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Latino Pentecostals
| Table of Contents | |
| Introduction | |
| Universality and Difference | |
| Representation and Resistance | |
| Nationalism and Education | |
| Ethnicity and Race | |
| History and Place | |
| Feminism | |
| Production and Consumption | |
| Globalization, Environment & Religion | |
| Diaspora and Place | |
| Language, Body & Performance | |
| Conclusion |
Introduction
Racial Group: Latino/aDenomination/Tradition: Pentecostalism
Region: United States (particularly Southern California)
The Latino/a population in the United States grew from 22.4 million persons in 1990 to 37 million in 2003 and is now the largest minority group in America.
The numbers of Latino/as, and specifically Latino/a Pentecostals, in America flourishes. The community still finds itself in the state of “in between,” often subordinated to home missions and enduring matters of anti-intellectualism and misrepresentation. Even so, Latino/a Pentecostals overcome ideas of American universalism and find a place in Pentecostal churches where their Latino ethnicities, differences and histories are embraced. Despite displacement historically within the land, Latino/a Pentecostals continue to spread throughout all parts of the United States, bringing their expressions of worship with them.
Universality and Difference
DescriptionThe idea of universality is used as a strategy of imperial control (Ashcroft, 71) As may be implied, differences in characteristics of cultures are marginalized, if not outright ignored when applying universalism. The differences are namely those that exist between those who have power, those "people who are 'human,' who have a
legitimate history, who live in 'the world," and those who are powerless and seen as "different." Latino/a Pentecostals, according to Sanchez-Walsh, are "ambivalent" to their identity (Sanchez-Walsh, 1). Pentecostals tend to emphasize a relinquishing of any identity that may contradict a faith-based identity. The experiential nature of Pentecostalism transcends ethnic identities, and, therefore, Latino/a Pentecostals are "loosed from their moorings through a revitalized spiritual life." (Sanchez-Walsh, 1) As such Latino/a Pentecostals revere their ethnic identity by maintaining their language, planting and operating churches geared towards Latino/as, and teaching their youth and their history. Latino/a Pentecostals recognize that their ethnicity is a valuable tool in community-based evangelism (Sanchez-Walsh, 1) As Walsh asserts, many differences are evident even within the specific community of Latinos in the United States.
There is a clear struggle between the "Pentecostal identity" and Latino/a Catholic community. As such, the Latino/a Pentecostal community has, as Arlene Sanchez-Walsh describes, "become grafted onto the larger evangelical world and, within that world, have carved out separate social, cultural, and religious spheres for themselves where they should not be referred to as Catholic converts but as Latino[/a] Pentecostals. Latinos have been becoming Pentecostal for nearly one hundred years..." (Sanchez-Walsh, 3). As she continues to describe, we disallow Latino/a Pentecostals to identify themselves as a specific tradition when we infer their conversion.
Stories
Arlene Sanchez-Walsh describes the prevalence of Latino/a Pentecostal churches in communities like Caldwell, Idaho and the church, Templo de Bethel Pentecostal, explaining that in communities where one would not expect a non-White majority church do (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview). These churches spring up by those who would otherwise are clear minorities in a community, and refuse to relinquish their Latino/a identiy for their faith-based identity, or vice versa.
Arlene Sanchez-Walsh describes the prevalence of Latino/a Pentecostal churches in communities like Caldwell, Idaho and the church, Templo de Bethel Pentecostal, explaining that in communities where one would not expect a non-White majority church do (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview). These churches spring up by those who would otherwise are clear minorities in a community, and refuse to relinquish their Latino/a identiy for their faith-based identity, or vice versa.
Dreams
The ultimate dream for Latino/a Pentecostals here is that an breaking down of this White Pentecostal imperialism in the Latino/a community.
Representation and Resistance
Description
When cultures collide, and especially when one culture occupies a dominant position, it can give a representation of the ‘subordinate’ culture that may—or may not—be true. After all, as Winston Churchill said, “History is written by the victors.” And the dominant cultures in history have tended to be imperialist and colonial powers who have taken those voices indigenous to the lands they took. In response to this, as cultures have begun to be less oppressed, they have learned to speak out for themselves, to present their way of viewing and understanding history—resistance.
Resistance is (1) about “the insistence on the right to see the community’s history whole, coherently, integrally. Restore the imprisoned nation to itself;” (2) “far from being merely a reaction to imperialism, … an alternative way of conceiving human history;” (3) a noticeable pull away from separatist nationalism towards a more integrative view of human community and human liberation” (Edward Said, Orientalism, Eds. Ashcroft et al, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader: 97). Resistance involves working against what has been the normative way of understanding.
Stories
As one instance of (mis)representation of Latinos, Miguel A. De La Torre and Edward David Aponte give the example of Ricky Ricardo,
from the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy: “Although the character of Ricky Ricardo was Cuban, the dominant culture watching the show saw him as part of an overall homogeneous group, labeled in the popular imagination as ‘Hispanic.’” (De La Torre, Introducing Latino/a Theologies, 12) In one particular episode, Ricky’s Cuban heritage was haphazardly jumbled together with elements of other Hispanic cultures, leading to the observation that, “under the Euroamerican gaze all Hispanics are the same. Latinas/os are seen as one monolithic group with few differences existing between a Puerto Rican, a Brazilian, an Argentine, and a Chicano. However, contrary to this illusion, Hispanics are a mestizaje (racial mixture or combination of ethnicities), a mestizaje of races, a mestizaje of cultures, a mestizaje of kitchens, a dense stew of distinct flavors.” (De La Torre, 13)
Latinos, however, are beginning to find their voices. “Until recently, a Euroamerican male hand has written their history, defined their theology, and shaped their identity. Yet as Hispanics grow in number, they have begun to write their own stories, a process that consequently makes their perspectives subversive to the dominant theological discourse.” (De La Torre, 26) There is a distinct dearth of literature on Latino Pentecostals, but Arlene Sanchez Walsh's book Latino Pentecostal Identity is one such artifact, presenting a minority culture from the balanced perspective of one who is both at home in Latino Pentecostalism and yet not, speaking with a voice that belongs both to the Latino/a Pentecostal and to an observer looking on.
One misrepresentation that she notes is the idea that Latino Pentecostals have a monolithic conservative theology. She notes that this idea is not true, since the further one removes from first generation immigrants, the more assimilated the people are with culture. Communities that fail to adapt or understand the changes will often find their young people moving out of their churches.
Dreams
As mentioned, voices that represent Latino/a Pentecostals are slow to emerge, but are gradually emerging. It is hoped that this trend will continue as Hispanics continue to grow in number and Pentecostals seek to provide their own representation of an identity.
Nationalism and Education
Description
Nationalism (or the idea of ‘nation’) is summed up by Frantz Fanon as being “the whole body of efforts made by a people in the sphere of thought to describe, justify, and praise the action through which that people has created
itself and keeps itself in existence” (Ashcroft, 120). Increasingly in post-colonial societies, however, the concept of a national essence is being rejected for “the more refractory and syncretic complexes of ordinary experience as a way of approaching literary production.” (Ashcroft, 118) Naturally, this leads to a struggle between those traditionalists who maintain the notion of nation and the emerging generation who seek to expose it as a mere myth.
Education in the colonial and postcolonial sphere is more than just a process of systematic teaching. “Education, whether state or missionary, primary or secondary (and later tertiary) was a massive cannon in the artillery of empire.” (Ashcroft, 371) It could easily be used as a tool to enculturate people to a certain way of thinking; for example, teaching young Americans the concept of Manifest Destiny, thereby setting the foundations for a mindset that would allow displacement of the natives.
The Merger of Pentecostalism and Ethnic Minorities in America
Additionally we can see that Latino/a Pentecostalism mimics many of the responses to White Pentecostalism such as African American Pentecostalism has evoked. One can note, for example, speaking in tongues is a doctrinal belief in Latino/a Pentecostalism and African American Pentecostalism. The belief in Latino/a Pentecostalism portrays deep belief that if healing and the supernatural could happen in the Bible, it would still today. Like African American Pentecostalism, these churches are largely homogenous. But the descriptor “Latino/a” does not effectively define the Spanish-speaking population in America, as we must recall that in Latino/a Pentecostal churches there is certainly a variety of nationalities representing the Latino/a. As African American Pentecostal churches do, Latino/a Pentecostalism’s polity places great authority upon the pastor. In those Pentecostal churches coming under the auspices of White Protestant denominations (such as Assemblies of God), the disparity in authority between White and Latino/a churches and their pastors is even more apparent (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview).
Dreams
The dream for Latino/a Pentecostals is two-fold. On the one hand, the dream would be to strike a balance in unspoken war of power and authority within specific denominational lines. The challenge of not only learning to embrace and pride themselves upon the large diversity and thus hybridity of the denomination is not only hoped for, but also needed. To be able to identify this tradition as a celebration of the varying influences, rather than simply an American denomination for an ethnic minority is clearly pushing the Church forward in the right direction.
Ethnicity and Race
Description
Ethnicity is often defined as “otherness.” Food, music, language, holidays and even television programming can commonly distinguish Latino culture. Still within the Latino population in the U.S., though 64 percent of Latinos are from Mexico, another 22 Latino nationalities comprise segments of U.S. evangelical churches (Kennedy, 24). There are multiple labels used with the Latino/a community: Hispanic, Chicano/a, or Latino/a. People often reference ethnicity based simply on country of origin,l
such as Guatemalan, Ecuadorian or Argentinean. Though Latino/as have different origins, faiths and histories, they speak the same language, have similar Catholic roots and share the same story of conquest and colonization, and ultimately view one another as “familia” (Crespo, 28).
Race is the “most salient ethnic factor,” but is still only one of the larger cultural and historical phenomenons of ethnicity (Ashcroft, 193). Marked by physical characteristics where skin color clearly offers distinction between Blacks and Whites in America, the Latino/a population finds itself in between two worlds. Latino/as may have brown, black or white skin and dark, green or blue eyes (Solivan, 130). Often a Latino/a may only be recognized by tracking her/her Hispanic descent (Crespo, 30). As such, the diversity and sameness represented within the U.S. Latino community creates a kind of “neplanta racial-ethnic community of in-betweenness in American society” (Espinosa, 12). Latino/as commonly find ethnic identity in tracing heritage back to a Hispanic country of origin or by choosing to identify with a particular heritage, being open about ethnic roots as they learn and care about such heritage and identity (Crespo, 30).
A specific example is noted in Chicanos, as Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror describes, who have been able to maintain identity, language and culture due to proximity to homeland. The largest minority group in the Southwest are Chicanos, who are mestizos of Indian, African and Spanish ancestries. Takaki notes that Chicanos clearly have had a positive effect upon the "transforming [of] culture and society” (Takaki, 8). Latino/a Pentecostals in the U.S., especially within the Assemblies of God (AG), are finding churches that meet their ethnic needs. They find an inclusiveness that welcomes any Latino/a cultural and linguistic background. There is freedom to create a style of worship and activities in the language and forms that best suit them. A community exists that recognizes a need for people groups to interconnect and relate (Kennedy, 23).
Stories
Orlando Crespo, author and National Director of La Fe of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, relates his experience as a Puerto Rican American
growing up in Massachusetts in Being Latino in Christ: Finding Wholeness in Your Ethnic Identity. “…There is no Latino look. We are as multiracial as a people can get. For example, one of my great-great-grandmothers was Black…. Yet I am light skinned with deep-set eyes. Many Latinos I meet assume I am from the Middle East.” (Crespo, 29) When he was 7-year-old, his family moved into a predominately white neighborhood in Springfield, Mass. Crespo admits that “to survive such hatred of Puerto Ricans, [he] learned to live in two worlds as an adolescent.” At home he spoke Spanish, ate Puerto Rican food and participated in all the cultural events but when he stepped outside, he tried to assimilate himself as much as possible, even allowing classmates to assume that his light skin meant he was white. (Crespo,15)
Jesse Miranda, Jr., an executive presbyter with the AG, founder/director of the Hispanic Leadership Center at Vanguard University and commissioner of ethnicity for the AG, came to faith at age 5 after he witnessed the healing of his mother from double pneumonia following the prayer of a couple from a Pentecostal cell group.
People from the church later brought Christmas gifts for the children, something his parents could not afford. “These demonstrations of the power of God and the love of community defined my identity with Pentecostalism,” Miranda says. (Kennedy, 24) He grew up only a few blocks from the only Hispanic AG district office at the time and district officials would often visit his home. At 12, Miranda recalls questioning the officials about working with Anglos. “The wise men told me, ‘Listen, son, we are close to Springfield [Missouri, site of the AG headquarters] so we can learn from them and we are far enough to do our own thing.’ That contextualization of indigenous leadership has continued to allow the Assemblies of God to grow” (Kennedy, 24).
Dreams
Ethnicity is “otherness,” but often it is “others minus one,” ethnic groups minus the dominant group. The future depends on breaking that center/margin binarism. Ethnicity should be viewed as group consciousness, where even the dominant group views itself as one of the many. Samuel Solivan notes in his essay “A Hispanic/Latino Pentecostal Response” that the church does not need to be “colorblind,” to view all races and ethnicities as one. He argues that the church should give value to color and celebrate the God-designed diversity:
History and Place
Description
Westward expansion into the Southwest took shape in the mid-1700s. After the Mexican War in 1846-48, the United States incorporated the land of California, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona (Crespo, 147-153) into its borders, and Latinos of Mexican descent (also called Chicanos) suddenly found themselves foreigners in their native land, a part of Manifest Destiny. By 1849, the Anglo population in California reached 100,000, compared to only 13,000 Mexicans (Takaki, 178), and “as the American market expanded into the Southwest, it appropriated not only Mexican land but also Mexican labor" (Takaki, 184).
With the Great Depression, America began a repatriation program, sending about 400,000 Mexicans back across the border to Mexico to preserve the few remaining jobs for white workers. Even with repatriation, many Mexicans had difficulty knowing where one country began and the other ended; that, coupled with the fact that Mexicans had been in the land long before the Anglos, would see their continued emigration to the United States (Takaki).
Other segments of the Latino/a population gained entrance into the U.S. in the 20th century. In 1917 the U.S. Congress passed the Jones Act, making Puerto Ricans statutory citizens of the U.S. The island remained a colony though, and its citizens did not elect Congressional representation. In 1980, Fidel Castro allowed Cubans to leave Cuba via the Mariel Boatlift and 125,000 Cubans arrived in Florida (Crespo, 150-2). The incorporation of Puerto Ricans and Cubans into the U.S. population did not automatically give them a place in American society though.
Latino/a Pentecostals in the U.S. trace religious history back to the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906 and through much of the work of Francisco Olazabal (1886-1937). Born into a Catholic heritage, Olazabal journeyed north into California and in 1916 was converted to Pentecostal teaching of baptism in the Holy Spirit and divine healing. Olazabal contributed to the birth of at least 10 mainline Protestant and Pentecostal denominations by 1937 and converted tens of thousands of Latinos throughout the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico to the Pentecostal movement during his 30-year ministry (“El Azteca,” 598). His legacy also includes a voice that spoke against the racism of the Anglo-American Pentecostal church and a demonstration that Latino/a Pentecostals in North America have long held significant involvement and community with each other ("El Azteca," 614).
The history of a people is embedded in place, and place is an interaction of language, history and environment (Ashcroft, 346). Fifty percent of the U.S. Latino/a population is found in Texas and California, while North Dakota, Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas have seen a 50 percent increase in Latino/a population in recent years. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, of the 100 million people added to the national population in the last four decades, 36 million are Hispanic. Immigration and high birth rates are primary factors for this growth and 40 percent of the Latino/a population is foreign-born (Kennedy, 20). Immigrants encounter a sense of displacement in a new place and use language and environment to create a familiar reality. Latino/a newcomers are often already Christians and Spanish-speaking churches are outlets where these Latino immigrants find a new place in their new environments (Kennedy, 20).
Statistics show that among the country’s largest U.S. Pentecostal denominations, the ranks of Latino/a Christians are growing. Latino Pentecostals are finding a place in the U.S. The Assemblies of God (AG) has the largest Latino Pentecostal numbers with 367,857 members attending 1,918 Spanish-speaking churches. Since 1990, number of congregants has grown by 53 percent. The Church of God (COG) has 728 Latino churches with about 60,000 members. From 2000-2002, 45 percent of new churches were Latino/a. The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, based in Los Angeles, reports 180 Spanish-speaking congregations with a total membership of 10,000 (Johnson).
These Pentecostal denominations work with Latino/a Pentecostal leaders to create homogenous locations that have similar cultural values and language to give immigrants a place find family, an important aspect of the Latino/a community. The church can be that initial step for an immigrant to find employment and housing (Kennedy, 22). First-generation Latino/as move toward Spanish-speaking congregations as these churches give these newcomers time to blend in with other churchgoers (23). They are eager to join a church to integrate with community and culture. Latino/a congregations then find themselves growing by word-of-mouth and personal relationships with family, friends and co-workers as their place within the church solidifies, and here especially in the growing Latino/a Pentecostal movement.
Stories
Assemblies of God pastor Mabel Nieto moved to Perry, Iowa, in 1998 and began Spanish-speaking services for Hispanics in the basement of the English-speaking First Assembly of God. Within one year, Fuente de Vida Asamblea de Dios purchased its own building and has since grown larger than its 100-seat sanctuary. Nearly all the church’s attendees are connected to the town’s Tyson Foods plant, where 60 percent of the 1,100 employees are Hispanic. During the first couple years of Fuente de
Vida’s existence, many of the congregants returned home to Guatemala, El Salvador or Mexico during the winter (Kennedy, 19). Today more congregants are staying year-round and finding a welcome place in the congregation of Fuente de Vida.
Sal Sabino uses a cell group formula in his rapidly growing Latino/a Pentecostal church. Sabino founded Heavenly Vision Christian Center in the Bronx in 1990 with only eight members. Today the independent Pentecostal church has 1,200 members and is considered one of America’s 12 largest Hispanic churches (Johnson). Sabino emigrated from the Dominican Republic in 1970 and was saved in 1985 while in prison for drug dealing. After his release from prison, he started preaching on the street before moving to a Baptist church that had some space available. From there the church grew from cell group ministry and street evangelism. The church now has 300 home groups of six to 12 people in each that meet in apartments and houses in Bronx and Manhattan. “The cell-group ministry brings the church to the people. We are taking Jesus to the people,” says Sabino (Johnson).
Dreams
Immigration of Latino people into the U.S. is ever on the rise and is expected to continue. As immigration laws clamp down on employers regarding the legal status of workers, Latino congregations feel the effects. The church, even beyond the Latino Pentecostal church, must find the middle ground between abiding by the law and compassion for immigrants.
Feminism
Yet there are a number of ways in which women do resist their subordinate status in Latino Pentecostalism. The very nature of Pentecostalism bestows spiritual gifts and prophetic authority on men and women alike. Furthermore, as noted in Latino Pentecostal Identity, “Latinas, more often than not, convert first and become active church members quicker than men” (Sanchez-Walsh, 9). In this context, Latino Pentecostal women play a central role as transmitters of faith, acting as prophetic role models, primary spiritual mentors, and teachers of spiritual gifts to their children (Sanchez-Walsh, interview).
Additionally, Latina Pentecostal women find a number of ways to reform machista ideology through Latina feminism, which has a familial focus. Differing drastically from White feminism, which focuses on gaining authority, Latina feminists focus on their well-being – that is, how well they can raise their family, keep their children safe, combat sexual violence, and take control of their families both materially and spiritually (Sanchez-Walsh, interview). In this light, male conversion to Latino Pentecostalism can itself achieve these Latina feminist objectives as men “begin to take an active role in the family; they refrain from being violent, they stop drinking, and they stop frequenting prostitutes” (Sanchez-Walsh, 123).
Finally, although women are limited in their pastoral leadership in Latino/a Pentecostal churches, they do play critical leadership roles in certain contexts. Generally, when women are found in leadership positions in Latino Pentecostal churches, they have reached these positions by accident, for example, by inheriting churches if their husbands pass away. But female pastors are also found in smaller churches, especially in remote geographic areas, or in specialized ministries, such as churches for the deaf (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview).
Stories
Production and Consumption
Description
It is always hazardous to generalize. That being said, the Latino Pentecostals in the United States today are made of a large proportion or recent immigrants. Many, still struggling with mastery of the English language, cannot find employment above a blue-color level. A precious few have been able to attend college before or after immigrating and are consequently able to find employment in “corporate America.” Regardless of the level of employment, the vast majority of Latino’s are sending large portions of their earnings back to family in their country of origin a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
Stories
One thing that Latino Pentecostals, like many of their counterparts in other churches, love to produce is new churches. Such is the story of Buen Samaritano, which is a close affiliate “one of the largest and oldest Pentecostal groups, a denomination founded at the turn of the century
that now has over 9 million members worldwide” (Lorentzen, 58). It is part of a region of churches that includes the area of “Nevada, California, Arizona, and Oregon and contains over 200 Hispanic churches, 20 in the San Francisco Bay Area alone” (Ibid). Instead of competing for members as many in similar situations would, these churches all have a close bond which allows them to cooperate and work together for the greater good instead of playing the numbers game and competing for resources. If any generalities can be made, it can be said that such patterns of cooperation and a feeling of mutual responsibility are common among Pentecostal congregations. This can likely be attributed to the feeling of group belonging that stems from the need to pull together due to an (on-average) economic marginalization and weaker political prowess. The congregation’s breakdown is almost entirely immigrants at 90%, the majority of whom have come to the United States in the past 15 years. “…most would be considered low-to middle working-class” and “women work as housekeepers, nannies, and sometimes teachers” while the men labor as “cooks, dishwashers, gardeners, and day laborers” (Ibid).
Dreams
The church is not shy about using the “language of migration and displacement in its religious symbolism and theology” (Lorentzen, 60). Pastor Manuel’s rhetoric is commonplace in Latino Pentecostal congregations: “God has brought you her for a reason. God has brought you miles away because you could not accept God in your country. You could not leave that life you were living” (Ibid). So it is that Latino Pentecostals dream of a “better life.” Having been oppressed in their home country and now struggling from the inability to accomplish many things they desire in a new one, they long for God’s Divine assistance in lifting them up to a place where they will be able to overcome. At Buen Samaritano, this means that “Testimonies, prayers, Bible readings, and preaching all reflect the theme of struggle—particularly struggle faced by uprooted peoples in a new land” (Ibid). The dreams at Buen Samaritano are summed up in three main categories: 1. “La vida cotidiana”—people desire that God would come to their aid in their concern over issues such as “employment, immigration status, housing, crime, drugs, and gangs” (Lorentzen, 62). 2. The God would be Sovereign and exercise His dominion and control over life in their homelands and that He would be with their families there, esp. in their absence. And 3. Heaven: there is a strong eschatological bent in the Latino Pentecostal tradition writ large and esp. at Buen Samaritano.
Globalization, Environment & Religion
Description
“Nearly one-quarter of U.S. Latinos call themselves Protestants, and most of them are Pentecostals” (Lorentzen, 59). “Globalization” is one of the commonly heard explanations for the rapid growth of Pentecostalism worldwide. But, at the same time, it is concurrently attributed to such things as “anomie in the face of rapid social change, class differences with attendant alienation, failed modernization, personal uprooting, [and] economic marginalization” (Lorentzen, 59). Latino's have what is quite possibly the strongest legacy of immigration of any ethnic group. Due to the proximity of Latin America to the United States and it being a contiguous land mass, the idea of uprooting from their histrical cultural identity and relocating to another society is more readily acceptable in Latino Culture than many others (Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 425). With the commonality of widspread relocation, the Latino breed of Pentecostalism tends to spread more quickly and with far greater ease than others.
Depending on whom you ask, you will get a different story as to how and where Pentecostalism began. Some people will tell you that it began with a white minister named Charles F. Parkham in the Assemblies of God church. Many others will tell you that it was the African-American pastor
William Joseph Seymour (Lorentzen , 58). Regardless of who founded it, it is generally agreed that the Azusa street revivals in the early 1900’s gave Pentecostalism a “third-world flavor” (Lorentezen, :58). Pentecostalism began to attract Lation converts from the very beginning, such as “Juan Lugo, Francisco Olazabal, Antnoio Nava, and others [who] became influential in its spread” (Lorentzen, 58).
Pentecostalism has been rapidly expanding in Latin America in recent years. André Corten has termed it “the most important religious transnationalism of the twentieth century” (Lorentzen, 58). Despite the economic recession and other disastrous problems that Americans believe they suffer from, the United States continues to be an alluring beacon of hope for immigrants from around the world. So it is that thousands of Latino Pentecostals pour into the United States every day. But just as with any other movement and any other “globalization,” we must use caution before making sweeping generalizations. “The global trend of Pentecostal expansion…like all processes of globalization…should be studied in its local manifestations” (Lorentzen, 58).
Stories
Pentecostalism spread quickly among the Latino population from the very beginning. One story in particular has stood out in our reading. Antonio Nava was a young Pentecostal pastor in Mexico in the 1920’s. In 1927, he was “reaffirmed in the 1927 U.S. convention as Anciano Ejectivo” (Ramirez 1999:575). Despite this honor, he “returned to his homeleand in early 1928 to proselytize his ailing parents” (Ibid). While he was spending time with his parents, he did a bit of unintentional networking. He ran into and formed friendships “with the emerging leader of the Apostolic church in Torreon, Filipe Rivas, and with others in Monterrey, Tampico and other northern cities” (Ibid). Nava’s friendship with Rivas strengthened both men who, like spiritual magnets, pulled others into the fold. They laid hands on and prayed for Eusebio Jouaqin Gonzalez, who would go on to become the famous pastor of La Luz del Mundo, Light of the World Church, In Guadalajara.
From Sugirtharajah, Voices From the Margin: The Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) – biblical studies for congregations to develop open attitude toward other manifestations of faith
Popular reading of the Bible has been Latin America’s most significant contribution to Christian hermeneutics – discern present times, struggle for life with dignity and strengthen the hope that death can be change because God of the Bible is a God of justice, love and peace in solidarity with the poor (19-20). Reading and interpreting the Bible through this lens is about the dispossessed and the weak.
From Rios/Alvarez article: In the Latino AG, second and third generation Latino/a Pentecostals call themselves "EvangEmerge" - a mix of Evangelicals and Emergers, or "Progressive Pentecostals." They seek to change the community through more "advocacy, policy analysis or engaging politicians in forums." Younger Latino/a Pentecostals don't accept injustice with patience just a better world is expected (like many Pentecostals who think evangelism is the key to finishing out this world for the next).
Leadership is undefined. You have to be sanctioned as a leader in the denomination. A current leader gives you a title (this is pretty true across the board in AG churches). But then the role of the leader isn't defined - you don't know what responsibilities are yours.
In 2004, the AG started its "Vision of Transformation" by encouraging the formation of new types of churches that were community-focused and the encouraged the use of the arts to preach (and how is that going?). Personal salvation can still overshadow a holistic gospel or Christian response to global crisis. The authors of this article don't know if there is a place for emergent Latino churches within the AG denomination.
Dreams
The big dream of Latino Pentecostals has been, from the beginning, liberation. Liberation from the structures that oppress them. From political structures in which they do not have a voice to societal structures that deem them something less than full citizens. This makes sense when one understands that at the root of Latino Pentecostalism in the United States was a miraculous healing. The Azusa Street revivals in the first part of the 1900’s “insured a spill-over effect into the continuous ‘Sonoratown,’ a section north of downtown Los Angeles populated by Mexicans and Mexican Americans” (Ramirez, 574). As part of these events, a German woman was preaching in Spanish when an Indian woman from central Mexico who was suffering from consumption had her hands miraculously healed (Ramirez, 574).Diaspora and Place
Description
Pentecostalism grew out of the many Holiness traditions of the early 20th century in Los Angeles, Ca. "The California beginnings of and the multiracial character of this earliest Pentecostalism attracted Latino converts, not only Mexican Americans, as might be expected, but also Puerto Ricans, some of whom had traveled as far as Hawaii in search of work after the U.S. invasion had reduced the island's agricultural production to sugar and almost nothing else." (Diaz-Stevens, 113) Two Latino men in particular, Juan L. Lugo and Francisco Olazabal, were responsible for the spread of Latino Pentecostalism in Texas, California and Puerto Rico. Latino/a Pentecostalism also thrived further south in places like San Diego, as a result of many rejecting Catholicism. (Diaz-Stevens, 113) "...Pentecostalism’s spread is upending
Christianity’s historical tendency to emanate from power centers in the more developed world—mostly in the Global North. 'The Pentecostal missionary drive has been much more from below: from unstable, fragile, vulnerable congregations made of working-class or lower-than-working-class people doing missionary work across the globe, and moving from south to north'" (Wallace, Latino).
"Thirty years ago, about 90 percent of Latinos in the United States were Catholic, sociologists estimate. Today that number is about 70 percent, and it remains steady only because of high birth rates and new immigrants filling the pews. Most other Latino Americans -- 9.5 million of them -- are Protestant, usually Pentecostal or another Evangelical denomination. Their numbers are fed by the conversion of second- and third-generation immigrants, whose families become more likely to convert the longer they are in the United States" (Geis, Latino Catholics). "For similar reasons, many Latinos in cities across the country, traditionally Catholics, have been converting. In New York City, for instance, there are at least 2,000 Pentecostal churches whose congregations are predominantly Latino. The conversions of large numbers from Catholicism, also occurring throughout Latin America, started about 15 years ago and has been causing concern among Catholic leaders, who have relied on Latino immigrants to replenish the declining numbers of parishioners in the United States" (Robertson, Pentecostalism Luring ).
Stories
With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Pentecostal movement exploded in the Southwest. Exert from missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Troyer in Southern California:
"As we traveled back and forth over California in our work of opening new fields...there were several hundreds of houses clustered in a little spot, and we knew they were Mexican homes. We longed to have the opportunity to enter this field and teach these people to walk with God. We knew by experience that their hearts, too, were hungry for the message of Christ that is found in the New Testament" (Cortes, 38). Mr. and Mrs. Troyer then attempted to find the owner of these houses and the work those who lived in the houses performed. After doing so, the Troyer's "...wanted permission to go there and use the buildings and do anything that the Lord laid upon [their] hearts that [they] might serve that people" (Cortes, 42). With much resistance, the man in charge agreed with the Troyer's plea, and allowed them to speak with the people they were so eager to meet on behalf of the Lord.
As Otto Maduro, a professor of World Christianity, explains... “For many Pentecostal congregations, the van is the main way the pastor has to gather the congregation, hold a service and then bring them back to their homes...Maduro has been studying Newark’s Latino Pentecostal community for nearly a decade, charting the ebb and flow of individual congregations, watching churches spring up and relocate and collecting oral histories from church members and leaders. And he has ridden in Pentecostal vans on more than one occasion. He describes one such trip that began at 5 p.m., when the pastor picked up the first passenger, and continued on through nearby Linden and Elizabeth, with passengers alternately singing coritos—the hymns of Latino/a Pentecostals—and filling each other in on what had happened that day. Two hours later, the van arrived at their church on Central Avenue in Newark to begin what would end up being a five-hour service. The van finally came to rest in front of the pastor’s house at 2 a.m. the following morning.
This service on wheels—and the willingness to minister to people wherever they are—does a lot to explain why Pentecostalism has spread rapidly in Newark. With the help of several fellow researchers, Maduro has hit the pavement, taking a walking census of Latino Pentecostal churches across the city, most of which are concentrated in the city’s North Ward. A survey he did in 2007 found about 75 Latino Pentecostal congregations, an increase of about 50 percent over an earlier census he took in 2001. Maduro estimates that about 2,000 of approximately 83,000 Latinos in the city worship in Pentecostal churches in Newark every day, with most congregations ranging in size from 20 to 40 people" (Wallace, The Latino).
Dreams
The future spread of Latino Pentecostalism seems nearly endless in America, as more and more Catholic Latinos convert, however, "...while many first-generation Hispanics are eager to attend church as a means of integrating into the community and culture, that isn't always the case for second-and third- generation Latinos. By then, many have learned English, graduated from college and attained high paying professional jobs" (Kennedy, Embracing). As a result, "a booming Latino population means the ethnic group is gaining clout throughout American society...and with Cuba and Venezuela [in particular] anchoring an increasingly socialist Latin America...arrivals into the United States [will continue] to accelerate." (Kennedy, Embracing). According to Jesse Miranda Jr., founder and director of the Hispanic Leadership Center in Costa Mesa, California, 'the Assemblies of God [a Pentecostal denomination] is in the best position in its history because of the opportunities to win a huge population. The investment, [Miranda claims] will surely pay dividends in the future of the kingdom of God" (Kennedy, Embracing).
Language, Body & Performance
Description
"Spanish speaking Catholics brought Christianity to the Americas..." (Diaz-Stevens, 9) Among the differing Latino communities, that is of those of Latin American or Puerto Rican descent, there can in fact be differences in the way different Spanish words are used. (Diaz-Stevens 11) As for body and performance, Latino Pentecostals rejected the traditions and worship styles of their Catholic counterparts. "Instead of practicing a home-based religion, Pentecostals transferred almost all their worship to the storefront templos that housed the congregations. Often the converts knew no cultural idiom other than the Mexican American or the Puerto Rican, so the first hymnals feature traditional forms of the polka, the mazurka and the like. (Diaz-Stevens, 114) As the 20th century progressed, however, a strong bias towards Americanization in these congregations ensued. Other denominations of non-Latino Pentecostals emerged under the headings of "the Churches of God, [and] Foursquare Pentecostalism." (Diaz-Stevens, 114) "Many of the unique characteristics of Pentecostal services—among them spontaneous prayer, speaking in tongues, ecstatic collapse and long, improvised sermons—are manifestations of this belief. ...Rather than being a new stage in Christianity’s evolution, adherents feel that Pentecostalism is a return to an earlier form of the religion. 'It’s a reconstruction of Christianity in a simplified way—a way that is seen as more faithful to the spirit of early Christianity'" (Wallace, Latino).
Stories
“'As soon as I started visiting Pentecostal churches in Newark, the question became: ‘Why don’t more people do this?’” [a current attender] says. 'These churches were much more agreeable, congenial, welcoming to Hispanics than most of the other Christian churches—Roman Catholic or mainstream Protestant. They had a warmer atmosphere where people felt at home.” One reason was that the pastors in these churches were from the same neighborhoods and socioeconomic backgrounds as the congregants, making them easier to approach and relate to. "...Research has found that all Pentecostal services in Spanish in Newark are led by Latinos, while many Catholic Spanish-language services are not" (Wallace, Latino).
Maduro, [Professor of Theology at Drew University] also saw something quintessentially Latino in the Pentecostal services he observed. 'In many cultures in Latin America there is a much more open attitude toward public expression of a wide range of emotions than is customary in white, middle-class
America,' Maduro says. For newly arrived immigrants who find themselves in a new social context with different accepted norms, the church becomes one of the few places where they feel free to laugh and cry and shout and sing. This emotional expressiveness is evident at many points during a Pentecostal service: in the tears that often accompany the spontaneous prayers of congregants as the service gets underway; in the impassioned testimonials of being saved by God from drugs, alcohol or depression that members stand and share with the congregation; in the exuberant spirit thrown into the singing of each corito." (Wallace, Latino).
"The Rev. Luciano Padilla Jr., a Pentecostal evangelist who had gathered his flock at the bilingual church largely from Latino Catholic converts, swayed in the pulpit with his arms outstretched and issued a call for 'new believers.' 'Now that the waters have been moved and stirred, this is a wonderful opportunity to come into a relationship with Jesus," said Padilla, his words sending Wilma Bermadez, a first-time visitor and lifelong Catholic, trembling with emotion into the center aisle to convert. The spontaneity and fervor in the Bay Ridge church draws Latino Pentecostal congregants who embrace a style of worship far different from the repetitive, ritualistic Mass they left behind in Roman Catholic parishes in East Harlem, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Ecuador. They also say they have been attracted by a greater sense of community in the Pentecostal church, a strict code of conduct that frowns on alcohol and drug use, and by more opportunity to worship in Spanish." (Robertson, Pentecostalism Luring).
Dreams
The future of the language, body and performance aspects of Latino/a Pentecostalism seem very much so tied with that of the diaspora of the tradition. As new immigrants move into the United States, this particular style of Pentecostal worship will continue. Despite the increase in immigration as discussed in the previous section, more and more Latino Pentecostals see the Americanization of their congregations as a threat to their distinct communities of worship. The Latino/a Pentecostal tradition must find a way to adapt to these new challenges in order to continue to reach the next generations of "Americanized" adherents.
Current research reveals a pattern in population growth of Latino/as in the United States. Should such a trend continue, the number of Latino/a persons in the United States, and Latino/a Pentecostals, will only increase. First generation Latino/as and immigrants find a place with the Pentecostal church to express their religous and ethnic histories. Third and fourth generation Latino/a Pentecostals are now moving toward outside para-church organizations to express their convictions on social and political concerns. Such a movement outside the Pentecostal community gives the Latino/a presence in both the Pentecostal tradition and in America strong potential for a greater voice in the future.
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References
Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, eds. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2006.
Cortes, Carols E., ed. Protestantism and Latinos in the United States. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
Crespo, Orlando. Being a Latino in Christ: Finding Wholeness in Your Ethnic Identity. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.
De La Torre, Miguel A., and Edwin David Aponte. Introducing Latino/a Theologies. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001.
Diaz-Stevens, Ana Maria and Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo. Recognizing the Latino Resurgence in U.S. Religion: The Emmaus Paradigm. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998.
Espinosa, Gaston, Virgilio Elizondo, and Jesse Miranda. "Hispanic Churches in American Public Life: Summary of Findings." Interim Reports. Vol. 2003.2, 2nd ed., March 2003.
Espinosa, Gaston, Virgilio Elizondo and Jesse Miranda (eds.). Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005.
Geis, Sonya. Latino Catholics Increasingly Drawn To Pentecostalism. Washington Post, April 30, 2006, A03. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/29/AR2006042901027.html).
Johnson, Peter K. “The Latinos Are Coming.” Charisma Magazine. December 1, 2008. (http://www.charismamag.com/articles/index.php?id=7228)
Kennedy, John W. "Embracing Pentecostalism." Today's Pentecostal Evangel. March 18, 2007. (www.tpe.ag.org)
Lorentzen, Lois Ann, and Rosalina Mira. “El milagro Esta en Casa: Gender and Private/Public Empowerment in a Migrant Pentecostal Church.” Latin American Perspectives 32, no.1 (2005): 57-71.
Phillips, Gary M. "Latino Pentecostal Church Visit." Personal Interview. November 23, 2008.
Robertson, Tatsha. Pentecostalism Luring Away Latino Catholics. The Boston Globe, April 15, 2005. (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/04/15/pentecostalism_luring_away_latino_catholics/).
Sanchez-Walsh, Arlene M. Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self, and Society. Columbia University Press, 2003.
Sanchez-Walsh, Arlene M. "Latino Pentecostalism in America" Personal Interview. November 13, 2008.
Solivan, Samuel. "A Hispanic/Latino Pentecostal Response." Pneuma 18, no 1 (1996): 128-132.ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost(accessed November 11, 2008
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror. New York: Back Bay Books, 1993.
Wacker, Grant. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
Wallace, Bruce. The Latino Pentecostals. Drew University: New Jersey, 2008. (http://www.drew.edu/magazine/2008/thelatinopentecostals.htm).
The ultimate dream for Latino/a Pentecostals here is that an breaking down of this White Pentecostal imperialism in the Latino/a community.
Representation and Resistance
DescriptionWhen cultures collide, and especially when one culture occupies a dominant position, it can give a representation of the ‘subordinate’ culture that may—or may not—be true. After all, as Winston Churchill said, “History is written by the victors.” And the dominant cultures in history have tended to be imperialist and colonial powers who have taken those voices indigenous to the lands they took. In response to this, as cultures have begun to be less oppressed, they have learned to speak out for themselves, to present their way of viewing and understanding history—resistance.
Resistance is (1) about “the insistence on the right to see the community’s history whole, coherently, integrally. Restore the imprisoned nation to itself;” (2) “far from being merely a reaction to imperialism, … an alternative way of conceiving human history;” (3) a noticeable pull away from separatist nationalism towards a more integrative view of human community and human liberation” (Edward Said, Orientalism, Eds. Ashcroft et al, The Post-Colonial Studies Reader: 97). Resistance involves working against what has been the normative way of understanding.Stories
As one instance of (mis)representation of Latinos, Miguel A. De La Torre and Edward David Aponte give the example of Ricky Ricardo,
from the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy: “Although the character of Ricky Ricardo was Cuban, the dominant culture watching the show saw him as part of an overall homogeneous group, labeled in the popular imagination as ‘Hispanic.’” (De La Torre, Introducing Latino/a Theologies, 12) In one particular episode, Ricky’s Cuban heritage was haphazardly jumbled together with elements of other Hispanic cultures, leading to the observation that, “under the Euroamerican gaze all Hispanics are the same. Latinas/os are seen as one monolithic group with few differences existing between a Puerto Rican, a Brazilian, an Argentine, and a Chicano. However, contrary to this illusion, Hispanics are a mestizaje (racial mixture or combination of ethnicities), a mestizaje of races, a mestizaje of cultures, a mestizaje of kitchens, a dense stew of distinct flavors.” (De La Torre, 13)Latinos, however, are beginning to find their voices. “Until recently, a Euroamerican male hand has written their history, defined their theology, and shaped their identity. Yet as Hispanics grow in number, they have begun to write their own stories, a process that consequently makes their perspectives subversive to the dominant theological discourse.” (De La Torre, 26) There is a distinct dearth of literature on Latino Pentecostals, but Arlene Sanchez Walsh's book Latino Pentecostal Identity is one such artifact, presenting a minority culture from the balanced perspective of one who is both at home in Latino Pentecostalism and yet not, speaking with a voice that belongs both to the Latino/a Pentecostal and to an observer looking on.
One misrepresentation that she notes is the idea that Latino Pentecostals have a monolithic conservative theology. She notes that this idea is not true, since the further one removes from first generation immigrants, the more assimilated the people are with culture. Communities that fail to adapt or understand the changes will often find their young people moving out of their churches.
Dreams
As mentioned, voices that represent Latino/a Pentecostals are slow to emerge, but are gradually emerging. It is hoped that this trend will continue as Hispanics continue to grow in number and Pentecostals seek to provide their own representation of an identity.
Nationalism and Education
DescriptionNationalism (or the idea of ‘nation’) is summed up by Frantz Fanon as being “the whole body of efforts made by a people in the sphere of thought to describe, justify, and praise the action through which that people has created
itself and keeps itself in existence” (Ashcroft, 120). Increasingly in post-colonial societies, however, the concept of a national essence is being rejected for “the more refractory and syncretic complexes of ordinary experience as a way of approaching literary production.” (Ashcroft, 118) Naturally, this leads to a struggle between those traditionalists who maintain the notion of nation and the emerging generation who seek to expose it as a mere myth.Education in the colonial and postcolonial sphere is more than just a process of systematic teaching. “Education, whether state or missionary, primary or secondary (and later tertiary) was a massive cannon in the artillery of empire.” (Ashcroft, 371) It could easily be used as a tool to enculturate people to a certain way of thinking; for example, teaching young Americans the concept of Manifest Destiny, thereby setting the foundations for a mindset that would allow displacement of the natives.
Stories
Observing the history of Pentecostalism in America, Grant Wacker notes that, in general, Pentecostals were like other Christians in their struggle to differentiate faith and country: “It would be unfair to say that early Pentecostals were Americans first and Christians second, but it would be inaccurate to say that they were Christians first and Americans second.” (Wacker, 239) Just like other Christians, Pentecostals struggled with distinguishing between love of God and love of country.
Latino/a Pentecostals also face a dual challenge regarding education. According to the Census Bureau, more than 51% of Hispanics drop out of high school compared to 78% of non-Hispanics who graduate. “Dilapidated school buildings and insufficient budgets for books contribute to this rate of attrition. In fact, even before the Latina/o child attends her or his first day of school, she or he is often culturally predestined to fail. For most, college is unattainable; fewer than 10 percent expect to graduate, and only half of the 4 percent of all Hispanics who enter graduate school finish.” (de la Torre, 55) Historically these deficits have roots in language barriers as well as racial prejudice.
Coupled with these barriers is the fact that Pentecostalism in general has a deep-seated anti-intellectualism, largely because of its theological emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit: “Pentecostals placed all their spiritual hopes on what the Holy Spirit did.” (Sanchez Walsh, 5) At the turn of the twentieth century, Pentecostalism shocked Protestant America with its anti-intellectual and antirational nature. Arlene M. Sanchez Walsh recounts a line that a friend overheard at a Pentecostal leaders’ meeting: “what we want is people filled with the Spirit, not people with PhD’s.” (Sanchez-Walsh, 192)
This combination of an anti-intellectual Pentecostalism and a lack of educational opportunities for Latino/as sets Latino/a Pentecostals in the unique and vicious cycle. Wacker notes, however that Pentecostals did not denigrate education, per se, but “esteemed education of the right kind.” (Wacker, 144) According to Arlene Sanchez Walsh, Latino/a Pentecostalism has many Bible institutes and local intraschool Bible institutes, but no institutes of theological education.
Dreams
As Ronald Takaki writes, it is vital that we hear from the different perspectives that make up American history, because “multiculturalism has an intellectual purpose. By allowing us to see events from viewpoints of different groups, a multicultural curriculum enables us to reach toward a more comprehensive understanding of American history.” (Takaki, A Different Mirror, 4) And it is vital that we do the same today. One can hope that Latino/a Pentecostals will increasingly contribute to the multicultural education of America and to a broader perspective on American history.
Hybridity and Indigeneity
Description
Observing the history of Pentecostalism in America, Grant Wacker notes that, in general, Pentecostals were like other Christians in their struggle to differentiate faith and country: “It would be unfair to say that early Pentecostals were Americans first and Christians second, but it would be inaccurate to say that they were Christians first and Americans second.” (Wacker, 239) Just like other Christians, Pentecostals struggled with distinguishing between love of God and love of country.For Latino/a Pentecostals, the issue is slightly more complicated. One of the challenges they face is the concept of Manifest Destiny, which holds that what became the United States was divinely given to the Europeans who settled the lands; the destiny of these settlers was to claim the land “as a new promised land for a new chosen people.” (de la Torre, 39) This situation was compounded after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, in which the Mexican government was strong-armed into accepting an unfavorable deal—ceding California, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, Utah to America—the Mexicans, like the Native Americans, became foreigners in their own land.
Consequently the dilemma is that although some Latino/a Americans (including Pentecostals) are seen as foreigners by the dominant culture, they are actually occupying their ancestral lands.
Latino/a Pentecostals also face a dual challenge regarding education. According to the Census Bureau, more than 51% of Hispanics drop out of high school compared to 78% of non-Hispanics who graduate. “Dilapidated school buildings and insufficient budgets for books contribute to this rate of attrition. In fact, even before the Latina/o child attends her or his first day of school, she or he is often culturally predestined to fail. For most, college is unattainable; fewer than 10 percent expect to graduate, and only half of the 4 percent of all Hispanics who enter graduate school finish.” (de la Torre, 55) Historically these deficits have roots in language barriers as well as racial prejudice.
Coupled with these barriers is the fact that Pentecostalism in general has a deep-seated anti-intellectualism, largely because of its theological emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit: “Pentecostals placed all their spiritual hopes on what the Holy Spirit did.” (Sanchez Walsh, 5) At the turn of the twentieth century, Pentecostalism shocked Protestant America with its anti-intellectual and antirational nature. Arlene M. Sanchez Walsh recounts a line that a friend overheard at a Pentecostal leaders’ meeting: “what we want is people filled with the Spirit, not people with PhD’s.” (Sanchez-Walsh, 192)
This combination of an anti-intellectual Pentecostalism and a lack of educational opportunities for Latino/as sets Latino/a Pentecostals in the unique and vicious cycle. Wacker notes, however that Pentecostals did not denigrate education, per se, but “esteemed education of the right kind.” (Wacker, 144) According to Arlene Sanchez Walsh, Latino/a Pentecostalism has many Bible institutes and local intraschool Bible institutes, but no institutes of theological education.
Dreams
As Ronald Takaki writes, it is vital that we hear from the different perspectives that make up American history, because “multiculturalism has an intellectual purpose. By allowing us to see events from viewpoints of different groups, a multicultural curriculum enables us to reach toward a more comprehensive understanding of American history.” (Takaki, A Different Mirror, 4) And it is vital that we do the same today. One can hope that Latino/a Pentecostals will increasingly contribute to the multicultural education of America and to a broader perspective on American history.
Hybridity and Indigeneity
DescriptionHybridity in Latino/a Pentecostalism must be directed towards geographical, ethnic, and religious integrations. To deny that this community is an enmeshment of histories would be denying this obvious melting pot that is America and its religious landscape. As noted above, while the traditional Latino/a religious tradition has been Roman Catholicism, Latino/as in America have learned to balance both the institutional religion (Catholicism) with the religion of the people 
(folk religion, belief in the miraculous) (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview). Arlene Sanchez-Walsh also notes that this infusion of the Spirit into the Latino/a were not only from Catholicism, but other mainline denominations like Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists, often found in southern California. These denominations left little room for membership post-spirit baptism (Sanchez-Walsh, 37-8).
The Role of the Supernatural
(folk religion, belief in the miraculous) (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview). Arlene Sanchez-Walsh also notes that this infusion of the Spirit into the Latino/a were not only from Catholicism, but other mainline denominations like Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists, often found in southern California. These denominations left little room for membership post-spirit baptism (Sanchez-Walsh, 37-8).The Role of the Supernatural
This balance between religious folk belief and institution developed out of and through various objects, such as saints, the Virgin Mary, rosaries, and pilgrimages as ways to seek the divine healing and the miraculous. The use of music, the structure of worship and the laying on of hands are also used to usher in the supernatural. (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview) As American Protestant Pentecostalism has merged with the Latino/a tradition, the power of the miraculous has been infused from this folkloric religion; White Pentecostalism did not bring charismatic influence to the Latino/a church so much as these folk practices.
The Merger of Pentecostalism and Ethnic Minorities in America
Additionally we can see that Latino/a Pentecostalism mimics many of the responses to White Pentecostalism such as African American Pentecostalism has evoked. One can note, for example, speaking in tongues is a doctrinal belief in Latino/a Pentecostalism and African American Pentecostalism. The belief in Latino/a Pentecostalism portrays deep belief that if healing and the supernatural could happen in the Bible, it would still today. Like African American Pentecostalism, these churches are largely homogenous. But the descriptor “Latino/a” does not effectively define the Spanish-speaking population in America, as we must recall that in Latino/a Pentecostal churches there is certainly a variety of nationalities representing the Latino/a. As African American Pentecostal churches do, Latino/a Pentecostalism’s polity places great authority upon the pastor. In those Pentecostal churches coming under the auspices of White Protestant denominations (such as Assemblies of God), the disparity in authority between White and Latino/a churches and their pastors is even more apparent (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview).
Stories
At a local Assemblies of God church in El Monte, Ca., we see this vast struggle with hierarchy and polity in the Latino/a Pentecostal churches. Calvary Assembly of God has a senior pastor, Dr. Gary L. Phillips, known through the AG denomination for this knowledge on the prophetic gifts of the supernatural. Phillips
acknowledges that while he is a white pastor and has a congregation in a largely Latino community, he does not himself define the church as Latino Pentecostal. Through his gift of prophecy, Phillips offers words to the church on their website in a section entitled "The Voice of the Prophet."
The irony that Phillips is one of two white pastors on staff (his wife as the other) while the remainder of the staff is Latino/a. As a church service was just about to begin, visitors heard the tunes to "La Bamba" playing and a parishioner noted that every holiday seasons, Feliz Navidad is another favorite. Tamales and enchiladas are used as fundraising opportunities. Yet all musical and spoken worship was in English during the service. Yet when we add in the acknowledge of the role of the prophetic in this church, there is no denying this hybridization of religious folk traditions with the institution of the Assemblies of God.
The apparent unwillingness of the pastor to acknowledge that the indigenous community at the church speaks to a greater issue of hierarchy and polity that Sanchez-Walsh notes. It seems that this institution is afraid or unwilliing to acknowledge this is not a typical White Assemblies of God church, but one with a high percentage of Latino/a parishioners.
At a local Assemblies of God church in El Monte, Ca., we see this vast struggle with hierarchy and polity in the Latino/a Pentecostal churches. Calvary Assembly of God has a senior pastor, Dr. Gary L. Phillips, known through the AG denomination for this knowledge on the prophetic gifts of the supernatural. Phillips
acknowledges that while he is a white pastor and has a congregation in a largely Latino community, he does not himself define the church as Latino Pentecostal. Through his gift of prophecy, Phillips offers words to the church on their website in a section entitled "The Voice of the Prophet." The irony that Phillips is one of two white pastors on staff (his wife as the other) while the remainder of the staff is Latino/a. As a church service was just about to begin, visitors heard the tunes to "La Bamba" playing and a parishioner noted that every holiday seasons, Feliz Navidad is another favorite. Tamales and enchiladas are used as fundraising opportunities. Yet all musical and spoken worship was in English during the service. Yet when we add in the acknowledge of the role of the prophetic in this church, there is no denying this hybridization of religious folk traditions with the institution of the Assemblies of God.
The apparent unwillingness of the pastor to acknowledge that the indigenous community at the church speaks to a greater issue of hierarchy and polity that Sanchez-Walsh notes. It seems that this institution is afraid or unwilliing to acknowledge this is not a typical White Assemblies of God church, but one with a high percentage of Latino/a parishioners.
Dreams
The dream for Latino/a Pentecostals is two-fold. On the one hand, the dream would be to strike a balance in unspoken war of power and authority within specific denominational lines. The challenge of not only learning to embrace and pride themselves upon the large diversity and thus hybridity of the denomination is not only hoped for, but also needed. To be able to identify this tradition as a celebration of the varying influences, rather than simply an American denomination for an ethnic minority is clearly pushing the Church forward in the right direction.
Ethnicity and Race
DescriptionEthnicity is often defined as “otherness.” Food, music, language, holidays and even television programming can commonly distinguish Latino culture. Still within the Latino population in the U.S., though 64 percent of Latinos are from Mexico, another 22 Latino nationalities comprise segments of U.S. evangelical churches (Kennedy, 24). There are multiple labels used with the Latino/a community: Hispanic, Chicano/a, or Latino/a. People often reference ethnicity based simply on country of origin,l
such as Guatemalan, Ecuadorian or Argentinean. Though Latino/as have different origins, faiths and histories, they speak the same language, have similar Catholic roots and share the same story of conquest and colonization, and ultimately view one another as “familia” (Crespo, 28). Race is the “most salient ethnic factor,” but is still only one of the larger cultural and historical phenomenons of ethnicity (Ashcroft, 193). Marked by physical characteristics where skin color clearly offers distinction between Blacks and Whites in America, the Latino/a population finds itself in between two worlds. Latino/as may have brown, black or white skin and dark, green or blue eyes (Solivan, 130). Often a Latino/a may only be recognized by tracking her/her Hispanic descent (Crespo, 30). As such, the diversity and sameness represented within the U.S. Latino community creates a kind of “neplanta racial-ethnic community of in-betweenness in American society” (Espinosa, 12). Latino/as commonly find ethnic identity in tracing heritage back to a Hispanic country of origin or by choosing to identify with a particular heritage, being open about ethnic roots as they learn and care about such heritage and identity (Crespo, 30).
A specific example is noted in Chicanos, as Ronald Takaki’s A Different Mirror describes, who have been able to maintain identity, language and culture due to proximity to homeland. The largest minority group in the Southwest are Chicanos, who are mestizos of Indian, African and Spanish ancestries. Takaki notes that Chicanos clearly have had a positive effect upon the "transforming [of] culture and society” (Takaki, 8). Latino/a Pentecostals in the U.S., especially within the Assemblies of God (AG), are finding churches that meet their ethnic needs. They find an inclusiveness that welcomes any Latino/a cultural and linguistic background. There is freedom to create a style of worship and activities in the language and forms that best suit them. A community exists that recognizes a need for people groups to interconnect and relate (Kennedy, 23).
Stories
Orlando Crespo, author and National Director of La Fe of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, relates his experience as a Puerto Rican American
growing up in Massachusetts in Being Latino in Christ: Finding Wholeness in Your Ethnic Identity. “…There is no Latino look. We are as multiracial as a people can get. For example, one of my great-great-grandmothers was Black…. Yet I am light skinned with deep-set eyes. Many Latinos I meet assume I am from the Middle East.” (Crespo, 29) When he was 7-year-old, his family moved into a predominately white neighborhood in Springfield, Mass. Crespo admits that “to survive such hatred of Puerto Ricans, [he] learned to live in two worlds as an adolescent.” At home he spoke Spanish, ate Puerto Rican food and participated in all the cultural events but when he stepped outside, he tried to assimilate himself as much as possible, even allowing classmates to assume that his light skin meant he was white. (Crespo,15)Jesse Miranda, Jr., an executive presbyter with the AG, founder/director of the Hispanic Leadership Center at Vanguard University and commissioner of ethnicity for the AG, came to faith at age 5 after he witnessed the healing of his mother from double pneumonia following the prayer of a couple from a Pentecostal cell group.
People from the church later brought Christmas gifts for the children, something his parents could not afford. “These demonstrations of the power of God and the love of community defined my identity with Pentecostalism,” Miranda says. (Kennedy, 24) He grew up only a few blocks from the only Hispanic AG district office at the time and district officials would often visit his home. At 12, Miranda recalls questioning the officials about working with Anglos. “The wise men told me, ‘Listen, son, we are close to Springfield [Missouri, site of the AG headquarters] so we can learn from them and we are far enough to do our own thing.’ That contextualization of indigenous leadership has continued to allow the Assemblies of God to grow” (Kennedy, 24). Dreams
Ethnicity is “otherness,” but often it is “others minus one,” ethnic groups minus the dominant group. The future depends on breaking that center/margin binarism. Ethnicity should be viewed as group consciousness, where even the dominant group views itself as one of the many. Samuel Solivan notes in his essay “A Hispanic/Latino Pentecostal Response” that the church does not need to be “colorblind,” to view all races and ethnicities as one. He argues that the church should give value to color and celebrate the God-designed diversity:
“Who I am is unknown apart from my color. My color is a gift of grace. My color reflects the diversity of creation and salvation. To be a Spirit-filled Christian is not a call to become colorblind, to ignore or give no value nor attention to color or difference. Rather, Paul’s declaration that we are no longer Jews nor Gentiles, males nor females, slaves or free is not an appeal to ignore or suspend difference…. Colorblindness is racist for what it usually means is stop being who you are and be like me (white). God is not colorblind. Christ was not colorblind. The Holy Spirit is not colorblind. Why should we be?” (130-131).
History and Place
DescriptionWestward expansion into the Southwest took shape in the mid-1700s. After the Mexican War in 1846-48, the United States incorporated the land of California, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona (Crespo, 147-153) into its borders, and Latinos of Mexican descent (also called Chicanos) suddenly found themselves foreigners in their native land, a part of Manifest Destiny. By 1849, the Anglo population in California reached 100,000, compared to only 13,000 Mexicans (Takaki, 178), and “as the American market expanded into the Southwest, it appropriated not only Mexican land but also Mexican labor" (Takaki, 184).
With the Great Depression, America began a repatriation program, sending about 400,000 Mexicans back across the border to Mexico to preserve the few remaining jobs for white workers. Even with repatriation, many Mexicans had difficulty knowing where one country began and the other ended; that, coupled with the fact that Mexicans had been in the land long before the Anglos, would see their continued emigration to the United States (Takaki).
Other segments of the Latino/a population gained entrance into the U.S. in the 20th century. In 1917 the U.S. Congress passed the Jones Act, making Puerto Ricans statutory citizens of the U.S. The island remained a colony though, and its citizens did not elect Congressional representation. In 1980, Fidel Castro allowed Cubans to leave Cuba via the Mariel Boatlift and 125,000 Cubans arrived in Florida (Crespo, 150-2). The incorporation of Puerto Ricans and Cubans into the U.S. population did not automatically give them a place in American society though.
Latino/a Pentecostals in the U.S. trace religious history back to the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906 and through much of the work of Francisco Olazabal (1886-1937). Born into a Catholic heritage, Olazabal journeyed north into California and in 1916 was converted to Pentecostal teaching of baptism in the Holy Spirit and divine healing. Olazabal contributed to the birth of at least 10 mainline Protestant and Pentecostal denominations by 1937 and converted tens of thousands of Latinos throughout the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico to the Pentecostal movement during his 30-year ministry (“El Azteca,” 598). His legacy also includes a voice that spoke against the racism of the Anglo-American Pentecostal church and a demonstration that Latino/a Pentecostals in North America have long held significant involvement and community with each other ("El Azteca," 614). The history of a people is embedded in place, and place is an interaction of language, history and environment (Ashcroft, 346). Fifty percent of the U.S. Latino/a population is found in Texas and California, while North Dakota, Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas have seen a 50 percent increase in Latino/a population in recent years. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, of the 100 million people added to the national population in the last four decades, 36 million are Hispanic. Immigration and high birth rates are primary factors for this growth and 40 percent of the Latino/a population is foreign-born (Kennedy, 20). Immigrants encounter a sense of displacement in a new place and use language and environment to create a familiar reality. Latino/a newcomers are often already Christians and Spanish-speaking churches are outlets where these Latino immigrants find a new place in their new environments (Kennedy, 20).
Statistics show that among the country’s largest U.S. Pentecostal denominations, the ranks of Latino/a Christians are growing. Latino Pentecostals are finding a place in the U.S. The Assemblies of God (AG) has the largest Latino Pentecostal numbers with 367,857 members attending 1,918 Spanish-speaking churches. Since 1990, number of congregants has grown by 53 percent. The Church of God (COG) has 728 Latino churches with about 60,000 members. From 2000-2002, 45 percent of new churches were Latino/a. The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, based in Los Angeles, reports 180 Spanish-speaking congregations with a total membership of 10,000 (Johnson).
These Pentecostal denominations work with Latino/a Pentecostal leaders to create homogenous locations that have similar cultural values and language to give immigrants a place find family, an important aspect of the Latino/a community. The church can be that initial step for an immigrant to find employment and housing (Kennedy, 22). First-generation Latino/as move toward Spanish-speaking congregations as these churches give these newcomers time to blend in with other churchgoers (23). They are eager to join a church to integrate with community and culture. Latino/a congregations then find themselves growing by word-of-mouth and personal relationships with family, friends and co-workers as their place within the church solidifies, and here especially in the growing Latino/a Pentecostal movement.
Stories
Assemblies of God pastor Mabel Nieto moved to Perry, Iowa, in 1998 and began Spanish-speaking services for Hispanics in the basement of the English-speaking First Assembly of God. Within one year, Fuente de Vida Asamblea de Dios purchased its own building and has since grown larger than its 100-seat sanctuary. Nearly all the church’s attendees are connected to the town’s Tyson Foods plant, where 60 percent of the 1,100 employees are Hispanic. During the first couple years of Fuente de
Vida’s existence, many of the congregants returned home to Guatemala, El Salvador or Mexico during the winter (Kennedy, 19). Today more congregants are staying year-round and finding a welcome place in the congregation of Fuente de Vida. Sal Sabino uses a cell group formula in his rapidly growing Latino/a Pentecostal church. Sabino founded Heavenly Vision Christian Center in the Bronx in 1990 with only eight members. Today the independent Pentecostal church has 1,200 members and is considered one of America’s 12 largest Hispanic churches (Johnson). Sabino emigrated from the Dominican Republic in 1970 and was saved in 1985 while in prison for drug dealing. After his release from prison, he started preaching on the street before moving to a Baptist church that had some space available. From there the church grew from cell group ministry and street evangelism. The church now has 300 home groups of six to 12 people in each that meet in apartments and houses in Bronx and Manhattan. “The cell-group ministry brings the church to the people. We are taking Jesus to the people,” says Sabino (Johnson).
Dreams
Immigration of Latino people into the U.S. is ever on the rise and is expected to continue. As immigration laws clamp down on employers regarding the legal status of workers, Latino congregations feel the effects. The church, even beyond the Latino Pentecostal church, must find the middle ground between abiding by the law and compassion for immigrants.
Feminism
Description
Although women make up well over 50% of church congregants in Latino Pentecostal churches, they generally face subordination both in their domestic and church leadership roles. The combination of machista ideology (defined as male superiority and acceptance of male aggressiveness, promiscuity, and domination) with conservative Christian ideas of male headship can have detrimental consequences or Latino Pentecostal women. In many churches, and among Latino Christians generally, machista ideology is oftentimes defended by proof-texting the bible – that is, prioritizing biblical texts to support male domination and female subordination (Sanchez-Walsh, interview). These roles can be upheld by women as much as men: “in keeping with the evangelical tradition of viewing women as helpmates and keepers of a sacred feminine holiness, Latino/a Pentecostals have been grafted onto that branch of American evangelicalism” (Sanchez-Walsh, 10).Yet there are a number of ways in which women do resist their subordinate status in Latino Pentecostalism. The very nature of Pentecostalism bestows spiritual gifts and prophetic authority on men and women alike. Furthermore, as noted in Latino Pentecostal Identity, “Latinas, more often than not, convert first and become active church members quicker than men” (Sanchez-Walsh, 9). In this context, Latino Pentecostal women play a central role as transmitters of faith, acting as prophetic role models, primary spiritual mentors, and teachers of spiritual gifts to their children (Sanchez-Walsh, interview).
Additionally, Latina Pentecostal women find a number of ways to reform machista ideology through Latina feminism, which has a familial focus. Differing drastically from White feminism, which focuses on gaining authority, Latina feminists focus on their well-being – that is, how well they can raise their family, keep their children safe, combat sexual violence, and take control of their families both materially and spiritually (Sanchez-Walsh, interview). In this light, male conversion to Latino Pentecostalism can itself achieve these Latina feminist objectives as men “begin to take an active role in the family; they refrain from being violent, they stop drinking, and they stop frequenting prostitutes” (Sanchez-Walsh, 123).
Finally, although women are limited in their pastoral leadership in Latino/a Pentecostal churches, they do play critical leadership roles in certain contexts. Generally, when women are found in leadership positions in Latino Pentecostal churches, they have reached these positions by accident, for example, by inheriting churches if their husbands pass away. But female pastors are also found in smaller churches, especially in remote geographic areas, or in specialized ministries, such as churches for the deaf (Sanchez-Walsh, Interview).
Stories
One woman's story: Ruth, a Latina Pentecostal in the Victory Outreach church, has a ministry helping single mothers prepare for ministry. In her words, "They don't see no hope for themselves. They've been abused and torn apart mentally and emotionally. And I can see God building them. Giving them confidence, courage, boldness, that they could be something, they could be that leader. They could be that good mother..." (Sanchez-Walsh, 124).
Dreams
"In Christ, there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female" (Gal. 3.28). Latino/a Pentecostalism carries a unique opportunity to fulfill this promise because charismatic gifts and leadership are bestowed on men and women alike.
Production and Consumption
DescriptionIt is always hazardous to generalize. That being said, the Latino Pentecostals in the United States today are made of a large proportion or recent immigrants. Many, still struggling with mastery of the English language, cannot find employment above a blue-color level. A precious few have been able to attend college before or after immigrating and are consequently able to find employment in “corporate America.” Regardless of the level of employment, the vast majority of Latino’s are sending large portions of their earnings back to family in their country of origin a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
Stories
One thing that Latino Pentecostals, like many of their counterparts in other churches, love to produce is new churches. Such is the story of Buen Samaritano, which is a close affiliate “one of the largest and oldest Pentecostal groups, a denomination founded at the turn of the century
that now has over 9 million members worldwide” (Lorentzen, 58). It is part of a region of churches that includes the area of “Nevada, California, Arizona, and Oregon and contains over 200 Hispanic churches, 20 in the San Francisco Bay Area alone” (Ibid). Instead of competing for members as many in similar situations would, these churches all have a close bond which allows them to cooperate and work together for the greater good instead of playing the numbers game and competing for resources. If any generalities can be made, it can be said that such patterns of cooperation and a feeling of mutual responsibility are common among Pentecostal congregations. This can likely be attributed to the feeling of group belonging that stems from the need to pull together due to an (on-average) economic marginalization and weaker political prowess. The congregation’s breakdown is almost entirely immigrants at 90%, the majority of whom have come to the United States in the past 15 years. “…most would be considered low-to middle working-class” and “women work as housekeepers, nannies, and sometimes teachers” while the men labor as “cooks, dishwashers, gardeners, and day laborers” (Ibid). Dreams
The church is not shy about using the “language of migration and displacement in its religious symbolism and theology” (Lorentzen, 60). Pastor Manuel’s rhetoric is commonplace in Latino Pentecostal congregations: “God has brought you her for a reason. God has brought you miles away because you could not accept God in your country. You could not leave that life you were living” (Ibid). So it is that Latino Pentecostals dream of a “better life.” Having been oppressed in their home country and now struggling from the inability to accomplish many things they desire in a new one, they long for God’s Divine assistance in lifting them up to a place where they will be able to overcome. At Buen Samaritano, this means that “Testimonies, prayers, Bible readings, and preaching all reflect the theme of struggle—particularly struggle faced by uprooted peoples in a new land” (Ibid). The dreams at Buen Samaritano are summed up in three main categories: 1. “La vida cotidiana”—people desire that God would come to their aid in their concern over issues such as “employment, immigration status, housing, crime, drugs, and gangs” (Lorentzen, 62). 2. The God would be Sovereign and exercise His dominion and control over life in their homelands and that He would be with their families there, esp. in their absence. And 3. Heaven: there is a strong eschatological bent in the Latino Pentecostal tradition writ large and esp. at Buen Samaritano.
Globalization, Environment & Religion
Description“Nearly one-quarter of U.S. Latinos call themselves Protestants, and most of them are Pentecostals” (Lorentzen, 59). “Globalization” is one of the commonly heard explanations for the rapid growth of Pentecostalism worldwide. But, at the same time, it is concurrently attributed to such things as “anomie in the face of rapid social change, class differences with attendant alienation, failed modernization, personal uprooting, [and] economic marginalization” (Lorentzen, 59). Latino's have what is quite possibly the strongest legacy of immigration of any ethnic group. Due to the proximity of Latin America to the United States and it being a contiguous land mass, the idea of uprooting from their histrical cultural identity and relocating to another society is more readily acceptable in Latino Culture than many others (Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 425). With the commonality of widspread relocation, the Latino breed of Pentecostalism tends to spread more quickly and with far greater ease than others.
Depending on whom you ask, you will get a different story as to how and where Pentecostalism began. Some people will tell you that it began with a white minister named Charles F. Parkham in the Assemblies of God church. Many others will tell you that it was the African-American pastor
William Joseph Seymour (Lorentzen , 58). Regardless of who founded it, it is generally agreed that the Azusa street revivals in the early 1900’s gave Pentecostalism a “third-world flavor” (Lorentezen, :58). Pentecostalism began to attract Lation converts from the very beginning, such as “Juan Lugo, Francisco Olazabal, Antnoio Nava, and others [who] became influential in its spread” (Lorentzen, 58). Pentecostalism has been rapidly expanding in Latin America in recent years. André Corten has termed it “the most important religious transnationalism of the twentieth century” (Lorentzen, 58). Despite the economic recession and other disastrous problems that Americans believe they suffer from, the United States continues to be an alluring beacon of hope for immigrants from around the world. So it is that thousands of Latino Pentecostals pour into the United States every day. But just as with any other movement and any other “globalization,” we must use caution before making sweeping generalizations. “The global trend of Pentecostal expansion…like all processes of globalization…should be studied in its local manifestations” (Lorentzen, 58).
Stories
Pentecostalism spread quickly among the Latino population from the very beginning. One story in particular has stood out in our reading. Antonio Nava was a young Pentecostal pastor in Mexico in the 1920’s. In 1927, he was “reaffirmed in the 1927 U.S. convention as Anciano Ejectivo” (Ramirez 1999:575). Despite this honor, he “returned to his homeleand in early 1928 to proselytize his ailing parents” (Ibid). While he was spending time with his parents, he did a bit of unintentional networking. He ran into and formed friendships “with the emerging leader of the Apostolic church in Torreon, Filipe Rivas, and with others in Monterrey, Tampico and other northern cities” (Ibid). Nava’s friendship with Rivas strengthened both men who, like spiritual magnets, pulled others into the fold. They laid hands on and prayed for Eusebio Jouaqin Gonzalez, who would go on to become the famous pastor of La Luz del Mundo, Light of the World Church, In Guadalajara.
From Sugirtharajah, Voices From the Margin: The Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) – biblical studies for congregations to develop open attitude toward other manifestations of faith
Popular reading of the Bible has been Latin America’s most significant contribution to Christian hermeneutics – discern present times, struggle for life with dignity and strengthen the hope that death can be change because God of the Bible is a God of justice, love and peace in solidarity with the poor (19-20). Reading and interpreting the Bible through this lens is about the dispossessed and the weak.
From Rios/Alvarez article: In the Latino AG, second and third generation Latino/a Pentecostals call themselves "EvangEmerge" - a mix of Evangelicals and Emergers, or "Progressive Pentecostals." They seek to change the community through more "advocacy, policy analysis or engaging politicians in forums." Younger Latino/a Pentecostals don't accept injustice with patience just a better world is expected (like many Pentecostals who think evangelism is the key to finishing out this world for the next).
Leadership is undefined. You have to be sanctioned as a leader in the denomination. A current leader gives you a title (this is pretty true across the board in AG churches). But then the role of the leader isn't defined - you don't know what responsibilities are yours.
In 2004, the AG started its "Vision of Transformation" by encouraging the formation of new types of churches that were community-focused and the encouraged the use of the arts to preach (and how is that going?). Personal salvation can still overshadow a holistic gospel or Christian response to global crisis. The authors of this article don't know if there is a place for emergent Latino churches within the AG denomination.
Dreams
The big dream of Latino Pentecostals has been, from the beginning, liberation. Liberation from the structures that oppress them. From political structures in which they do not have a voice to societal structures that deem them something less than full citizens. This makes sense when one understands that at the root of Latino Pentecostalism in the United States was a miraculous healing. The Azusa Street revivals in the first part of the 1900’s “insured a spill-over effect into the continuous ‘Sonoratown,’ a section north of downtown Los Angeles populated by Mexicans and Mexican Americans” (Ramirez, 574). As part of these events, a German woman was preaching in Spanish when an Indian woman from central Mexico who was suffering from consumption had her hands miraculously healed (Ramirez, 574).
Diaspora and Place
DescriptionPentecostalism grew out of the many Holiness traditions of the early 20th century in Los Angeles, Ca. "The California beginnings of and the multiracial character of this earliest Pentecostalism attracted Latino converts, not only Mexican Americans, as might be expected, but also Puerto Ricans, some of whom had traveled as far as Hawaii in search of work after the U.S. invasion had reduced the island's agricultural production to sugar and almost nothing else." (Diaz-Stevens, 113) Two Latino men in particular, Juan L. Lugo and Francisco Olazabal, were responsible for the spread of Latino Pentecostalism in Texas, California and Puerto Rico. Latino/a Pentecostalism also thrived further south in places like San Diego, as a result of many rejecting Catholicism. (Diaz-Stevens, 113) "...Pentecostalism’s spread is upending
Christianity’s historical tendency to emanate from power centers in the more developed world—mostly in the Global North. 'The Pentecostal missionary drive has been much more from below: from unstable, fragile, vulnerable congregations made of working-class or lower-than-working-class people doing missionary work across the globe, and moving from south to north'" (Wallace, Latino)."Thirty years ago, about 90 percent of Latinos in the United States were Catholic, sociologists estimate. Today that number is about 70 percent, and it remains steady only because of high birth rates and new immigrants filling the pews. Most other Latino Americans -- 9.5 million of them -- are Protestant, usually Pentecostal or another Evangelical denomination. Their numbers are fed by the conversion of second- and third-generation immigrants, whose families become more likely to convert the longer they are in the United States" (Geis, Latino Catholics). "For similar reasons, many Latinos in cities across the country, traditionally Catholics, have been converting. In New York City, for instance, there are at least 2,000 Pentecostal churches whose congregations are predominantly Latino. The conversions of large numbers from Catholicism, also occurring throughout Latin America, started about 15 years ago and has been causing concern among Catholic leaders, who have relied on Latino immigrants to replenish the declining numbers of parishioners in the United States" (Robertson, Pentecostalism Luring ).
Stories
With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Pentecostal movement exploded in the Southwest. Exert from missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Troyer in Southern California:
"As we traveled back and forth over California in our work of opening new fields...there were several hundreds of houses clustered in a little spot, and we knew they were Mexican homes. We longed to have the opportunity to enter this field and teach these people to walk with God. We knew by experience that their hearts, too, were hungry for the message of Christ that is found in the New Testament" (Cortes, 38). Mr. and Mrs. Troyer then attempted to find the owner of these houses and the work those who lived in the houses performed. After doing so, the Troyer's "...wanted permission to go there and use the buildings and do anything that the Lord laid upon [their] hearts that [they] might serve that people" (Cortes, 42). With much resistance, the man in charge agreed with the Troyer's plea, and allowed them to speak with the people they were so eager to meet on behalf of the Lord.
As Otto Maduro, a professor of World Christianity, explains... “For many Pentecostal congregations, the van is the main way the pastor has to gather the congregation, hold a service and then bring them back to their homes...Maduro has been studying Newark’s Latino Pentecostal community for nearly a decade, charting the ebb and flow of individual congregations, watching churches spring up and relocate and collecting oral histories from church members and leaders. And he has ridden in Pentecostal vans on more than one occasion. He describes one such trip that began at 5 p.m., when the pastor picked up the first passenger, and continued on through nearby Linden and Elizabeth, with passengers alternately singing coritos—the hymns of Latino/a Pentecostals—and filling each other in on what had happened that day. Two hours later, the van arrived at their church on Central Avenue in Newark to begin what would end up being a five-hour service. The van finally came to rest in front of the pastor’s house at 2 a.m. the following morning.
This service on wheels—and the willingness to minister to people wherever they are—does a lot to explain why Pentecostalism has spread rapidly in Newark. With the help of several fellow researchers, Maduro has hit the pavement, taking a walking census of Latino Pentecostal churches across the city, most of which are concentrated in the city’s North Ward. A survey he did in 2007 found about 75 Latino Pentecostal congregations, an increase of about 50 percent over an earlier census he took in 2001. Maduro estimates that about 2,000 of approximately 83,000 Latinos in the city worship in Pentecostal churches in Newark every day, with most congregations ranging in size from 20 to 40 people" (Wallace, The Latino).
Dreams
The future spread of Latino Pentecostalism seems nearly endless in America, as more and more Catholic Latinos convert, however, "...while many first-generation Hispanics are eager to attend church as a means of integrating into the community and culture, that isn't always the case for second-and third- generation Latinos. By then, many have learned English, graduated from college and attained high paying professional jobs" (Kennedy, Embracing). As a result, "a booming Latino population means the ethnic group is gaining clout throughout American society...and with Cuba and Venezuela [in particular] anchoring an increasingly socialist Latin America...arrivals into the United States [will continue] to accelerate." (Kennedy, Embracing). According to Jesse Miranda Jr., founder and director of the Hispanic Leadership Center in Costa Mesa, California, 'the Assemblies of God [a Pentecostal denomination] is in the best position in its history because of the opportunities to win a huge population. The investment, [Miranda claims] will surely pay dividends in the future of the kingdom of God" (Kennedy, Embracing).
Language, Body & Performance
Description"Spanish speaking Catholics brought Christianity to the Americas..." (Diaz-Stevens, 9) Among the differing Latino communities, that is of those of Latin American or Puerto Rican descent, there can in fact be differences in the way different Spanish words are used. (Diaz-Stevens 11) As for body and performance, Latino Pentecostals rejected the traditions and worship styles of their Catholic counterparts. "Instead of practicing a home-based religion, Pentecostals transferred almost all their worship to the storefront templos that housed the congregations. Often the converts knew no cultural idiom other than the Mexican American or the Puerto Rican, so the first hymnals feature traditional forms of the polka, the mazurka and the like. (Diaz-Stevens, 114) As the 20th century progressed, however, a strong bias towards Americanization in these congregations ensued. Other denominations of non-Latino Pentecostals emerged under the headings of "the Churches of God, [and] Foursquare Pentecostalism." (Diaz-Stevens, 114) "Many of the unique characteristics of Pentecostal services—among them spontaneous prayer, speaking in tongues, ecstatic collapse and long, improvised sermons—are manifestations of this belief. ...Rather than being a new stage in Christianity’s evolution, adherents feel that Pentecostalism is a return to an earlier form of the religion. 'It’s a reconstruction of Christianity in a simplified way—a way that is seen as more faithful to the spirit of early Christianity'" (Wallace, Latino).
Stories
“'As soon as I started visiting Pentecostal churches in Newark, the question became: ‘Why don’t more people do this?’” [a current attender] says. 'These churches were much more agreeable, congenial, welcoming to Hispanics than most of the other Christian churches—Roman Catholic or mainstream Protestant. They had a warmer atmosphere where people felt at home.” One reason was that the pastors in these churches were from the same neighborhoods and socioeconomic backgrounds as the congregants, making them easier to approach and relate to. "...Research has found that all Pentecostal services in Spanish in Newark are led by Latinos, while many Catholic Spanish-language services are not" (Wallace, Latino).
Maduro, [Professor of Theology at Drew University] also saw something quintessentially Latino in the Pentecostal services he observed. 'In many cultures in Latin America there is a much more open attitude toward public expression of a wide range of emotions than is customary in white, middle-class
America,' Maduro says. For newly arrived immigrants who find themselves in a new social context with different accepted norms, the church becomes one of the few places where they feel free to laugh and cry and shout and sing. This emotional expressiveness is evident at many points during a Pentecostal service: in the tears that often accompany the spontaneous prayers of congregants as the service gets underway; in the impassioned testimonials of being saved by God from drugs, alcohol or depression that members stand and share with the congregation; in the exuberant spirit thrown into the singing of each corito." (Wallace, Latino). "The Rev. Luciano Padilla Jr., a Pentecostal evangelist who had gathered his flock at the bilingual church largely from Latino Catholic converts, swayed in the pulpit with his arms outstretched and issued a call for 'new believers.' 'Now that the waters have been moved and stirred, this is a wonderful opportunity to come into a relationship with Jesus," said Padilla, his words sending Wilma Bermadez, a first-time visitor and lifelong Catholic, trembling with emotion into the center aisle to convert. The spontaneity and fervor in the Bay Ridge church draws Latino Pentecostal congregants who embrace a style of worship far different from the repetitive, ritualistic Mass they left behind in Roman Catholic parishes in East Harlem, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Ecuador. They also say they have been attracted by a greater sense of community in the Pentecostal church, a strict code of conduct that frowns on alcohol and drug use, and by more opportunity to worship in Spanish." (Robertson, Pentecostalism Luring).
Dreams
The future of the language, body and performance aspects of Latino/a Pentecostalism seem very much so tied with that of the diaspora of the tradition. As new immigrants move into the United States, this particular style of Pentecostal worship will continue. Despite the increase in immigration as discussed in the previous section, more and more Latino Pentecostals see the Americanization of their congregations as a threat to their distinct communities of worship. The Latino/a Pentecostal tradition must find a way to adapt to these new challenges in order to continue to reach the next generations of "Americanized" adherents.
Conclusion
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References
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Phillips, Gary M. "Latino Pentecostal Church Visit." Personal Interview. November 23, 2008.
Robertson, Tatsha. Pentecostalism Luring Away Latino Catholics. The Boston Globe, April 15, 2005. (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/04/15/pentecostalism_luring_away_latino_catholics/).
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Sanchez-Walsh, Arlene M. "Latino Pentecostalism in America" Personal Interview. November 13, 2008.
Solivan, Samuel. "A Hispanic/Latino Pentecostal Response." Pneuma 18, no 1 (1996): 128-132.ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost(accessed November 11, 2008
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror. New York: Back Bay Books, 1993.
Wacker, Grant. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
Wallace, Bruce. The Latino Pentecostals. Drew University: New Jersey, 2008. (http://www.drew.edu/magazine/2008/thelatinopentecostals.htm).
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