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Hispanic/Latinos seek churches that offer 'space,' community

9/4/2003 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn

This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #427.

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - United Methodists in local churches must leave their comfort zones if they intend to reach the increasing number of Hispanic/Latino people in their communities.

"If we believe our mission is to share God's love with all people, what is keeping us from reaching the Hispanic population?" asks Marigene Chamberlain, director of leadership for Hispanic ministries at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship.

Hispanic/Latinos are attracted to places that offer space to worship in the language of their hearts, she says. They also want to develop relationships in the congregation and see their culture incorporated into worship.

Faith traditions that are effective among Hispanic/Latinos reach people where they live, says Joaquin Garcia, a recently retired staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. "The United Methodist Church is a middle-class church and does not reach out to the Latino population. It does not know how to reach out to those people who have to work on Sunday morning. It still thinks that to be a United Methodist, you have to have Sunday morning free to attend church."

Among Hispanic/Latinos, the denominational character of the church is less important than the opportunity to build local relationships. "All the structure and connection beyond the local experience is less important in the immediacy in their lives," Chamberlain says.

Many, stuck in low-paying jobs or living in poverty, are not concerned about General Conference or other meetings. They want help in their daily lives. "What they are going to need is for a church to provide a support base for 'me and my family,'" Chamberlain says.

In the U.S. church, connection is about such things as apportionments and structure, whereas in Hispanic/Latino cultures, connection is about family and relationship, Garcia notes. "It's one thing to be Methodist in Latin America and another to be United Methodist within the system of U.S. society."

For Methodists in Latin America, the church is the center of life, he says. "We have to understand that being connected is about being a family in community."
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*Green is a news writer for United Methodist News Service.

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