When I first visited Mexico in 2005, I was shocked at the poverty that was literally right across the US border. It was the first time in my life I saw people living in cardboard box houses. Back then, at least in my own mind, the immigration crisis was not on the forefront of politics, but I remember being confronted with the ethical responsibility as a Christian to somehow provide for these people and to love them. For my family and I, this came in the form of supporting an orphanage we visited and which we corresponded with by writing letters to the children. Currently, when I see the thousands of people seeking asylum and a new life in the US on the Mexico border, my mind cannot help but to remember my short experience in Mexico which makes me rationalize, “Well, of course some of these folks want to come to America for a better life.” While I realize that even this statement could be read as from an American supremacist point of view, I am simply claiming that based on my experience and conversations with the Mexican and Latino people, many just want to come to the US for a better life. The same is true for many Muslim refugees I meet.
Growing up in rural North Carolina as a ‘white American male’, I have surely grown up with a misunderstanding of Hispanics and Latinos. Yes, I have had several friends, coworkers, and acquiescences over the years who have been from Latino backgrounds, but overall, I honestly do not understand all the ins and outs of the Latino community. After all, many Latinos, if not all, speak Spanish. I do not speak Spanish! Automatically, we have a language barrier, which leads to a cultural barrier, which of course can lead to misunderstanding. With that said, at twenty years of age, my perception of Latinos changed, though I am still not sure I understand everything about Hispanic culture. What led to this change?
MY WORLDVIEW CHANGED
As of twenty, my life and worldview radically changed. Instead of my family, culture, or as some may say, my “whiteness,” defining who I am as a human, Jesus Christ laid claim to my identity and being. I began to read the Bible and attend a local church. As I compared my actions and lifestyle to the character of God who is good, holy, and literally perfect, I then began to see the many insufficiencies in my own essence. I am not good, holy, and certainly not perfect! Yet, the Triune God of the Bible began to shower His love upon me and reveal to me the work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Something supernatural happened to me. Those who knew me before Christ rescued me will vouch that Thomas was not a great guy. Yes, he was a ‘good ole boy’ according to my culture’s standards, yet, I was not good in the sight of God. In the midst of my ‘encultured badness’, God had a long-term plan to radically conform me into the culture of His Son. Scripturally, the book of 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that through Christ, I became “a new creation.” The old Thomas who was defined by North Carolina rural culture, whiteness, or whatever category I could have been labeled, was redefined and transformed. At twenty, I was made new and began to be defined and identified by being made into the image of Jesus Christ.
THE EXAMPLE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL
With this new identity came a radical worldview change and I began to see all people with a different perception. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16 says, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.” What does he mean? He is claiming God transformed his worldly way of thinking about ‘other people.’ To bring the point home, Paul says, “Once we regarded Christ according to the flesh, [but] we regard him thus no longer” (2 Cor. 5:16). The “flesh” is a worldly worldview that defines identity and other people according to the world’s standards and even one’s own cultural standards. Paul is stating that when he became a “new creation,” his worldview was altered in such a way that he began to look at Jesus Christ through a new lens. Before Christ rescued him, he saw Jesus as just another person; just one more heretical human on the face of the earth living for some vain cause. Yet, after Paul experienced the second birth (born again) he began to see Jesus as God Himself; someone to be worshiped, obeyed and followed.
From this new identity defined by Jesus Christ, Paul began to see others in a different way, similar to the way that he saw Jesus Christ in a new way. Before, he saw others in a partial or racist way which elevated himself to a position above those whom he saw as his enemies. According to the book of Acts in the Bible, Paul, or by his preconversion name, Saul, saw Christians as his enemies (Acts 9:1-2). As a devout religious Jew, Paul recognized himself as better than the heathen Christians who seemed to worship a mere man called Jesus as Yahweh (God). In the midst of his prideful, racist, pursuit of killing Christians, Jesus stopped him dead in his tracks and put him on a new path (Acts 9:3-19). After his conversion, he began to seek the good of Christians by loving them, defending them, and pursuing their good. He also began to love all people for the sake of the Gospel.
HOW DOES ALL THIS APPLY TO HISPANICS AND LATINOS?
How does all this apply to Hispanics and Latinos? First, true and devout Christians who have met the living, powerful, worldview changing Christ must love all people whether they come from a Latino background, Muslim country background, or their own background. This is because the primary identity of a Christian according to the Bible is defined by the person of Jesus Christ. After all, this is why people who follow Jesus are called ‘CHRISTians.’ One who is a Christian loves Christ, obeys Christ, and walks in His ways.
Our Lord Jesus, though a Jew, loved on and accepted the Jew’s greatest enemies, the Samaritans. One of the most beautiful, yet culture shocking stories of the Bible is found in John 4 where Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman. Not only was it shocking that Jesus was talking to an enemy of the Jews, but she was a woman, and on top of that, a prostitute; or at minimum, “loose,” according to her culture’s standards. Yet, in this story, Jesus loved this dear woman and invited here to enjoy drinking the water of eternal life that flowed from His own being.
Second, the Bible repeatedly warns against elevating one’s social status over another; therefore, Christians are obligated not to treat Latinos with any sort of partiality. The book of James tells a story about how a rich man comes into a local church and then the people in the church gave the rich man the best seat at the neglect of a poor man, who had to sit in a less desirable place (James 2:1-13). Using this story to teach truth, James, the brother of Jesus, says “has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom [?]” (Jas. 2:5). Biblically, it is without doubt that our God loves Latino people and has chosen many of them to enter into His kingdom. Therefore, as American Christians, we have no right to show any sort of partiality to Latinos (or other people groups) and think we are better before God. Before God, all people are made in God’s image, deserving of respect and honor. With that said, all people also stand as sinners in the sight of God and are worthy to receive His love and redemption in Christ.
Third, instead of our love being drowned out by politics, American Christians must see the refugee crisis on the southern border as an opportunity to bring Christ to thousands of people who are desperately seeking a better life. In June, I met with a dear Mexican brother and he said that his church is sharing the Gospel and meeting the needs of many of the refugees as they pass by his local church in Mexico. Should this not be a time for the American church to step up to serve along the border to bring Christ to the fields that are white for harvest? Yet, Jesus says the consistent problem in the Church at large is that “the laborers are few” (Matt. 9:37). May I add that this refugee crisis is not just on the southern US border, but literally across the globe? Our sovereign God is moving whole nations into lands where the Gospel can be freely preached. Why would the American church not see the refugee crisis as an opportunity to bring Christ to unreached people groups?
Fourth, while I am not an expert in Latino culture and Spanish, I believe that every Christian is called to love people from other cultures, and part of this love is demonstrated in the process of learning about other cultures and their languages. A well known saying from the Apostle Paul is found in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 where he says, “I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them….To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” Essentially, Paul, following Jesus, chose to live an ‘others centric’ life. Paul wanted to identify with and understand the people he ministered among so that he could be Christ to them. The best and deepest conversations in life take place between two or more people who truly understand one another, such as a husband and a wife. Similarly, Christians must take time to understand others who are unlike them so that they may be Christ to them and intelligently insert the Gospel into the other persons life. Now, for me, I need to understand Latinos, but for a Latino Christian, this may mean understanding the white American suburban culture in Atlanta. The call for Christians across all nations is to understand other nations and cultures for the sake of the expansion of the Gospel for the glory of Jesus, the Son of the Living God.
TAKING LATINO CULTURE AS A TEST CASE: HOW CAN AN AMERICAN CHRISTIAN SEEK TO LOVE LATINOS BY LEARNING ABOUT THEIR CULTURE AND LANGAUGE?
Practically, what are things you can do as a Christian to better love the Latino community and people coming from other cultures?
First, it would be very helpful to learn the Spanish language or the language of the person you are seeking to minister to. Language communicates and teaches culture. When you understand a language, you understand why people do the things they do and why they say the things they say. Personally, I have been learning the Turkish language for ten years and I am still not an expert. With that said, over the last ten years my knowledge of Turkish culture has increased dramatically and I have learned to love the straight forward way Turks describe the life they experience through words, especially in their common sayings. In regards to Latinos, why not start learning Spanish through the help of your Spanish speaking friend or officially through a class? When you know the language, you open a new opportunity to bring Christ to others who speak that language who you meet along your life’s journey.
Second, take joy and be excited to learn about Latino people whether they are coming from Mexico, El Salvador, or Honduras. Studying culture is fun and will increase your appreciation and love for other people. Ask a lot of questions along the way. Be curious. For example, I wonder why piñatas are central to the party! This is not to say that you will appreciate everything about their culture, but the goal is to understand it as much as possible. When you better understand Latinos, or whoever God sends your way, you can better minister and bring Christ to that person.
Third, be okay with investing your life into others, particularly specific people groups like Latinos. The great missionary to the south sea cannibals, John Patton, has this advice for Christians:
“Plant down your forces in the heart of one Tribe or Race, where the same Language is spoken. Work solidly from that centre, building up with patient teaching and life-long care a Church that will endure. Rest not till every People and Language and Nation has such a Christ-centre throbbing in its midst, with the pulses of the New Life at full play. Rush not from Land to Land, from People to People, in a breathless and fruitiness Mission. Kindle not your lights so far apart, amid the millions of the wastes of Heathendom, that every lamp may be extinguished without any of the other knowing, and so leave the blackness of their Night blacker than ever.”
IN CONCLUSION
Though I am quite ignorant of Latino culture, I am not so ignorant to think that God has not been at work in many Latino cultures for a very long time. Countless missionaries and churches have preached the Gospel of Christ in many of these countries and there are many established churches. Even in my city here in NC, there are many solid, evangelical, Latino fellowships doing great things for Jesus among the many Latinos in our community. Yet, for some in the American church, it is time to separate our politics from our mission as Christians. Even if you believe in closed borders and vetted immigration, should this keep you from leading your church to the border yourself to serve the refugees? Should your politics keep you from laying down your life to love Latinos and others that are different, but who need Christ? Should politics keep us from learning other languages and cultures so that we may be able to better bring Christ to the people of other cultures?
It is time to lay aside politics and heed the words of Christ, the Apostle Paul, and the wisdom of John Patton by investing in one people group for the glory of God with the purpose of seeing the Gospel and the Church impact every sector of its society. For me, that is Turks and Kurds. Who will it be for you? Latinos? Muslims? Look around; who has our sovereign, nation moving God brought to your doorstep? If you have been made a new creation in Christ, regard the foreigner no longer according to the flesh, but through the new worldview of Jesus.
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