Category: Mission

Pastors, theologians, and seminaries — consider Spanish!

The Hispanic population in the US is growing rapidly. A good reason to consider Spanish.
The Hispanic population in the US is growing rapidly. A good reason to consider Spanish.

If you’re an aspiring pastor or theologian, I think you should consider learning Spanish. If you’re a seminary, I think you should consider offering it.

For pastors — with the increase of Spanish-speakers in the U. S., and the small number of Spanish-language worship services by comparison, I expect one of the church’s greatest new “frontiers” in America to come in the form of churches and worship services that use the Spanish language. Whether aspiring pastors are preparing to lead these churches, or simply preparing to more effectively communicate with those who do, I believe they can benefit greatly from facility with the language.

I’ve heard the United Methodist Church has had trouble figuring out what to do with non-English-speaking Hispanics who are pursuing ordination. Ordination guarantees an appointment, and they don’t know what to do if there’s not a Spanish-speaking appointment to give them. That’s something the UMC will need to figure out and get over soon, or they’re going to miss a significant, growing portion of the American population.

For theologians — I expect Spanish to be an important language for upcoming theologians. It’s pretty common to see German offered in seminary, and sometimes even French, so you can interact with the bulk of non-English scholarly work of the past few centuries. With the rise of Christianity in Spanish-speaking countries, I could easily see Spanish becoming the most important non-English language for interacting with 21st century theologians.

(Aspring) pastors and theologians, think about it. Might it be worthwhile to study some Spanish?

Seminaries and divinity schools, might you consider offering Spanish courses? You’ll be preparing your students well for ministry and theological work in the 21st century.

For a good laugh, here’s a look at some of my early stumbles trying to learn Spanish while living in Spain: “The most humbling experience of my life…”

Evangelistic interrogation

interrogationI was evangelized this weekend by a well-meaning, young seminary student.

He asked my wife and I if we would like some of his evangelism tracts. We smiled and said no thanks.

He asked, “Are you Christians?”

“Yes,” I confirmed, “we are.”

Someone else nearby came up and chastised us. “You’re Christians, and you wouldn’t even take his materials?” We explained that we didn’t think it was necessary for him to waste his time and paper on us. Better to let him move on. (I didn’t also mention that I know how these things tend to go and wasn’t feeling up for the song and dance again.)

“Did you even affirm him in what he was doing?” he asked. “He’s trying to do something important here. It takes courage.” No, we hadn’t affirmed him. We apologized. We affirmed him.

And then, the person who originally offered us literature asked, “So what do you believe a Christian is?” And here we were, doing the song and dance…

I told him I was a pastor, assured him that we believe in Christ, tried to let him know it was okay to move on. So he asked where I’m a pastor and again asked me to tell him what makes someone a Christian… This is where the kindly offer turns into more of an inquisition. The point where I’m quizzed about exactly what my faith entails to make sure I’m really a Christian.

Now there’s an element of this I can appreciate. I know many people who claim to be Christians mean only that they were raised in the Church and believe God exists, and perhaps even believe Jesus really lived and died and was raised. And I’m sure there are some Christian pastors whose faith doesn’t really meet the standards of what I would consider real Christianity.

But a sidewalk inquisition doesn’t strike me as the best approach here. It wasn’t my first. It won’t be my last. And frankly, I’ve just grown tired of them. Perhaps I’m wrong, but if I weren’t a Christian, I don’t think these uninvited interrogations would do much to sway me.

I generally know the answers I need to give to help people move along: “I have accepted Jesus into my heart, repented of my sins, and have faith in him alone for salvation.” Avoid saying anything about the Church and sacraments – as nearly all street evangelists see the Church and its sacraments as nothing more than functional. Don’t mention holiness either. They’ll start to suspect works righteousness. Your best shot at a quick conversation is vanilla evangelical Christianity.

All of that will help, but I’ve encountered a number of people who want more. They end up wanting to make sure I subscribe to the particular brand of Christianity they subscribe to. This weekend, I somehow ended up with my inquisitor “enlightening” me about the Greek words in various passages to help show me what they really mean. I told him I hadn’t come for a Bible debate and that it was probably best for him to move on, but he said he was very concerned that as a pastor I might be teaching people in error. Oh my…

I really do believe this young seminary student was (mostly) well-intentioned. But what were the odds that he was going to suddenly convince me, there on that sidewalk, that my understanding of God and Scripture and Christianity had been in error all this time? I’m not usually put in a disposition to make drastic change in my life through uninvited interrogations. Especially when they become demonstrations of how I don’t really understand the truth and need to change my beliefs. Especially when they come from total strangers. Especially when the strangers begin spouting off Greek words at me (which were either badly mispronounced or not real Greek words) to demonstrate their understanding and my ignorance.

I’ve begun wondering how common this experience is. And how common my feelings about it. We don’t generally welcome interrogations from strangers. We welcome them less when they move toward showing us our error. The whole conversation, from its very beginning, sets up an inferior (the [likely] ignorant interrogated) and a superior (the knowledgeable interrogator). Is this really the way to share our faith? There seem so many problems with it.

I believe there’s an urgency to share the gospel. I believe we have to find ways to do it – even when they may be uncomfortable. But should we do it in a way that puts the other person on the defensive from the start of the conversation? Is there a way to just as urgently and aggressively share the gospel and yet come from a position of service rather than a position of power?

Let me be clear, I’m not recommending timidity and passivity when it comes to evangelism. I’m asking whether we can do this in a way that doesn’t thrust upon innocent bystanders such a power imbalance. Can we share our faith with confidence and conviction without an air of arrogance and presumption?

And of course, I’d also like a way of understanding and sharing our faith that goes beyond some of that vanilla response I mentioned above. Something that shares with people a Church and sacraments that are deeply connected to the faith. Something that considers discipleship an essential part of our ongoing conversion, not just the cherry on top of it…

I’d really love your thoughts and ideas.

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Buzz vs. substance

fraudIn a totally different segment of my life, I’m a partner in a new coffee and donut shop in Lexington. We’ve been open just over six months. In the past couple months, sales have started taking off.

We had one particular Saturday when sales crushed all previous highs. I texted a partner who manages the store, “What in the world happened today?” There must have been a $500 order, I figured. Or some big news story about us had run, and I didn’t know about it. Or they ran a promotion that I wasn’t aware of.

His response: “We make really good coffee and donuts.” (It’s true. They’re really good. You should come try if you’re anywhere near Lexington.)

His was the perfect response. Our total advertising budget so far has been $200 — the cost of two banners to hang outside the store. From the beginning, making good donuts and coffee and providing a friendly face at the counter has been the primary focus. And thanks to social media, perhaps now more than ever, if you give people good substance, they’ll create the buzz for you. I’ve come to love searching for the shop on Twitter to see what people are telling their friends about us.

Now for what it’s worth, at least in my opinion, it does have a pretty good atmosphere. And we have done a lot to invite people. It’s not like we just made good donuts in a decrepit building and hoped people would show up. A nice atmosphere is important. Inviting people is crucially important. But a quick look at the reviews shows what’s of most importance — “Are they selling something good?”

Yes, some self-promotion there, but nearly all of our early success is my partners’ doing, so I don’t feel too bad giving us a public pat on the back.

Buzz

A friend told me this weekend about an opposite experience. A new brewery opened where he lives about a year ago. He explained that the owners had started with a ton of money and not much brewery knowledge. They invested the majority of their time, energy and money into creating an exciting atmosphere and a lot of buzz.

“For the first three months,” he said, “it was the hottest place in town. Everyone had heard about it. They were waiting for it. And the whole place just looked impressive. You had to go. But there was a problem…

“The beer was terrible. Really. Terrible. They spent all their time and money creating a cool place, but you can only live on that for so long.”

He went on to explain that they sought help (fortunately for them, they had a lot of money — a rich uncle or something), got better with the beer, and survived, but not after going dead and nearly having to close.

Buzz vs. Substance

Most of us only have enough energy and money to do one well. You can create a big buzz, or you can work on having great substance. Would it be good to have a little of both? Of course! But only a very few can invest big-time in both.

Invest in buzz, and you can turn out a big crowd initially. But how long will it last before they realize the sizzle was better than the steak? Given the advent of social media and today’s increase in options, frauds can get exposed and abandoned quickly.

Invest in substance, and the growth curve may be slower initially, but I believe you have good reason to expect increasing momentum.

This gets at some of what I was suggesting in “The Christian Bubble.” Beware of focusing more on buzz (i.e. exciting programs, events, and spectacles) than substance (i.e. Offer the Gospel! and make disciples that become apostles and pastors). All the way back in the 1930’s, Deitrich Bonhoeffer was pointing toward this as a major problem in Germany. It looked a bit different, but I think it was the same issue at root.

In some of our situations, the “buzz” may last for more than a few months — perhaps several years or even decades. But eventually, when substance is lacking, the fraud gets exposed.

On the other hand, focus on substance, and the initial build may be slow. But I hope it gives us opportunity to ask, in the middle of a great movement of faith across the land, “What in the world is happening?” and to hear in return, “We make really good disciples (who make disciples, who make disciples…)”

And of course, a real movement of that sort comes only with the movement of the Spirit. We plant seeds. God makes them grow. Are we invested in planting good seeds?

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