God continues to be the God of history. He never raises up a people, or takes them from one place to another, unless He has a redemptive purpose aligned to His mission to bless all the families of the earth with salvation and eternal life.
In the past 500 years, God has developed Latin American peoples composed of immigrants of European, Asian, African and Middle Eastern descent that have “blended” with indigenous peoples, the natives of these lands. In other words, we Latin Americans are not just brown, as we are often called. We are white, yellow, red, black—we come in all colors.
Moreover, throughout the entire continent, we have retained certain cultural aspects of other countries from our native ancestors. And, if that isn’t enough, we don’t just eat burritos; our cultural diet also includes steamed rice, puree, steak, falafel, and the list goes on.
Not only that, God has also emigrated millions of Latin Americans to the United States, a country made for missions. He’s done this for the purpose of mobilizing His generations to the nations, to the unreached villages, where they encounter a certain particularity; they don’t deal with major prejudicial barriers or cultural barriers with these nations because they have much in common, whether it be in appearance or customs.
The next Hispanic generations should be formed in such a way that they will embrace their purpose within the missional and redemptive plan for their generations. They should also understand their place in history and how their cultural diversity, physical appearance and ability to speak two or more languages has made them extremely valuable as individuals, and as a generation, to extend the kingdom and mission of God.
Our pastors and Hispanic parents should shoulder our responsibility to raise up our children, kids and youth as ministers and leaders of the kingdom of God that will be positioned in every sphere of influence in society, in this country and in other countries, and for other peoples.
The next Hispanic generations should be formed in such a way that they will embrace their purpose within the missional and redemptive plan for their generations.
I suggest a few practical actions we need to consider as pastors and fathers as we lead other generations:
- Believe in your children and youth, and in their generation. Understand who they are as a generation in God’s missional plan. Take the time to think, research and pray for God to show you His plan for your children and the youth in your church.
- Stop being monocultural and monolingual. We need to lead our children, as they immerse themselves in their world, and enable them to live out the eternal and missional purpose of God for this generation.
- Listen to your children, kids and youth, to empower them. Spend less time talking at them, and get together periodically to hear them out; give them the liberty to be who they are and do what they feel they need to do.
- Raise the awareness of your children, kids and youth about God’s design and purpose for their generation. Help them understand how speaking more than one language and interacting with more than one culture is a blessing and a gift from God, for them as individuals as well as for their generation.
- Disciple your children, kids and youth, to send them where God calls them. Train them up to be ministers and church leaders as well as societal leaders, leading them where God has called them.
