The Church Speaks Spanish

Jose, one of the pastors of my church in Ashburn, is coming to Gaithersburg in preparation for planting a Spanish-speaking church in this area.

I’m really excited about it. I think this is a great opportunity to reach out to a group that’s difficult for me personally to communicate with because of the language barrier.

However, a personal friend, who I deeply respect and admire, brought up this objection to the venture: Doesn’t planting a Spanish-speaking church simply further encourage the tendency of Spanish-speaking immigrants to forego fluency in English, which is harmful to our unity as a nation of Americans? Doesn’t it make a harmful political statement?

There are clear policy issues that make having a common national tongue very compelling. English, unfortunately, is rather difficult to learn, which may explain immigrants’ reluctance to master it. But as a matter of national policy, I will gladly support English-language initiatives, so long as they are pursued compassionately.

I believe that becoming fluent in English will greatly improve immigrants’ well-being in a multitude of ways. It will allow them to interact with our system of government more fully, and combat those who like to take advantage of them. It will put a damper on organized crimes such as drug dealing and even human trafficking, which thrive on ignorance and coercion. It will increase their employability and raise their standard of living.

However, I don’t believe any of these considerations should affect a decision on where and how to plant a church.

The Church in America should not be the American Church as it so often has become. National patriotism, though prized by those of us who love our country, should nevertheless be secondary to the mission of the Gospel.

If there are people in our neighborhood who can’t come to our church because they don’t understand enough English to benefit from it, it is our duty and privilege to bring the Gospel to them in a language they can understand.

The church exists to reach out to the lost and support the needy. Who fits that description more in Gaithersburg than the Spanish-speaking men and women who clean our toilets and mow our lawns?

If not here, where? Gaithersburg has one of the highest concentrations of people for whom Spanish is a primary language in the U.S. According to U.S. census data, roughly 20% of Gaithersburg city residents are of Hispanic or Latino origin, twice the average for Montgomery County (11%), and five times the average for Maryland (4%). This is a mission field in our own backyard!

Extreme Fundamental Makeover has a good post about patriotism and the church. I would like to say that I am glad my church does not have an American flag in the sanctuary. The church has no borders, and it should speak every language. Mike Hess says it better than I do:

Another real danger that I see here is the one that I think has done the most harm. That would be the obsession that many evangelical Christians have in the world of politics and social activism. Yes, I am aware that Scripture tells us that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. But if I remember correctly, it was the “social gospel” that catapulted the movement of liberal theology. I am not against Christians getting involved in the political realm (I wish that more would) or against believers going and defending the rights of the unborn (again, more should be doing this as well). But clearly, evangelicals in America have gotten side tracked in a monumental way in recent decades with allowing the politics of a nation to dictate our agenda rather than the clear calling of our Savior to dictate our agenda.

Ending on a positive, if slightly off-topic note:

I love hearing people speak in different languages. It reminds me of Heaven - only in Heaven I think I’ll be able to understand them! The new lady who’s filling in for Michelle at work was speaking Portuguese over the phone, and it struck me as an exceedingly beautiful language, especially with her Mozambique accent.