Since the 1970s a growing segment of the Adventist Church in North America has been made up of Spanish-language local churches. Until recently Hispanic congregations have had a faster growth rate than the average and conference administrators have encouraged the planting of more such groups. The hardening stance of the U.S. government against immigration has caused a net loss in Hispanic Adventist membership in recent years. And there is evidence from research that two thirds of the baptisms in these congregations are among newly-arrived immigrants who already have ties to the Adventist Church, not conversions. Nonetheless, this is one of the most vibrant sectors of the Adventist movement in the U.S. and Canada. 

Two recent publications have added significantly to the available research on Hispanic Adventist churches. "So Close and Yet So Far Away: Comparing Civic Social Capital in Two Cuban Congregations" by Sarah Mahler is a paper published in a new collection of ethnographic studies about religion in Miami. She is an associate professor of anthropology at Florida International University. Johnny Ramirez-Johnson published An Ethnography of Social Mobility last year. He is a professor of religion and social science at Loma Linda University. 

Mahler compares an Adventist congregation in Hialeah with a nearby Nazarene church, both made up almost entirely of immigrants from Cuba. Both operate in the Spanish language. Both are quite conservative and Bible-centered. Both have had significant growth.

"One congregation has evolved dynamic ministries that serve Miami's neediest people, including drug addicts, sex workers, the homeless, and undocumented immigrants, while the other has developed extensive leadership programs deployed largely to nourish and sustain its own congregants' needs." (page 42)

Which of these describes the Adventist church and which the Nazarene, do you think? 

Unfortunately, I believe, it is the Nazarene church that uses its assets to impact the local community beyond its membership, while the Adventist church has an internal focus and uses its resources to help only its own. The first generation of the Adventist congregation consists of refugees who arrived during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980.

"Adventists have suffered arguably more than other Christians because they refuse to work on ... Sabbath, Saturday, which is an official workday in revolutionary Cuba. Many also resist the regime's obligatory military service." (page 46)

Many of the members of this congregation have also experienced racial discrimination in America. "The preponderance of Black congregants at [this church] stands in stark contrast to all other Cuban-dominant churches our research team visited," observes Mahler. The congregation has done much to help lift its members out of the abject poverty with which they came to America, but little to reach beyond itself and help others. 

The church has grown to a typical attendance of more than 800 and built a large, multi-story facility. But today "intergenerational differences, particularly those dividing Cuban-raised parents and their U.S.-raised children, are a growing challenge to church solidarity." This is particularly distressing because the major focus of this congregation has been to build unity and pass on their faith and customs to new generations. The potential is that the "graying of Adventism," which afflicts so many of the native-born congregations in the U.S., may soon descend on this immigrant church. My own research indicates that this is an issue in most immigrant churches in the North American Division. (See Mission in Metropolis, 2007.) 

Ramirez-Johnson tells the story of a Puerto Rican congregation in Leominster, Massachusetts. He knows this congregation well because he grew up in it and has maintained contact over the years, which made his field interviews much richer. He reports that it is "a typical example of a Latino Seventh-day Adventist community the northeastern part of the United States." (page 4) He documents that one source of vitality in Hispanic congregations is the belief that they are "better than the American churches. In fact, all the church members I heard discuss this issue believed that Spanish would be heaven's language and, as such, they had a closer connection. These church community members saw themselves as spiritually superior to their American neighbors." (page 19)

The central observation of his study is how Hispanic church members "transformed their lives and reality from poverty to middle class." Make no mistake about this; these folk "begin at the bottom of the ladder" and they have been remarkable successful, getting education, improving their employment, and starting small businesses. "Almost every family in this [congregation] includes someone who has graduated from or is currently attending college." (page 20) It is a story of how a community of families has helped each other succeed and overcome underprivileged status. 

The value that Adventists place on education is a key element in this success story. "Adventists emphasize education for its own sake and value the pursuit of knowledge," Ramirez-Johnson writes. "Adventists also value education for spiritual reasons. It is frequently viewed as a redemptive process because liberation from ignorance is perceived to be a spiritual experience." (page 52) 

Strong family life is another key. Most are two-parent households. Many of the adult children have married and live nearby. Most of the families in this congregation live in the same town where the church is located. They support one another in child-rearing and encourage teens and young adults in working hard to achieve education, successful careers and family formation. 

Their Adventist faith is closely aligned with their socioeconomic and educational aspirations. They are regularly "interpreting every life event from a religious perspective." (page 58) The concept of "a God in control of life events was communicated at church worship services, at home gatherings and one-on-one interviews. This type of dependence on God" is central to the faith experience of Hispanic Adventists and central to their efforts to overcome poverty and prejudice. (page 59) 

It is hard work to move up from the bottom in the ultra-competitive social reality of America. The immigrant congregation provides a place where a person is accepted and loved, the bruises of the week can heal, and one can be reassured that God is on one's side and will eventually prevail. 

Ramirez-Johnson reports that the members of immigrant churches such as the one he studied are blind to how they blend their faith with the culture they bring with them into the U.S. "When I consciously explored the model of going to church every Sabbath as being similar to going back to the island every Sabbath, I met with immediate resistance. The informants with whom I shared this idea disliked it and eschewed the idea of associating their spiritual church attendance with the earthly promotion of Puerto Rican culture." (page 97) Yet he devotes Chapter 8 to proving that this is precisely what is happening. My own observation is that this can be seen at play in many issues within the denomination today. 

The Adventist experience has done much to help large numbers of Hispanics both in "el Norte" and Latin America move up the world. Hispanic Adventism is thriving and expanding, despite recent reversals due to neo-nationalist politics in the U.S. The challenge now is for Hispanic churches to develop a wider reach, and to begin to "give back" to the less fortunate outside their membership, as well as to help their children apply Adventist values and mission in the new cultural context in which these young people find themselves. The two challenges are inter-related, I believe. 

Sources: 

Stepick, A.; Rey, T. and Mahler S. J. (2009). Churches and Charity in the Immigrant City: Religion, Immigration and Civic Engagement in Miami. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Ramirez-Johnson, Johnny (2008). An Ethnography of Social Mobility: Immigrant Membership in a Seventh-day Adventist Puerto Rican Ethnic Church. Lewiston, ME: The Edwin Mellen Press.