Jericho Road Improvement Association

By Jonathan Kindberg

Almost every week this past summer someone from my congregation or someone I knew within the larger Hispanic immigrant community in DuPage County was arrested and faced possible deportation. Each time a flurry of phone calls, jails visits, attorney finding, money gathering, praying and waiting ensued.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said:”On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

In other words it’s good to help people laying on the side of the road, but after doing this over and over you start realizing that it’s time to actually do some work on the road itself. So each week at Iglesia, during the prayers of the people we pray for: Comprehensive Immigration Reform. 
Below is the beginning of a post from undocumented.tv which shares the story of someone at my congregation who was arrested this summer.

I wrote here about 6 weeks ago about the frustration and heartbreak of watching a family in my neighborhood suffer after the father of the household was stopped for a questionable traffic violation and then was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on suspicion that he lacked legal status.  He was detained for a week in a county jail, which rents space (in exchange for a substantial economic benefit to the county government) to ICE.  Then, because apparently there was more bed space available elsewhere, my friend was flown from Illinois to Colorado, where he spent three more weeks in a detention cell operated by a private corporation, at the taxpayer’s expense…for the full article see: http://undocumented.tv/2011/blog/frustration-anger-hope-gratitude/

Juntos Como Hermanos

By Jonathan Kindberg

Juntos como hermanos, miembros de la Iglesia, vamos caminando al encuentro del Señor. Together as brothers, members of the church, we are walking towards the Lord.

This first verse of a song entitled “Juntos Como Hermanos” spontaneously arose during the ¡Caminemos Juntos! Consultation on Hispanic Anglican ministry and summarizes the feeling of those gathered together for two days on the outskirts of Chicago. For most, it was the first time they had met each other. Many came to the conference feeling isolated and tired and left energized and united on a common mission. Folks all the way from Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Fresno, California, to All Nations Christian Church in New Haven, Connecticut came to talk about the potential and challenges of Anglican Hispanic ministry.
Our time together began with a charge from Archbishop Bob Duncan to have the Anglican church here on earth look like it will in heaven: diverse! We then heard from Fr. David Roseberry with Anglican 1000 and saw a video by Univision powerfully depicting the “New American Reality” of Hispanics in the United States. The U.S. census bureau estimates that by 2050 Hispanics will constitute 29% of the population of the U.S. and that minorities in general will be over 50% of the population. Another surprising statistic is that currently approximately 60% of Hispanics in the U.S. are English dominant.

Noteworthy was the address from Dr. Roberto Miranda, pastor of the congregation León de Judá in Boston and author of “En La Tierra de Los Peregrinos: La Iglesia Hispana Evangelica y Su Llamado Redentor.” His prophetic message was entitled:  the Hispanic Church as a Transformational Community (“La Iglesia Hispana Como Comunidad Transformadora”) and was based on the story of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. He stated that that Lord always delights to use the weak for his purposes and that, in his sovereignty, he has brought Hispanics with their strong faith to the United States to preserve and transform this country that is going down the path of secularization and materialism. He likened Hispanics in the Unites States to Moses growing up in Egypt unaware of his prophetic calling and invited us to awake to this prophetic responsibility and calling.
The conference ended with an ordination and confirmation service at Iglesia Santa Maria de Guadalupe, presided over by Archbishop Duncan. Catechist Fernando Moreno, from Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, a Greenhouse congregation in Chicago, was ordained a deacon and twelve youth from Iglesia de la Resurreccion and Santa Maria were confirmed.

Field Report from ¡Caminemos Juntos!

By David Roseberry

There is something awesome happening in Anglican1000. It is out of control!  Yes, that probably is a good thing to say about a movement.  Steve Addison in his book Movements that Change the World, writes that movements grow ‘at the edges’ of the organization and generally not from the center.  That means that a movement will not come from a ‘central headquarters’, but from the outer rims.

This is true of the efforts of Anglican1000 to support Hispanic church planting within the Anglican context in North America.  The vision of Anglican 1000 took hold at the recent convocation of Anglican Hispanic leaders and planters, a kick-start event called Caminemos Juntos (Let us Walk Together).  Approximately 50 leaders, clergy, laity, and a handful of bishops attended the two-day event outside Chicago.

The challenges for reaching the Hispanic population with the Gospel through the Anglican Church are quite complex.  There are first and second and even third generation issues.  There are self-perception challenges within the Hispanic culture itself.  It was clear from the presenters that the Hispanic people in the US and Canada see themselves as a culture and not a race.  Efforts to reach this culture need to be sensitive to a vast number of issues including the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, syncretism, immigration issues, and cultural definitions of family and church.
But make no mistake; ministry to the Hispanic community is an incredible opportunity for the Gospel of Christ.  Take a look at this video to get a sense of what might be possible for the Lord.

Insightful talks came from a number of Hispanic leaders around the country including Archbishop Robert Duncan, Gabe Garcia, Pdre. Alvaro Jinete, Dr. Roberto Miranda, and more.  We heard from people who are ministering among this population.  Some are rectors who have congregations that have started Hispanic works; some are stand-alone churches that minister in a mixed cultures.  Some are start-up house churches from the Greenhouse Movement; and some are new (or soon to be) church plants that have bi-vocational clergy. 
It is clear to me that there is a passion and solid base to see Anglican1000 take hold in the Hispanic Church-planting community.  I took the time to invite the leadership to attend the annual Anglican1000 Summit and give a major report on the work of these initiatives.