Father and son soccer tournaments  Financial peace classes  Cross cultural marriage seminars  Men’s & women’s retreats  Interest based small groups  Special services to pray for the sick and anoint with oil

 Work with teachers and principals at your church to host a community education lecture “how to support your kids in school”.  Develop tutoring program  Join Latin associations in your city  Soccer clinics  Soccer/ foosball tournaments  Citizenship Classes  Art classes  Dominos tournament  Salsa classes  Cinco de Mayo cookout  ESL/SSL  Guitar classes  Sponsor a marriage conference  Hispanic Heritage month events  Children's summer camp  Plaza Comunitaria