"What does it look like in your context to create spaces for fellowship, encouragement, and for building up the Body of Christ?"
If you do not know me, I am a gringa, born and raised. I grew up in white, upper-class America, in a Protestant Christian household – a gringa and a WASP (White Algo-Saxon Protestant). And as such, I grew up with certain assumptions and expectations about how celebrations, families, and holidays (like Thanksgiving and Christmas) were supposed to be. So you can imagine the shock of my first Thanksgiving with my Hispanic in-laws, celebrated outdoors in the humid, balmy warmth of Houston, TX, being served Chicken Cacciatori and pan dulce. We had been married for just over a year, and for as much as I loved my husband, my new family, and the beautiful culture into which I had married, this decidedly did not feel like Thanksgiving to me. For me, there was a noticeable absence of crisp sweater weather, colorful leaves, pies, Turkey, the Macy’s Day Parade, and Bing Crosby’s White Christmas following dinner, .
And yet, my own culture aside, this was absolutely Thanksgiving in the purest sense of the word: generations of family and friends coming together to enjoy fellowship, laughter, a time of rest from work, and a time of reflection and giving thanks to God for all that He had done for them. The Apostle Paul exhorts the Colossian church to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom…. with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:16-17). Clearly, such encouragement is to take place in the context of worship, but in all of life as well. But how? What does it look like to give thanks in your community? What does it look like in your context to create spaces for fellowship, encouragement, and for building up the Body of Christ?
Paul is quite specific and adamant about the need for thanksgiving before God in all things, and encouraging one another to give thanks in everything through seeing Christ at work. Yet Paul, more than most, understood that the particular ways of encouraging one another in the faith, and creating such opportunities, would look different in different cultures and contexts. To impose my own cultural expectations and preferences over a genuine, God-honoring Thanksgiving celebration happens at the risk of hampering the joy and genuineness of the celebration. This may be true in family (although let me be clear – my in-law family are some of the kindest, most selfless people you will ever meet); but how much more so is it true in the church?
One of the great challenges of the Hispanic church in the United States is the pressure to look more anglicized, the expectation perhaps to fit into the cultural norms of the Anglo-Protestant American church. It may feel uncomfortable; it may not fit the particular needs of your community and context, but the pressure from brother and sister churches may make it feel necessary to at least try and conform to majority culture practices. Take VBS, for example: in many large, PCA churches, VBS is a wonderful and successful outreach opportunity that requires many months of planning, and means signing children up several weeks in advance, in order to secure their spots. In the Hispanic-American world, regardless of the amount of time spent planning, trying to canvas neighborhoods, trying to get pledges of participation, the reality is that no one will show up unless you are there to remind them the week of, and allow them to sign up that morning.
On a different level, creating spaces to engage in meaningful conversation, spaces for “spurring one another on to love and good deeds” (cf. Hebrews 10:24), and for encouraging one another in thankfulness will look different in the Hispanic community. And rather than conceal the facts or try to change it, this is something to celebrate! A successful men’s event in a typical majority-culture PCA church might look like a weekly, planned Bible study around a campfire, a fine cigar in hand; or perhaps a gathering to watch a football game (in this case, not fútbol) at a brewery. In the Hispanic-American context, these settings may be unattractive or even off-putting. But pick up an assortment of pan dulce from the local panadería, send a quick WhatsApp to the church, and later that evening, you may have a large group fellowshipping, praying, singing, and encouraging one another into the wee hours of the morning, children included.
Thanksgiving, encouraging one another in the Lord, and fellowship does not have to conform to any one particular cultural norm. But it must be genuine, and the purpose must be to bring glory to His name. “’All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful,” Paul writes. “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up.” The great preacher and theologian, Charles Spurgeon, understood this point well. On one occasion, Spurgeon (who was known to love smoking a good cigar) called out his students for smoking, “What, gentlemen! Are you not ashamed to be smoking so early?” At which, suddenly and abashedly, the men began putting out their pipes and cigars. As they did so, Spurgeon pulled out his own cigar, and lit it up. Puzzled, the men inquired what he was doing, to which Spurgeon replied, “I did not say I objected. I asked if they were not ashamed, and it appears they were…”[1] Spurgeon smoked for the enjoyment of a good cigar, and not because he felt obligated or peer-pressured to do so, or was doing it against his own conscience.
All things are lawful, but in the Lord, we must seek to know the cultural context, and feel free in the Lord to enjoy the good gifts that naturally bring us together, and promote fellowship and gospel conversation. And, like a Thanksgiving Day celebration may look radically different in different cultural contexts, we must expect and encourage Gospel fellowship and community within the church to look radically different as well. But insofar as it is for the glory of God and the building up of His church, it is good, and it is necessary!
Let us pray for and seek a spirit of understanding with our brothers and sisters in faith who may have different cultural values from our own, and may the Gospel free us to both fellowship alongside of them and also to live in the beauty and richness of the diverse cultures that the Lord has given each of us, for His glory. This Thanksgiving, whether you are sitting down to a table to carve a turkey, whether you are gathered outside sipping fine drinks, whether you are sharing tamales y pan dulce, or whether you are celebrating with chicken cacciatore, may it be all for His glory. As we seek creative ways to encourage our communities on to growth and maturity in the Lord at Thanksgiving and throughout the year, let us “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
¡A Dios sea la Gloria!
JOIN US IN PRAYER:
Join us in thanksgiving for all that the Lord is continuing to do in and through the Hispanic-American Church. We are thankful for multiple HLI events and conferences that have provided refreshment, training, and encouragement for churches and their leaders around the country.
Pray for freedom and creativity in Hispanic church leaders to create culturally appropriate settings for encouraging one another, thanksgiving, and fellowship, even (and especially) when they do not follow majority-culture models.
Pray for a spirit of understanding and unity in the diversity of the Body of Christ in the United States. Pray that leaders and churches would encourage one another to growth and Gospel-living to the glory of God, in all that we do!
Pray for continued growth and encouragement among Hispanic churches and leaders, to continue to serve their communities well as the end of the year approaches.
Anna Portillo is the wife of HLI's Executive Director, José Portillo. The Portillos live in Charlotte, NC with their four children (Daniela [7], Benjamín [5], and Felipe & Ibrahím [2 1/2]) live in Charlotte, NC, where Pastor José is the church planting pastor of Vive Charlotte Church. Aside from being a wife and mother, Anna is a freelance author and editor in her spare time. She has most recently written and published The Beatitudes of Advent (Las Bienaventuras del Adviento), and she writes regularly for Retratos. She also serves as the Director of Worship at Vive Charlotte, and enjoys leading women's Bible Studies there.
Please consider giving to HLI, that the Lord may continue multiplying the resources for the training, encouragement, renewal, and multiplication of new leaders in and for the Hispanic-American context, and even beyond.
NOTES:
[1] Michael Reeves, Spurgeon on the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 2018), 30-31.
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