Catalyst Track: When Faith Catches Fire // Day One

This track comes from the new book, When Faith Catches Fire, by Samuel Rodriguez and Dr. Robert Crosby.

Latino Christians are catching the fire. In many ways they are changing their world today. In fact, Latino Evangelicals, “up from 14 percent in 2006 to 18 percent in 2013,” are the “fastest-growing religious group in the country.”1

There is just something about their faith in God and the ways so many of them experience it, practice it, embrace it, and live it that I find absolutely compelling. There is a passion burning in the souls of so many Latino Christians today, blazing trails of local, regional, national, and global change.

The change isn’t coming. It’s here.

But far too many churches, pastors, Christians, leaders, government officials, and others have not yet ac­knowledged what is growing up all around them.

This 3-day track is your opportunity to 1) learn about the spiritual trends happening in the Latino church and, 2) evaluate how your church or organization can be a part of them, and 3) take action!

Whether you’re a leader in a Latino organization or church, or your faith community finds itself mostly removed from the Latino church, now is the time to recognize how this part of the Church can uniquely serve and lead the whole body of Christ!

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Day 1 – A Reformation

 

I (Samuel) sincerely believe that we are the first generation of the Latino Protestant Reformation. You can see it all around us. Predominantly Catholic Latin America, for instance, did not truly experience the impact of the sixteenth-century European Protestant Reformation until the 1970s and 80s. This was primarily through the influence of evangelistic, Pentecostal television, missionary efforts, and radio programs.

Not everyone, however, agrees that Reformation is the most appropriate term for what is going on among Latino Christians. “I like the term awakening more than reformation in this case,” says Albert Reyes, president of Buckner International. “What we are seeing is something Philip Jenkins spotted early on and wrote about in his book The Next Christendom. He noted that the majority of the Church’s growth is in the Global South.”

“Latinos are turning not just to Protestantism but to its evangelical strain. . . . More than 35% of Hispanics in America call themselves born-again, according to the Pew Forum, and 9 out of 10 of evangelicós say a spiritual search drove their conversion. ‘People are looking for a real experience with God,’ says [pastor Heber] Paredes. That direct experience comes largely from exploring the Bible. ‘We do the best to preach with the Bible open. When they read the Bible, they find a lot of things they didn’t know before. They may have had religion, but they did not have an experience.’ ”

Parenthetically, this is our Latino Reformation. What does that mean? It took four hundred years for Martin Luther’s reformation to saturate Latin America. The past fifty years really reflect the beginning of our reformation. Therefore, we have yet to see the fullness of Latino Evangelical growth in America and abroad. But it is happening now right before our eyes.

Reflection:

How aware of/prepared to engage in the Latino Reformation is your church?

A. My church is not engaged with the Latino church at all
B. We are aware of the shift but haven’t been involved
C. We want to be knowledgeable/engaged but don’t know how
D. We are trying to be leaders at the forefront of this shift