THE CHURCH AT WORK AMONG LATIN AMERICANS

THE CHURCH AT WORK AMONG LATIN AMERICANS THE CHURCH AT WORK AMONG
LATIN AMERICANS
Mack Kercheville

It is always a pleasure to attend the ACC lectureship, and of course it is a very special pleasure to speak on the program. I am very grateful for this opportunity.

You have heard speakers on these lectureships year after year tell about the Latin American work, and this story is all in print in a number of places. Therefore I don’t intend to give at this time a detailed history of the Latin-American work, nor a lot of statistics about the present status of the Church among the Latin, Americans. Instead I want to give emphasis to some points which I feel have been overlooked in discussing this work in the past. The Geographical Nearness of the Field
I am tempted to give my talk a sub-title: “The Church at Work among Latin Americans” or “How to do Foreign Mission Work without Leaving Home”. That is exactly the situation we have in this field. Oi course there are some parts of South and Central America which are a considerable distance from home. But most of the work we have done and are doing, and even the greater part of the work we will be doing for some time in the future is right here 'at home. It is just a few blocks down the street into the Latin American colony, or just a few miles down a paved highway and across the river into Mexico. Or, as in the case of Cuba, the work is just a few minutes ride in an airplane across the waters from Florida. With transportation what it is in these times, the whole field is right here at us. It is in our midst.

What would the brethren working in the Eastern hemisphere give to have this advantage of being so close to the churches backing them here in the United States. This is one great advantage the Latin American field has over all other foreign fields. Because of its geographical nearness, we can become so much better acquainted with the work. We can know its problems, needs, and its opportunities first hand. We can have so much closer fellowship with the evangelists, and with the new congregations started. We can exert a much greater influence on the field and protect 'it so much better from all the perils which beset work in new places. These are all advantages which should not be overlooked. For some reason, brethren, we have not taken ad-vantage of the nearness of this field to us. Considering its location one would think that this field would have received as great emphasis or even greater emphasis than any other foreign field in the world. But such is not the case. Since World War II we have spent more money in Europe than has been spent in the thirty years of work among Latin Americans. In fact there are several church buildings in the brotherhood which cost considerably more money than has been spent by the whole brotherhood in thirty years in the Latin American field. I say these things not to speak against big buildings where they are needed nor to speak against the fine work being done in Europe, but rather to prove my point that we have been blind to opportunities right here in our midst. The brethren in Germany, Italy, Africa, and Asia would give anything to have the advantage for their fields that we have for this one. Yet here where we have all the benefits of being able to do a foreign work without leaving home, many of us have not seen the opportunity. But the picture is changing rapidly. Churches every-where are awakening to the needs of this field, and I thank God for it. There is still room for a lot more improvement, but we are going in the right direction. Let’s keep it up!

However, and this may surprise you, this very geo-graphical nearness of the field creates some problems. You may wonder how the closeness of the field, which in some ways presents so many advantages, could at the same time bring some difficulties. But it does, and I want to tell you about them. The Problem of the Scattered Workers
One of our greatest problems is to keep from scat-tering the workers too much. When we send a party of preachers overseas to some distant field, we expect them to concentrate their efforts sufficiently to really build up a stable work. We are not happy if they so scatter their efforts that the greater part of what they start dies out for lack of attention. But here at home, dealing with the Spanish speaking colonies in our own communities, we somet’mes forget that the same principal applies. Some congregations set aside money in their budgets for the Latin Americans, but they specify that they want it used to evangelize the Spanish speaking1 people of their own home town. Now that is a commendable desire, and one that I would like to promote whole-heartedly. But at the same time I would like to recommend that we face realities in this matter. We have just so many Spanish speaking preachers. There is a definite limit to /the amount of work they can do. Money is not the only thing involved. Some have the idea that all problems can be solved and all work done by the simple process of setting aside the money for it. But there is more to the work than that.
You want to evangelize the Spanish speaking people of your own community. That’s fined But are you willing to start at the beginning? Can you and will you provide a preacher for the job? I don’t mean by that simply outbidding some other church for the services of a La tin-American preacher who is already doing a good job where he is. Nor do I mean talking some already over-burdened preacher in a nearby place to come over and help you part of the time. What I mean is this: Are you prepared to put an entirely new man on the job? Maybe you can send one from your own congregation to the work. Maybe you could help train some Spanish American man so he can do rthe work. Sometimes that requires financing his studies. Sometimes it means patient teaching and counseling on your part, and then a lot more patience as you overlook shortcomings of a beginner starting out to do a hard work. Or, it may be helping train a preacher for some other place where the church has already been established so a more experienced worker can come help you. In other words, I would recommend that churches wanting to back the establishment of a new Spanish speaking congregation start at the beginning and help us train more preachers. That is what is delaying the work right now, the scarcity of Spanish speaking preachers. I know some men right now wanting and needing financial assistance to get the training and practice they need to make full-fledge preachers.

It might be the wise thing for some churches, instead of trying to start a Spanish speaking congregation under the circumstances existing in their home town, to help work which has already been started somewhere else. I know good preachers in Mexico working without any support at all. I know a few right here in the U. S. who are not receiving enough support. I know churches both in Mexico and in the U. S. being hindered terribly in their work because of a lack of church buildings. From reports I know that the situation is even worse in Cuba. In Mexico City we have one of our finest young preachers, Brother Agustin Figueroa, an ACC graduate and a good preacher. But he can’t do what he is capable of doing because there is no budding to which he can invite people. We have the same situation in Chihuahua where Brother Ben Cano, another ACC graduate, preaches. The laws of Mexico are such that we cannot make temporary arrangements for meeting places as we do here in the U. S. This fact makes the need for church buildings especially desperate. For some strange reason we have a lot of trouble getting brethren interested in helping on this matter of church buildings for the Latin American work. When the laws of the land almost completely tie your hands unless you have a church building, I think we would do well to give this part of the work more interest. I know that the brethren backing the preacher in Mexico City and in Chihuahua are do-
ing what they can in this matter. If the rest of us would do what we can, we would soon have the problem solved. These places mentioned are just two examples. I could name many others. The first thing of course is to get brethren interested in the Latin American field. But after that we need to learn to fit our dreams and plans for this field to reality, and not try to force the field to conform to our own plans. Let’s help where the help is needed, and where it can get the greatest results. The Problem of How Much to Help
Now we take up another problem stemming from the nearness of the Latin American field to us. How much shall we help the little churches established by our missionary efforts. This is not so vital a question in work done in distant fields. There isn’t too much we can do for the little churches out there but send financial help. But when the church we are helping is just a few blocks down the street or a few miles down the highway, the situation is different. In works of charity we have a similar problem: How much help shall we give the man in need? We want him to have enough, but not so much that he loses all feeling of responsibility for himself to do his part. Parents of school children have about the same situation in helping their children with their homework. It is good for someone to help a child with his schoolwork, but it is not good for someone to just take over and get his homework for him. In like manner it is good to help new and weak congregations, but it is not good for other churches to just take over and get their homework for them. To do so cheats them out of the exercise God intended for them to have. Yet there seems to me to be quite a tendency over the brotherhood for one congregation to try to do the "homework” God assigned to another congregation. In such cases our motives are usually good. We want to help those who need our assistance. We want to see the Lord’s work done in the most efficient way possible. When money from the Lord’s treasury is invested in a work, we don’t want that money wasted. These motives are all commendable. But let’s be careful that we avoid the error of the Jews who had a "zeal of God but not according to knowledge.” If there is any unChrist-like thinking in the matter at all; perhaps it is that some of us still have a touch of racial prejudice. We sometimes get the idea, without even being conscious of having it, that anyone who speaks a different language than we do, or who doesn’t have the same color of skin we have, might not have enough intelligence to carry on the Lord’s work. I suspect that, coupled with the other motives mentioned which are all good within themselves, this is one of the big reasons why this is so much of a problem in the Latin American field. The Matter of Congregational Autonomy Is Involved
This is not just a question of expediency. It involves a scriptural principle as well. The Bible teaches the idea of congregational autonomy. This is something we all believe in theoretically, but in actual practice, I fear that some of us don’t know what the words mean. Can you answer these questions on the basis of what the Bible teaches? When does a congregation become autonomous? How many members must it have? What other qualifications must it have? Does it have to have elders before becoming autonomous? What constitutes the “homework” of a local church which nobody else can do for it? Is there any situation in which an eldership can scripturally superintend more than one congregation at a time? If so, what is it?

I realize that this is not the occasion for going into a detailed study of such an important matter. But since it is a problem we face in all mission work, and especially in work close to home, and since a tendency toward racial prejudice makes it a special problem in work among Spanish speaking people, I feel justified in bringing up the subject. I feel that this matter ought to be studied carefully by brethren in general. My answers briefly for whatever they are worth, to the questions asked a moment ago are these: I believe a congregation is independent and autonomous from birth. When as many as two or three people start meeting regularly for worship and work after the New Testament order, I believe they constitute an independent church, and they have some “homework" to do that nobody can scripturally do for them. As important as elders are in the church, no congregation has to have them in order to be autonomous. Paul and Barnabas left some autonomous churches on their first missionary tour to get along for some time without the supervision of any eldership anywhere. Elders have a great and vital place in the church, but their authority ‘is limited to their own local church. I can’t find any scriptural justification for elders under any circumstances overseeing anything except their own local congregation and its work. Of course, if they send money or help of any kind somewhere else, they certainly have a right to see to it that the help sent is put to the use intended, but this doesn’t give them the right to oversee the local work of another congregation.

I believe the Bible is very specific in telling us what the “homework” of the local church is. In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus assigned to the local church the responsibility of church discipline. If our brother sins against us, the highest court of appeal on this earth is the local congregation. If there is trouble then in the little church out on the mission field, let not some sponsoring church nor some individual presume to take over and solve the problem. Rather let us take advantage of this very opportunity to teach new congregations what their responsibilities and obligations are. We may have to help them a little with their “homework”, but, brethren, let’s don’t get it for them.

It is also the local church’s business to choose its own servants. I find that principle laid down in Acts 6, when the apostles insisted that the “multitude of disciples” choose the seven men needed to handle a certain wTork. Even though the apostles laid down the qualifications needed and then ordained the men to the work, they were named by the local church at Jerusalem. I don’t believe one church can choose elders, deacons, teachers, or any other workers for another congregation, even though that other church be a so-called mission-point. Of course, if we are going to support a preacher in a certain work, we have a right to decide who he shall be. But by the same token, every other church, even the one to which we send a preacher, has a right to say who shall stand in its pulpit. Brethren should operate on this basis, and little churches should be taught their rights and responsibilities in these matters. The Scriptures also teach that each congregation is to have control of its own collections for the Lord’s cause. In fact it would be very hard for a church to be independent in any way if some other church or agency takes over its collections. Yet, I know of some little Spanish speaking churches which send their contributions back to the sponsoring church, and the elders of the sponsoring church use the money as they see fit. To me this is an obvious violation of the scrip-tural principle of congregational autonomy. The Lord’s way is always right, and it is always the most practical way. I can’t believe that the just mentioned plan under any circumstances could be practical for the simple reason that it is not scriptural. Some contend that this is necessary because the little “mission” still isn’t capable of handling its own funds. Now we are not talking about the funds others send them, but the money the people at the little church give to the Lord. Do you mean to tell me that these people capable of earning the money and giving it to the Lord don’t have enough sense to hold it and use it for the Lord’s cause? If that really were the case, which I doubt, how do you ever expect to develop any leadership? How do you expect to change this situation? Obviously giving these people the opportunity to practice handling their own funds is the only way to do it. When you find a church in which the people have neither the intelligence nor the spirituality to handle the contribution they themselves give to the Lord, se-riously question their having enough of these qualities to take the Lord’s Supper either. Or, would you contend that the collection is more sacred and deserving of greater protection than the Lord’s Supper?

Even though we speak of mission fields, it is not our purpose to establish “missions”, but autonomous, in- fdependent churches which will stand on their own feet and do their own work. That’s what I want to see done in the Latin American field. That’s what we all want. Then let’s never let any of these little churches get in the habit of letting some other church do their “homework” for them. I assure you, my brethren, that the Mexican people, the Cubans, the Negroes, the Japanese, and all the other peoples of the world we can reach with the gospel will have enough sense to do any and every work God assigns to them. We don’t need to make any improvements on the Lord’s plan at all. The Closeness of the Field Brings Discouragement to Some
I have one more problem stemming from the nearness of the Latin American field which I want to discuss. The problem is keeping some brethren from getting discouraged. The field is so close to us that elders, deacons, and preachers of the home congregations can become almost immediately aware of all the difficulties we face on the field. This may be the big reason why it has been so hard to get brethren interested in the Latin American field. It is considerably easier to remain complacently unaware of the discouragements existing on distant fields. We can read the glowing reports of victories won, and know nothing or little about the bitter battles necessary to win those victories. But not so in this foriegn field we have right here at home. We have too close a contact with it. The result is that some brethren are scared away from it before they ever start work. Others start, but when the discouragements come they are ready to quit. We need preachers in this work as in every other work, who will stick no matter what the obstacles. Behind these preachers we need elders, deacons, and members in general of home congregations that won’t turn and run when the going gets rough.

I promise any of you planning to go into this field of work or help in evangelizing it in any way, that there will be a generous supply of discouragements. Only those people who have a strong and genuine faith in God and the power of His Word will persevere. There have been times when all of us participating in this work have been so disheartened that the urge was almost irresistable to run from these nagging problems. But I’m celebrating this month my 10th anniversary in the Spanish speaking work. I have found that the best cure for discouragement is to look back through the years and consider the progress of the work. It is a little like climbing some hills I have seen. It doesn’t seem that you are climbing at all until you look back. Then you can see how far up you have come.

Ten years ago, February 1, 1943, I went to work at El Paso with the Mexican church there. At that time you could count on your fingers all the Spanish speaking preachers of the gospel in the world. You could count on your fingers all the known Spanish speaking churches of Christ in the world. Today I know of 52 sound gospel preachers in Mexico and in the U. S. and am told there are 14 more in Cuba. Most of the men on this list have been converted, grounded in the truth, trained, and put to work all in the space of these 10 years. At present I know of 34 active, though small, Spanish speaking churches in the U. S. and 24 in Mexico. There are about 30 more in Cuba. To cap the climax we have a new field opening up right now in South America. I’m sure you have read of the Had- win family, backed by the Central church in Cleburne, Texas, which just a few days ago arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay. There is a vast field to be worked. Let us see that these people have all the cooperation they need from us. These courageous pioneers into a completely new field deserve our whole-hearted backing.

Ten years ago we had no literature in Spanish to speak of. Now we have three monthly papers, one published in Cuba, one in Mexico, and one in the U. S. We have a fairly liberal supply of tracts and booklets on various gospel subjects, and more is being printed all the time.

Ten years ago, we had almost no way to train Spanish speaking preachers. The college here was ready and is still ready to help train those who are able to study in English. But the real problem was to find a way to train them in Spanish. Now, Brother Pedro Rivas has a small dormitory in Torreon, Coahuila, which houses a few men, and he carries on a systematic training program as a part of the work of the local church there. Brethren Wayne Partain and Bill Reeves are doing a similar work in McAllen, Texas. In a more informal way a number of brethren are engaged in encouraging and tutoring those who would like to preach the gospel. In Chihuahua City, Bro. Ben Cano is doing a fine work in developing preachers. In the 10 years I have been in El Paso we have had some part in helping turn out nine full-time preachers. I have one of them on the platform with me this morning. This young man grew up in the church in El Paso. I think he was baptized by Brother John Wolfe. Just about a year ago he started preaching. Between November 1st and Christmas of last year he baptized exactly 100 men over in Pecos, Texas. But I want him to tell you about the work there himself. Brother Gabrield Ortiz.