The RGV, Texas & the World (Today and Tomorrow)

     

    
      Everyday Texas and the rest of the United States looks more like the Rio Grande Valley has looked for sometime.  In addition, and naturally related, to drastic demographic shifts, the use of the Spanish language in the U.S. and the rest of the world is on the increase.  Of course, the subject of demographic shifts and of the increase of Spanish language use is not a new subject to those of us who live in the Rio Grande Valley.  In fact, I addressed this two summers ago when I had the privilege of preaching the annual sermon at the meeting of Texas Baptists in San Antonio.  You can click here to see my blog post from two years ago.

     What prompts my post on this subject this week is my reading of the Editorial article in the July 20, 2015 Baptist Standard by Marv Knox and a recently published report regarding the global use of the Spanish language, which Sergio Ramos, a close friend, shared with me.  Marv Knox's editorial, which you can read by clicking on the link above, addresses the demographic trends in our state and some implications for churches.  (I will quote and comment on this below).  The Spanish language report, named Español Lengua Viva 2015 published by Instituto Cervantes (Spain) is in Spanish but may be downloaded here also.  (I will also share a few of the findings and comment on it below).

     Calvary Baptist Church, McAllen is a multi-cultural church that provides ministry in primarily two languages (English and Spanish).  As a church we have intentionally addressed the demographic and language context around us in an effective manner.  Our church demonstrates vitality and relevance for today and for the future as we minister to all people in the name of Christ.  Additionally, CBC is a missional church with a global heart.  The shifts in our state, nation and world matter to us as we continue to develop strategies to be on mission with God.

     We are aware that ethnicity and language are two different but related issues.  The growth of the Hispanic population in Texas and the U.S. speaks to changes in the ethnic landscape.  (Ethnicity has to do with culture, and, in some cases with race, although race and ethnicity are not equivalent).  Closely related to this is the use of the Spanish language.  Although, not all Hispanics speak Spanish and not all Hispanics who speak Spanish prefer it over English, the growth of the Hispanic population implies a degree of growth in the use of the Spanish language.  The two publications mentioned above and discussed below deal with each of these issues respectively (ethnicity and language).

Shifts in Ethnicity (Hispanics/Latinos and more)

     Marv Knox, quoting from the Texas Tribune, remarks that the future demography of Texas may be seen in Texas public schools today.  Currently the enrollment in Texas public schools consists of "51.8 percent Hispanic, 29.4 percent Anglo, 12.7 percent African-American, and 3.7 percent Asian."  He further quotes that in Texas, "Hispanics will outnumber Anglos by 2020--that's five years from now--and will account for more than a half of the state's population by 2042."  These trends are more accelerated in the big cities.  The article notes that the Hispanic population in the Dallas and Houston schools consists of 69.8 percent and 62 percent respectively.  The editor lists five implications for Texas Baptists:

1. Double down church starting efforts among Hispanics, especially in the cities
2. Education of Hispanic ministers is vital if we're going to reach Texas with the gospel
3. Many existing churches must become multi-cultural
4. The role of Baptist associations will increasingly focus on helping churches make these transitions
5. The Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas is vital to the future of our state and they have been wise to hire a full-time executive director (Jesse Rincones)

    Marv Knox assesses the situation correctly on all five counts.  As it pertains to Calvary in particular, I would like to make the following observations in regard to the above:

1.  CBC has historically (since the beginning) invested in Hispanic congregation church starts both through cooperative missions giving and directly (Emmanuel, McAllen; Getsemani, McAllen; Primera, Sullivan City; Emmanuel, Edinburg; Primera, Rio Grande City; etc.).  However, we must seriously consider how we should increase our Hispanic congregation church starting efforts this decade
2. We should consider our strategic support of institutions like the Baptist University of the Americas (BUA) in San Antonio, the South Texas School of Christian Studies (STSCS) in Corpus Christi and McAllen and the Rio Grande Bible Institute (RGBI) in Edinburg as they carry out their mission of educating ministers for Hispanic, multi-cultural and other ethnic congregations and of preparing cross-cultural leaders to be mobilized for global missions.  We currently support BUA through our Cooperative Giving and partner with them in our Wednesday night ICC.  I currently serve on the board of the STSCS, which has a campus just a few blocks from our church building.  Our missions budget supports some RGBI segments and many of the RGBI staff, faculty and students are members of our church.  Nevertheless we must continue to think about the importance of these institutions in relation to the future of our state, nation and world.
3. We are already a multi-cultural church!  These demographic trends have been a reality for us here in the RGV for many years now.  This means that those of us who live in the Valley can offer perspective and experience to those who live in other parts of our state.  Calvary Baptist Church continues to be a leader in this venture.  Although Knox aptly suggests that some congregations in Texas should transition to Hispanic congregations, we do not have an agenda of transitioning CBC into a fully Hispanic congregation.  We really believe we are gifted with the opportunity of being multi-cultural and are committed to continuing that inclusivity as long as the population in our area allows for it.  We can do this because we have not reacted to population changes.  Instead we have been proactive and timely, allowing us to remain diverse.  We can now change our rhetoric from how "different" we are to the rest of Texas to how we can make a difference in Texas.
4. Because we have experienced the flip side of minority from Hispanic to Anglo in the RGV, our church continues to be committed to ministering with sensitivity and love to all people regardless of who is the majority and who is the minority.  On the positive side, at its inception Calvary, as a majority Anglo congregation worked so that Hispanics in the Valley had a place to hear the gospel, worship and grow spiritually with freedom and dignity.  In the future Calvary, as a multi-cultural church should ensure that minority groups (Anglo or any other) have a place to hear the gospel, worship and grow spiritually with freedom and dignity.  (On the other side of history, the gospel demands that the new majority populations that are Christ-like do not repeat the mistakes or faults of former majority populations).
5. Because approximately half of our congregation is either Hispanic or Spanish-speaking or both, we will continue to be supportive of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas as well as of Texas Baptists (BGCT).

Language (The growth of Spanish globally)
 
    The conversation of Spanish-language use adds another dimension to the demographic changes in Texas and also enlarges the scope to the global scene.  Some of the highlights from the 2015 report by the Instituto Cervantes include the following among many others:

1. Currently (2015) there are 470 million people in the world whose first language is Spanish and a total of 559 million people who speak Spanish at some level, making Spanish the 2nd most spoken language in the world after Chinese Mandarin.  (More Christians in the world speak Spanish than any other language).
2. By the year 2050 the U.S. will have the largest number of Spanish speakers than any single country in the world.  (Currently, the top five are Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Argentina and the U.S., in that order.  There are currently at least 22 Spanish-speaking countries in the world and the U.S. already has more Spanish speakers than 17 of those countries)
3. North America (Canada, USA & Mexico) and Spain account for 78% of the buying power in the Spanish-speaking world
4. Spanish is the third most used language on the internet
5. The rate of growth of Facebook users in Spanish is greater than that of those in English.
6. Spanish is the second most used language on Twitter in predominantly English-speaking cities such as London and New York.
7. Spanish is the second most used language in number of visits to Wikipedia
8. More than 33% of Hispanic families in the U.S. speak Spanish at home
9. The size of the Spanish-speaking community in the U.S. is large enough to directly influence the programming content of media
10. The impact of ads in English increases to 30% among Hispanics when it is also broadcast in Spanish

     A few, perhaps obvious, general implications (in addition to those listed above) include:

1. Knowing or learning to speak Spanish is a helpful kingdom (and economic) advantage in today's world
2. Businesses and ministries that desire to grow and be relevant in the U.S. provide (and increase) Spanish-language services
3. Providing Spanish-language services helps a church (or business) not only have a local impact, but because of the internet and other global connections, also have a global impact
4. Not only is there a need to start more Hispanic congregations, but there continues to be a need to start Spanish-speaking congregations and ministries

More specifically for CBC McAllen, I add the following:

1. CBC and its leadership have been wise to start and continue to support "Calvary en Español" as a Spanish language expression of the church's ministry
2. While efforts to minister in Spanish should continue to increase on our campus and beyond our campus, we remain committed to an English-speaking ministry.  English language ministry will continue to be relevant in the future regardless of ethnicity (Anglo, Hispanic, Asian, African and African-American)
3. Currently we have two English-language worship services and one Spanish-language worship service.  As the Spanish-language service rate of growth has been greater, we must ask this coming year whether we should provide another Spanish-language service on our campus adding to our Sunday schedule or whether it is time to open a satellite campus elsewhere.  (If we opt for the satellite campus, should it be a Spanish-language only venue or should we offer both Spanish and English-language services?).  There are no plans for either of these at this point but we must be thinking about it in order to provide for growth and multiplication.
4. As CBC relates strategically to the global sending movement, bilingual leadership with some proficiency in Spanish is needed
5. Mobilizing Latinos and Spanish-speakers as workers in the Muslim world is an effective way of advancing the Great Commission (space does not allow me to elaborate on this here).
6. Although demographic shifts and language statistics inform economics, marketing strategies and ministry concerns, they do not dictate the value of people or populations.  We value all people because all are made in the image of God and because Christ died for all regardless of ethnicity, race or language.  Therefore, we do not consider any group or language more important than another.  Jesus cares about the 1% as much as he cares about the 99%, (I believe there's a parable about that!), and so do we!

    We are in the third millennium of the church and in the third era of the modern missionary movement.  In each of these God has used different people to advance His purposes.  It has been said that in the first millennium, Christianity was led by the East.  In the second millennium, Christianity was led by the West.  And in the third millennium, Christianity will be led by the South.  The first era of the modern missionary movement was led by Europe.  The second era of the modern missionary movement has been led by the U.S.  The third era of the modern missionary movement is increasingly being led by the Majority World (Latin America, Africa and Asia).

     God is doing great things around the world as He continues to fulfill his purposes and use the peoples of the world for His glory.  Calvary McAllen as a multi-cultural congregation with ministry in English and Spanish on the U.S. border with Mexico is strategically poised to be on mission with God.  These are exciting times and it is a privilege for our church to be right in the center of what God is doing not only in the RGV but also in Texas, the U.S. and the rest of the world.  Let us continue to pray and think from God's perspective and according to God's heart.