wfn.org | Hispanic Disciples assembly launches centennial celebration

["Wilma Shuffitt"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

Date: July 20, 1998
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

98a-44

	SAN ANTONIO (DNS) -- Hispanic Disciples, in convention here July 
8-11, honored their leader, the Rev. Lucas Torres, and warmly 
embraced the man who will succeed him as national Hispanic pastor.  
About 300 persons gathered at San Antonio's Central Christian Church 
for worship, Bible study, fellowship, music and business.  

	The Rev. David Vargas, confirmed here as Torres' successor, is 
widely respected in and outside of North America. He's a familiar 
figure in the life of the whole Christian Church (Disciples of 
Christ) -- but he's especially well-known among Hispanic Disciples.  
A native of Puerto Rico, his international ministry with the Division 
of Overseas Ministries spans 15 years. Presently he heads  the Common 
Ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United 
Church of Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean.  He served as 
director of the Hispanic office, the predecessor to the Central 
Pastoral Office for Hispanic Ministries, and was the interim national 
Hispanic pastor prior to Lucas Torres' call to that position.  Vargas 
begins his new ministry after Torres' retirement at the end of the 
year. 

	Vargas accepted the challenge of leading the growing community of 76 
Hispanic congregations and missions with humility. "I am a creature 
of God in formation," he said. "If you really believe this...servant 
of God is who you really want as pastor of this flock, then I simply 
will take the hands of Him who called me into ministry in 1965 -- and 
I will tell Him, ‘here I am Lord, send me.'"

	In his report to the Ninth Hispanic and Bilingual Assembly, Torres 
said despite their meager material resources, Hispanic Disciples are 
willing to practice a "stewardship of love and sacrifice. I believe 
in the Obra Hispana (Hispanic work), in its insistence that it is 
possible to continue to establish congregations in the living rooms 
of homes, in porches and garages, in rooms rented in shopping 
centers, in small chapels of old church buildings."  

	Torres said the basic needs of Obra Hispana are: "the development of 
more financial resources at the local and general level, and the 
creation and implementation of more effective programs of ministerial 
education, particularly for lay ministers." 

	Torres, called to the Central Pastoral Office for Hispanic 
Ministries in 1993, will retire at the end of 1998. After a two-hour 
celebration of Torres' ministry, he told his flock, "It has been a 
beautiful journey and I will always be here to serve you."

	The assembly in San Antonio ushered in a year of celebration leading 
up to the centennial observance of Hispanic ministry in the Christian 
Church (Disciples of Christ).  The Mexican Christian Church, 
established in 1899 on the city's west side is the first Hispanic 
Disciples congregation. 

	The assembly moved to the Southwest mission-style church for an 
evening dinner and celebration that included a Mariachi band and an 
outdoor ice-cream social in the 103-degree heat. Prior to the dinner, 
assembly delegates toured Inman Christian Center, a Disciples-related 
social services agency in the San Antonio barrio. It is widely known 
for its rehabilitation programs for inhalant abusers.

	The Rev. Richard L. Hamm, general minister and president,  keynoted 
an evening event to launch the observance of the centennial of 
Disciples Hispanic ministry. "I must confess," he said, "that we, 
your Anglo brothers and sisters in Christ, have sometimes stupidly 
participated in structures that prevent Latinos and other people from 
enjoying full equality and opportunity."  But keying on the theme of 
the assembly, "Journey in Hope," the GMP made a "pledge to you that I 
will be your partner in realizing this hope as we together begin the 
second century of the Obra Hispana in the Christian Church (Disciples 
of Christ)." 

	The following morning, during a question and answer period with 
Hamm, the Rev. Carmelo Alvarez, an assembly delegate and professor of 
theology at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, made a 
pledge-in-turn. "I want to tell you, we've seen the ‘spots' on each 
other (but)...you can count on us." 

	The assembly voted on three resolutions.  One decries the sale of 
Puerto Rico's government-owned telephone system to private companies. 
The resolution claims the sale would throw many people out of jobs 
and would result in higher prices for phone customers. 

	Another resolution generated some heat in an otherwise amicable 
assembly.  The Hispanic Christian Women's Fellowship brought a 
resolution asking for official CWF representation in the Hispanic 
Caucus.  There were no voiced objections to women being represented 
in the caucus.  Delegations to the caucus from the five geographical 
Hispanic conventions must be made up of an equal number of women and 
men.  Dissenters argued that the Hispanic Caucus is designed to be a 
body that represents the conventions -- not constituency groups. 

	In the end, President Dinah Negron-Serrano directed that the 
Hispanic CWF be invited to the Hispanic Caucus as observers -- 
something allowed under present rules.  She also called for a study 
on voting representation for the Hispanic CWF at the caucus table. 

	A third resolution calls on the national Hispanic caucus to start a 
process of study of human sexuality, including homosexuality,  and to 
report progress to the 10th Hispanic and Bilingual Assembly in the 
year 2000. The study is the result of an amendment to a resolution 
critical of church assembly exhibits sponsored by gay and lesbian 
groups.  The resolution affirms a position taken by the Northeast 
Hispanic Convention.  

	Following the June Northeast Regional Assembly of the Christian 
Church (Disciples of Christ), Paul Rivera, moderator of the Northeast 
Hispanic Convention wrote to Regional Minister Charles Lamb.  "La 
Convencion formally requests that exhibits and booths promoting a gay 
and lesbian lifestyle be barred from future assemblies," Rivera said. 
 The resolution passed in San Antonio puts the Hispanic caucus' five 
conventions behind the position articulated by the Northeast 
convention. 

	During the assembly, the Northeast convention presented a check for  
$8,146.37 to the Rev. Patricia Tucker Spier, president, Division of 
Overseas Ministries.  The money, collected in Hispanic congregations 
in the Northeast, will fund construction of water wells in rural 
Haiti. 

	The assembly confirmed Maria C. Perez, a New York teacher, as 
moderator for 1998-2000. Paul Rivera, a New York civil engineer and 
former vice-moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 
was named moderator-elect of the Hispanic caucus.  If confirmed, he 
will serve from 2000-2002.  Rivera currently is moderator of the 
Northeast Hispanic Convention. 

	-- end -- 

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