Churches Spreading the Message of Love

 

Spanish Language Challenge

At the start of 2016, the Conference Committee on Hispanic/Latino Ministries gave a challenge to all the local churches in the Michigan Area to plan and run a Who is Our Neighbor? Spanish Language Study at their church.  The study is a six-week study for learning Spanish as Church Hospitality. So far, six churches are participating in the challenge. The goal is for at least 10 churches to participate.

These are the churches that have accepted the challenge:
St. Paul UMC: Ludington
Hartford UMC
Marysville UMC
Trinity UMC-Grand Rapids
St. Johns First UMC
Christ UMC- Traverse City

Centro Familiar Cristiano United Methodist Church

In 2016, we will say good-bye to El Buen Pastor United Methodist Church, which has been the only Hispanic/Latino Church in the Detroit Conference for the past 30+ years. While it is hard to say good-bye to this church, the grief is limited in the joy that a new church has started at the same location. The Conference Committee on Hispanic/Latino Ministries supported the start of a New Hispanic/Latino Church in Detroit, Michigan. The church started on February 1, 2016, which is located at the former El Buen Pastor United Methodist Church in Detroit. Services are on Saturday nights and during the week there is a food pantry, immigration legal services, Bible Studies, Craft classes, and guitar lessons as well as special meals. The church is also planning on having a children and youth program this summer.



The Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Charles Boayue, making the announcement of the of the approval of the new church on February 6, 2015.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Johns First United Methodist Church

 St. Johns First United Methodist Church has a Neighbor’s Ministry that is a ministry with the Latino dairy farm workers in the area. The ministry provides English as a Second Language Classes, translation, transportation, and other community services. The church also has a monthly Spanish Language service and a yearly Cinco de Mayo Celebration that the community members help plan and organize. 

The church was in the Conference newsletter recently because of what they did this year for Ash Wednesday. They did what they describe as a Reserve Drive-Through imposition of ashes. Instead of people coming to the church to get ashes, the church went out to community to give ashes at the local dairy farms. According to the article, “Ellen, (Rev. Ellen Zienert is the pastor of the church), and four members of the congregation indeed drove out into the Clinton County countryside traveling a circuit of 75 miles. On the course of their six and half hour journey, they visited ten farms and shared ashes with 26 people (ten more than attended the worship service in the church that same evening).” During the visits to the farms, there was a short liturgy in Spanish that the members of the congregations had learned beforehand, everyone present said the Lord’s Prayer together, and one of the visiting members job was to bless everyone at the end saying Dios te bendiga, God Bless You.  The church plans on doing going out again next year, and possibility having two teams, instead of one, so they can serve 20 sites. At the end of the article, Rev. Ellen Zienert shares advice for other churches with Hispanic/Latino neighbors, she says, “Don’t be afraid! Just look around you with different eyes.”

Words Do Hurt

Recently, I came across an article about my father and his journey to become a teacher. My father, Elias Chapa, is Mexican-American. He was born in Texas and grew up in Pontiac, Michigan. The article describes that my father wanted to become a teacher ever since third grade, when he was inspired by his teacher, Mrs. Pond. However, when he told his high-school counselor about his dream, he wasn’t met with encouraging feedback. The counselor told him, “Why don’t you go to work in the factory making cars like the rest of your kind.” This makes me very sad to hear that my father faced this kind of discrimination, but today, my family and I are facing this kind of discrimination. My husband, Jorge Luna-Cruz who is Mexican, and indigenous, faces more discrimination sadly then I do because he is an immigrant, has an accent, and has darker colored skin. I am hurt when I go to a store and he is immediately approached to see if he “needs anything”.  I am hurt when he is not always welcomed at churches.

 

My husband, my son, and my father.

I tell you all of this because I am hurt by the discrimination that is being promoted by the current rhetoric coming from the political scene lately. This hurts me, my family, immigrants, and the world. Sadly, I don’t just see this kind of discrimination just in the political scene, but in the church as well. I hear about people being discriminated because of their accent or because they are an immigrant and come from a different culture. I see discrimination against women and young people in the church. This hurts me as well and it hurts the church.   

The scripture reading Isaiah 55 was shared with me today as part of a devotion. One verse in the chapter that stood out to me was verse 11, “In the same way, my words leave my mouth, and they don’t come back without results. My words make the things happen that I want to happen. They succeed in doing what I send them to do (ERV).” The verse is describing how positive results will come from positive, fruitful, loving, encouraging words. But it could also mean that hurt could come from hateful and destructive discriminatory words. That is what the current rhetoric is doing. It is hurting people. Not just Mexicans, not just immigrants, but all of us, because it is spreading and fostering hate. We need to watch the words we say, what we say about people, what we spread and foster.

So, through our words let us foster love. For lent, I am sharing a podcast each week from the  Latino NPR USA and then posing questions at the end of the week for people to ponder after listening to the podcast. This week’s podcast is called Sticks and Stones. The link is, http://www.npr.org/programs/latino-usa/467370741/sticks-stones. I haven’t listened to it yet. But I will be listening to it with the mindset that words do hurt and they hurt us all. How can we foster love and relationship building, instead of hate and discrimination?  How can we change what we say? Let us all ponder this together.