Episode 116: Conversation with Juan Sierra (Part 2)

"I think the New Testament and the word of God cares more about how your church is gifted and not necessarily the ethnic makeup." -Juan Sierra

Summary of This Episode

In this episode, we talk about the potential for ministry in multicultural and diverse neighborhoods in the CRC. We talk about the statistics that show a growing number of second-gen Spanish speakers and other Latinos in the US. This presents an opportunity for local churches to reflect this diversity, and to reach out to people they typically wouldn't be able to reach. Juan mentions his own experience at Synod last year, where he noticed that many of the ethnic churches within the denomination were more orthodox and traditional than those outside it. He also mentions a friend's church which is thriving because they have chosen to focus on their own ministry rather than getting involved in denominational politics. Juan encourages planting more churches to reflect multiculturalism, as well as recognizing that ethnic advisors are necessary within the CRC for now, but ultimately he hopes for a denomination where these voices are not needed any longer.

We discuss the importance of church planting and reaching out to ethnic minorities in our communities. Jason references his professor who ran a ministry called City Vision in the Twin Cities area, noting that there were 750,000 first-generation immigrants in the state at the time. He explains that the world is coming to them, rather than them having to go out into it. Juan goes on to explain the difficulty of finding church planters who are willing to step into those roles, and brings up the idea of leasing buildings that are otherwise closing down to new church planters for a low price. He adds that this would require some creative thinking, and notes that it wouldn't be fair to tell people with homogenous congregations to make changes based on ethnicity. He finishes by saying that what matters more than a congregation's ethnic makeup is its gifts and how they use them.

We also discuss the complexity of reaching different populations within a church. Juan explains how people tend to gravitate to people who look like them and share common interests, which often leads to an unbalanced representation of certain ethnicities or age groups within a church. He argued that if a church desires more diversity, they need to look for someone who can draw in those people who are not already represented. He believes that if churches have the right intention and sincerity, God will bless their efforts. Jason asks the question of whether it is better to plant a separate church for a minority group or to integrate them into an already existing church. Juan believes that it should not be an either/or situation but an “and” situation—that both options should be explored in order to properly reach all populations within a community.

We discuss the complexities of ministry to ethnic people, particularly Latinos in the United States. It is noted that language and culture can be barriers in reaching different communities. For example, when ministering to a Latino community in Port St. Lucie, it was realized that most of the people who were coming to church were bilingual . As a result, the children’s ministry was made English-speaking, with some bilingual services for first-gen kids. Within the Latino community itself, there can be differences between different generations or different cities. For example, Cuban Americans may be taught not to speak Spanish in the home while Chicanos may be second or third generation Mexicans who don’t even speak Spanish but are still very much Latino due to cultural influences such as how they dress and what music they listen to. Therefore, when doing ministry with ethnic people there may be a mix of language speakers and cultural backgrounds present which poses challenges but also opportunities to reach different communities.

We discusses the importance of having a multicultural church with a welcoming atmosphere. Jason describes a congregation that meets at his church and how it switches back and forth between all English and all Spanish services depending on who is present. He emphasizes that rather than focusing on quotas, churches should strive to make people from different cultures feel comfortable and welcome. We talk about how church leaders need to be creative in their leadership and thinking when it comes to church planting in order to keep up with the number of churches that are being closed. Juan suggests that more people may need to become bi-vocational. We discuss the benefits of being bi-vocational, or having both a job and ministry service. This is accepted more now than before, and this allows for more churches to be planted. The Pentecostals have been successful in planting churches due to their bi-vocational approach.

We discuss the need for churches and classes to become less institutional and more local in their practices and ministries. Jason suggests empowering classes to be more active in working with the denomination. At the same time, he believes that churches need to become smaller and that church planting needs to increase in order for this to happen. This will require an increase in leadership development and church planters. Additionally, he encourages conservatives not to be afraid of speaking about racial reconciliation and suggests being strategic about ministering to minority populations in communities. In conclusion, he encourages pastors, office bearers, and laypeople of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) to become more empowered locally, develop leaders, plant churches, and reach out to minority populations.

Juan encourages pastors to take an interest in the Global Coffee Break groups in their churches. He explains that these are often small groups of older ladies who have been meeting for Bible study, and during the Covid-19 pandemic they were able to adapt to meeting online. He is proud of these ladies for their courage and ability to keep going even when others would not. He believes that pastors should invest time to get to know these ladies and be more involved with what they are doing as they are making a difference in the kingdom of God through their ministries.