By Carol Bolden
“I’m a third-generation Adventist,” explains Julio Arias, a Hispanic church member and field representative for RMC’s planned giving and trust services. “My parents and grandparents provided me with what I would call a foundation for who I am today.”
Julio grew up attending Adventist schools for elementary, middle and high school in Puerto Rico, and probably every program or meeting held in his little church in the municipality of Carolina. Besides Adventist Youth (AY) Friday night vespers and singing followed the next day by Sabbath School, church, and a potluck lunch, he also gave Bible studies on Sabbath afternoons using a small manual slide projector.
When it was hot indoors, he would sometimes project slides outside on the garage door, inviting interested neighbors join in. “My upbringing was laced with church activities. Church life was the culture we lived and was not separate from the rest of our lives,” he explains. There were Saturday evening game nights, Sunday Pathfinders, Sunday evening preaching, Wednesday night prayer meetings, Ingathering during the Christmas season, and evangelistic campaigns under a tent lasting six weeks each year. “We were really invested in bringing people into the church,” Julio explains. “Every few years, the growing membership would spawn a new congregation.”
“We see it [the spreading of the gospel] as a privilege as well as a responsibility,” comments Vivien Vasquez, the wife of Ruddy Vivanco, a pastor in Denver.
According to USA Today, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the fastest-growing denomination in the United States, yet Hispanic churches in America, specifically in the Rocky Mountain Conference, are growing at a much faster rate than those made up of members of the dominant English-speaking culture.
In 2015, the average number of Hispanic baptisms per church in the Rocky Mountain Conference was almost 100 more than the average number of baptisms in other churches. Several factors contribute to this phenomenon. According to the Pew Research Center, “The nation’s racial and ethnic minority groups—especially Hispanics—are grow- ing more rapidly than the non-Hispanic white population, fueled by both immigration and births.” The 2010 census also reports that racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 91.7 percent of the nation’s growth since 2000. But that’s not all. The Hispanic culture is visibly family-oriented. One Hispanic pastor shared the story of his wife going into labor with their first baby. They headed to the hospital together and were followed by the entire extended family.
Hispanics place great value on family. They “see the church as family,” states Joanna Rivera, current Andrews University senior, “and they’re passionate about it.” Hispanics typically take care of each other, live near or with each other and socialize together. They usually stay in close contact with relatives back home. Add to that their emphasis on evangelistic outreach and you have a winning combination.
Recently, I attended an Adventist Hispanic church and as I entered, several people greeted me. A young girl, probably about 10, stopped to hand me an invitation to stay for the potluck lunch following the service. It was friendship evangelism at its finest.
From the Hispanic point of view, evangelism is considered a part of hospitality and the preservation of family values. People laugh together, cry together, eat together and worship together.
According to sociologists, the individualistic view of society has sharp boundaries between people, with each person being a complete unit. In contrast, the collective view sees people as part and parcel of a larger group. There is, of course, a continuum between these two views, and where we fall depends on our culture, socioeconomic status, historical era, as well as political perspective.
Could the individualistic dominant culture of North America learn something from the Hispanic culture’s collectivism? Perhaps it could learn to recognize its connectedness to society as a whole, to open up to the life of a stranger. When two of the disciples walked the road to Emmaus, they didn’t recognize Jesus, although their hearts burned within them while He talked with them on the road. It was when He sat at the table with them that their eyes were opened. It is often in the intimacy of breaking bread at the table that Jesus is revealed.
–Carol Bolden is RMC administrative assistant for communication.