For the average
Hispanic church, this is a unique step. But Hope/Consolador thrives on such
action. That's because the second and third generation Hispanics who are
the majority of Hope/Consolador's members want to tangibly impact their
neighborhood. Pastor Pedro Windsor's leadership provides catalytic backing.
Hope/Consolador's
start came in 1979, when Windsor, his wife Nellie, and their four children
moved to Humboldt Park from New York City. An early neighborhood bible study
drew a host of second and third generation Hispanics. Some came with significant
identity problems, like the Puerto Rican man who wished he had been born
a Jew. But for this man and others, Hope/Consolador's outreach touched cultural
identity as well as the soul. "In discovering Christ," Windsor
says, "they discovered their culture, too."
Though
three-fourths of Hope/Consolador's members are second and third generation
Hispanics, Windsor defines Hope/Consolador as a multicultural church committed
to the community. Significant numbers of African-Americans and Whites attend.
Among Hispanics in the church, origins trace to many different Latin American
and Caribbean countries.
Windsor notes
with satisfaction that Hope/Consolador is a functionally bilingual church
where there are no hang-ups about language. Members feel free to use the
language of their choosing in worship and church activities, and Windsor
preaches frequently in both English and Spanish.
While church
membership hovers around one hundred, the church's influence multiplies
far beyond its four walls. When many North Side Chicago Hispanic churches
felt the need for biblical training of lay leaders, Hope/Consolador helped
organize the Center for Spiritual Growth. When teens at a nearby high school
announced plans to protest the political scapegoating of immigrants, Hope/Consolador
members met with protest leaders to offer support. Hope/Consolador leaders
also provide counseling along with food and clothing to neighbors in need.
And in times of crisis - as in confronting drug dealers on the street corner
- church leaders are at the front of the pack.
A SOUND INVESTMENT
All this
community activity is undergirded by Hope/Consolador's leadership team.
Each member of the leadership team has a primary area of responsibility
(worship, evangelism, outreach, finance, youth, etc.) but when a need arises
in a particular area everyone helps out. This ethic of "doing whatever
it takes" helps Hope/Consolador remain relevant where others have fallen
away. "When you do ministry in the city, change is a reality,"
Windsor says. "Institutions that are not able to flex with the need
will die."
One of Hope/Consolador's
greatest successes lies in raising indigenous leaders like Michael and Cristina
Heath. Michael, of mixed Panamanian and Irish descent, became a Christian
in high school and found leadership opportunities in the church's outreach
to the local high school athletes. Cristina followed Michael to Hope/Consolador.
She was raised in a Spanish-speaking Pentecostal church which for her, a
second-generation Mexican-American, was too domineering and strict. Cristina
had dropped church altogether when Michael, her boyfriend, joined Hope/Consolador.
At Hope/Consolador,
Cristina and Michael were excited by the push toward higher education. "People
with masters and doctorates were trying to help a whole group of us go to
college," Cristina recalls. With the church's support, Cristina and
Michael both graduated from Northeastern College. But rather than use their
education to escape the barrio, the Heath's chose to live and work in Humboldt
Park, where both are elementary school teachers. Michael, at 26, is also
a member of Hope/Consolador's pastoral team.
Michael and
Cristina's transformation from youth group members to pillars of the church
came by prayer -- and design.
"We
need to partner with young people and provide them opportunities to lead,"
says Windsor, who is the national vice-president of the Alianza de Ministerios
Evangelicos Nacionales, the largest Hispanic Christian body in the United
States. "If the Latino church is to grow, we must invest in - not scare
away - the next generation."
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(CHICAGO) - Frustrated by drugs and gun violence emanating from a street corner in their Humboldt Park, Chicago neighborhood, members of Hope/Consolador church occupied the corner, determined to convert or drive away drug dealers.